My last entry discussed border enforcement.  This entry will delve into the matter of employment.  Keep in mind that all aspects of this proposal include consideration of the sentiments of American voters, and particularly Republican voters, since we take the issue of illegal immigration much more seriously and see it as an important aspect of overall national security matters. So I recommend you read the data concerning recent poll results that contained some unexpected findings among Republican voters, details of which can be found at the beginning of the first blog entry in this series on immigration policy.


Besides more border enforcement, we need to also start punishing businesses more severely for hiring illegal immigrants -- much bigger fines and loss of operating licenses, for example, as well as potential imprisonment for those directly responsible.  Along with this stick, however, should come a carrot. Businesses hire illegal immigrants for a reason -- cheap, unskilled labor for jobs that most Americans don't want to do, or will occasionally do but not very well and not very dependably. This last point is worth examining for a moment, as it underlies the sort of serious change in thinking we need to achieve if we are to make any progress on immigration policy. So let's look at the nuances for a moment, then return to consideration of policies.

One hard aspect of illegal immigration that too many of my fellow conservatives are sometimes willing to overlook is the fact that a large percentage of illegal immigrant males do in fact have employment – some stats have put the number higher than for white American male citizens, in fact.  These guys show up every day, they are willing to work without a break and without complaining about conditions, and they will do it all for a lot less than just about anybody else.  Remember, these are people willing to risk drowning, heatstroke, and prison just to sneak over our border, and they do it for a reason -- this is the United States, and people willing to work will get that chance and make money, as much as they are willing to work for.  That is quite an incentive, one people risk their lives daily to achieve, and our businesses would honestly be foolish to ignore illegal immigrants as the best labor deal on the market.

Returning to policy considerations again, there must be incentives put in place that encourage businesses to employ legal residents and citizens instead of cheaper illegal immigrant labor.  Tax incentives to hire U.S. citizens for low-wage jobs in fields typically dominated by illegal immigrant labor is one tool; financial incentives to increase profits for these same fields, through better trade agreements and less domestic regulation, in exchange for monitored agreements to reduce, discourage, and eliminate illegal labor are additional nuanced incentives that should also be pursued. Coupling these sorts of financial benefits with the negative consequences of being caught employing illegal immigrant labor, would go a long way towards changing attitudes and practices in the business community. If you also consider the decreased pool of such labor that should result from the border enforcement proposal above, I feel we would see a decline in the widespread use of this immigrant labor pool.

Now, let's go back to those border facilities described in the first part of this series.  Besides their strong enforcement role, these facilities would also gradually be incorporated into the economic policies on immigration.  Private enterprise would be encouraged to have a presence at the border, where immigration applicants could visit with company representatives to apply for employment opportunities and placement at jobs pending approval of their immigration application.  While awaiting approval, the immigrants could also participate at home in a joint venture between U.S. businesses and the Mexican government, where trade schools similar to our Vo-Tech schools are funded partly by the Mexican government and partly by private industries from our nation. The idea is to provide added incentive for potential immigrants to remain in their countries and obtain training and education to make them more productive if and when they come to the U.S.

A final aspect of the role businesses could play at the border would be a new form of work visa that allows immigrants to live in Mexico but commute to sort of border town industrial sites, where our labor laws would be amended to allow lower wages at these pre-immigration facilities for a special category of guest workers who take buses directly to the assembly lines etc, put in their 8 hours, then go back across the border. There is a chance that at least some immigrants would find this system preferable to actually leaving Mexico at all, and would choose to remain guest workers who commute back home each day, remaining with their families and communities. In addition, the education and skills they acquire would surely increase their job prospects in Mexico, so that many could decide to move into the job market in their own countries, earning higher wages there and increasing the import of U.S. goods to one of our primary trade partners, a clear added benefit to our economy.

A system of "bonus points" would be awarded for each aspect of this process in which immigrants take place, a further incentive for potential immigrants to apply for entry, get training, and work at border facilities while continuing to live inside their own countries.  More bonus points means higher placement on the list of approved immigrants. These sorts of incentives, combined with the strong enforcement right at the border and the speed with which illegal border crossing would result in immediate deportations, as well as the decreased job availability due to enforcement targeting employers, should significantly change immigration at our southern border.

Combining our border security enforcement with the economic side of the issue brings in ways that the private sector can work hand-in-hand with enforcement to achieve goals that otherwise would remain elusive and would cost dramatically larger sums of money, both from our federal and state governments and the private sector as well.

Now, there is no honest way to take on the employment and economic aspects without considering two related factors: U.S. trade, and U.S. immigration quotas. Regarding the later, it should alarm all of us that Mexico, despite being geographically connected to our own country and having such a huge number of people seeking entry and citizenship, represented less than 14 percent of all people allowed to become naturalized citizens last year. In fact, compared to the roughly 173,000 Mexicans who were naturalized as U.S. citizens, over 31,500 immigrants were naturalized from the following Middle Eastern nations: Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.  Notice any states there that are troublesome? And yet they represent almost one-third the number of Mexicans that were allowed to become citizens of our nation.

Beyond merely the comparative national security implications involved (and the fact that, contrary to some popular beliefs, large numbers of active terrorists in fact come from middle class or higher backgrounds, have a formal education, and are thus more likely to fit the preferred immigration standards for naturalization as well as visitation to the U.S.), there is also the fact that those states are on the other side of the planet from us, not walking distance like Mexico. Yet another factor to consider is that Mexican immigrants, including illegal immigrants, are increasingly more likely to spend their money inside the United States rather than send it back home -- meaning this already large and growing mass of people are putting more and more of their money back into our economy, while generally participating in employment fields least likely to attract other U.S. citizens.

All of this is to say that current quotas are simply unrealistic and unsustainable, and in fact encourage exactly the circumstances that lead to illegal immigration and the resulting problems -- the comparatively low quota means illegal immigration that meets the needs and fiscal desires of certain employment fields. The symbiotic and self-perpetuating relationship between immigration quotas and employment of illegal labor must come to an end, and that means realistically adjusting our immigration policies to allow a larger number of legal immigrants to enter our nation from Mexico, albeit through the new and more secure and economically helpful means discussed in this proposal. That will of course mean a need to decrease the number of other immigrants from some other nations, but that is desirable anyway in many instances.

By doing this in conjunction with enforcement, education, and employment opportunities, all in partnership with the private sector, we can increase the ways in which immigration fuels our job and economic growth at the same time we increase trade opportunities with one of our major trading partners (trade with Mexico accounts for almost as much U.S. trade as our trade with Japan, the UK, and Germany combined, and is only behind Canada -- our primary source of foreign oil -- and China -- our primary source of pretty much everything else).

Finally, the U.S. needs to reconsider some trade agreements and policies in a way that will decrease the drain of high-paying jobs in our own nation and reconstitute our industrial base. The former will benefit natural-born citizens here who have seen a steady decline in hi-tech, well-paying jobs in a climate of increased competition for lower wage jobs in the service industries. If we can incorporate a new, vigorous immigration policy that incorporates the private sector to help drive a surge of industrial growth and eliminate the illegal jobs market that drives down wages in jobs unavailable or undesirable to U.S. citizens, within the broader framework of new trade policies advancing the domestic revitalization of high-paying skilled jobs as well as decreasing the trade gap (most importantly with China), we will help forge a stronger economy and jobs market while increasing security at our borders, while making better citizens from a pool of better applicants.

Having looked at border security and important employment and economic aspects of illegal immigration, we can move on to consider some much harder, more emotional issues involved in the debate over immigration.  The next entry will address how to confront and deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already living among us.