So far, ideological proposals have led to deadlock and the failure to secure our southern border for the past 30 years. Is a real solution possible? I think so.

According to USA Today’s analysis of Gallup Poll data taken in April and May indicates that Americans are evenly split four ways on illegal immigration. These groups are the Welcoming who prefer a process that will lead to permanent resident status or citizenship for illegal aliens, the Hardliners who want to close the border and deport all illegal aliens, the Ambivalent who don’t know what they want and the Unconcerned who do not see illegal immigration as a threat to our society. These groups cross party, class and racial lines.

A welcoming approach, like the amnesty provision of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which started 2.7 million illegal aliens on a path toward citizenship, will only encourage more illegal immigration as demonstrated by the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens we have today.

The hardliner approach is an impossible task. The Nazis took years, from 1938 to 1945 to round up between 5 and 7 million Jews under a military dictatorship without any regard to due process. What makes us think we can round up 2 to 3 times as many people without becoming monsters?

The boundary between the United States and Mexico is one of the longest undefended borders in the world. The wage differential across this border is also among the highest in the world at 5 to 1. The economic pressure is sufficient to force people leave their families behind and risk death in the desert for a chance to feed their children. No mere law will stem this tide. In addition to our four domestic constituencies, any lasting solution must inspire the voluntary cooperation of the Mexican people and the Mexican government.

Such a solution seems like an impossible challenge – but it’s not.

A workable solution must provide enough carrot to each of the six affected groups to encourage a high level of voluntary cooperation and a sufficiently large stick to punish those who do not play by the rules.

My proposal is:

1. Establish a guest worker program for Mexican (and perhaps other Central and South American) citizens. They can register in their country, or in the United States without fear of being arrested or deported. The families of guest workers my also register and enter the United States as dependants. All participants are subject to deportation if they fail a timely criminal background check. Note that to make guest workers wait while the INS processes a nine year background check queue is a deal breaker. The goal here is to make it better all around for them to be here legally in a manageble way.
2. All participants in the program must be issued state-of-the-art, tamper-resistant photo identification cards. Guest workers can apply for driver’s licenses and other forms of picture ID as needed but all such IDs must clearly indicate that the holder is a guest worker.
3. After guest workers have been in the United States for a period of time (say 2 years?) they must return to Mexico for a period of time (perhaps 1 year?). The guest worker may then return to the United States and repeat this cycle without limit.
4. The guest worker program is neither an amnesty nor a shortcut to citizenship. Guest workers seeking permanent residency or citizenship must go to the end of the line.
5. After a sufficient period (6 months, 1 year?) it is a felony to be in this country illegally punishable by prison time, deportation and a permanent ban on entry into the United States. Commission of a felony while in the United States will also result in deportation and a permanent ban on entry. After this transition period it will also be a criminal offense to harbor or hire unregistered guest workers. With fewer illegal aliens, the “catch and release” process is no longer needed or allowed.
6. While in the United States, guest workers must pay taxes, maintain employment and remain self-sufficient. They are not qualified for long-term public assistance. If they cannot meet this requirement, they must leave the United States without prejudice and may return in the future. No back taxes will be imposed for time spent here illegally. Our goal must be to register almost all of the illegal aliens, not force them to remain underground. Not collecting these taxes is the price we pay for letting this problem fester for decades.
7. U.S. law must be changed to explicitly define the citizenship status of babies born within the United States to illegal aliens or guest workers. Under current law, they are citizens and this is a major loophole in our immigration status. Granting citizenship would lead to expectant mothers using to guest worker program as a way to bestow U.S. citizenship on their children. Since these children could easily be registered as dependants and as guest workers in the future, not granting automatic citizenship seems appropriate. However, if the law is not changed, minor children of quest workers who are born in the United States may remain in the care of a guardian while their families return to their native country or they may go with their parents. In the event that families are separated for a period of time, some provision for visits (not employment) should be incorporated into the reform legislation.
8. Finally, we need to reform and modernize the INS. The current process is both Byzantine and broken. Granting visa extensions to two of the 9/11 hijackers months after the attack is just the tip of the iceberg. The process of complying with the legal requirements as defined by the INS is arduous in the extreme. If we want people to do the right thing, we have to make it possible, beneficial and easier than doing the wrong thing.

This proposal imposes a significant burden on guest workers and their families. In return, they get some important off-setting benefits:

1. They get to live and work openly and legally in the United States and take advantage of the 5 to 1 wage differential between Mexico and the U.S. Under this proposed system, a guest worker could earn $11 for every $3 he could earn in Mexico averaged over a three year period.
2. They get to keep their families intact. There are whole villages in Mexico where there are no young men. All of them have gone north to work and send money back to feed their families.
3. Because they become legal and their presence is not tied to any particular employer, they can no longer be exploited by the threat of a call to the INS. This will raise wages and improve working conditions. They can also avoid exploitation by criminal human trafficking gangs.
4. They are free to come and go across the border to visit their families instead of enduring solitude for years or even decades.

Any of the timeframes proposed above can be changed. It might also be in our best interest to offer relocation assistance. The goal should be to make the deal sweet enough that the vast majority of our illegal population will choose legal status despite the requirement to relocate on a regular basis.

This plan will allow the illegal aliens currently resident in this country to remain for years and it will encourage additional immigration. What’s in it for us?

For the hardliners:

1. We get to know where the legal guest workers live and work.
2. We get to collect taxes from them. In fact, a large population of young, hard-working tax payers will help offset the demographic imbalance as the baby boomers retire.
3. Having “drained the swamp,” we can then turn our limited law enforcement resources against the remaining illegals and criminal gangs.
4. Businesses that do not hire illegal aliens will no longer have to compete against businesses that do.
5. Because this economic activity is no longer under the table, we gain significant leverage with regard to the Mexican government. By raising or lower limits on how much money guest workers can export to Mexico, we can encourage the Mexican government to secure their side of the border. We must resist the temptation to throttle the number of guest workers. Denying access will only recreate our existing problem.

For the welcoming:

1. We remain what we’ve always been, a nation of immigrants.
2. Legal guest workers are harder to exploit than illegal aliens.
3. Legal guest workers will be able to shop around for higher wages so rather than dragging down the bottom of the wage curve, they will push it up.
4. Legal guest workers can also seek out educational opportunities so that they or their children need not settle for the bottom rung of the economic ladder either here or in Mexico.
5. When guest workers return to Mexico, they will take our values and expectations with them. This will put pressure on the Mexican government for reforms on their side of the border. Over time, this will raise the standard of living in Mexico and close the gap between our economies.

A guest worker program along the lines of the one described above will benefit both the United States and Mexico.

Comments and suggestions most welcome.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 7th, 2006 at 3:24 am and is filed under 2_Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.