Before I get into part two of my immigration post, I want to point out a few articles that appeared in the Washington Post in the past couple of days (
Registration may be required)
Senate Approves Immigration Bill - Charles Babington
A Debate Beyond The Fence: Immigration Issues We're Overlooking - E.J. Dionne
A Vote For English - George F. Will
Dionne's article is particularly relevant to today's post particularly this:
Paradoxically, those fighting to achieve justice for immigrants will reach their goal only if they are also seen as fighting for justice for the native-born. The native-born, in turn, will find their rights better protected if the rights of immigrants are guaranteed, too.
This paragraph gets to the heart of the debate for me. I've been reading Howard Zinn's
Passionate Declarations which deals specifically with the ideas of law and justice. It's an excellent read and particularly of use in thinking about many of the issues we're dealing with today including immigration.
So here's the thing (and you'll read this in Will's article above), much is being made in some conservative circles of "the rule of law", in particular immigration law. The target (as is often the case) is on the immigrants themselves who, admittedly are in violation of the federal statutes. But law, it seems, is a selective topic. Much less is said about enforcing labor law which is really the driver behind illegal immigration (which fuels collateral immigration of those seeking relatives who are here...)
Just labor laws would ensure that the rights of both workers and employers were upheld. Workers should receive fair wages for their labor, a safe working environment and be entitled to whatever benefits the law requires (which is a different topic entirely...) Employers should expect to receive the labor for which they are paying. This, of course, has nothing to do with immigration per se, but would have a dramatic effect on those most exploited by unscrupulous employers: the poor and the alien (see many references in the Mosaic Law, by the way - particularly Exodus and Leviticus)
While employing people in this country illegally is also a crime, it is rarely enforced. What of the rule of law here? Well, for one thing there is a significant disincentive to enforce this particular set of laws. Workers typically supply bogus Social Security information when asked and employers rarely verify the information. Bogus information does two things, it ensures that the employee is paying taxes which the employer reports and it means that Social Security paid is never collected. The flip side of this is that local governments typically spend about $25,000 per illegal resident while collecting very little, if any taxes. Federal payroll taxes are collected, however. (see the Dionne article for references) States have an incentive to have labor laws enforced, which the Federal Government does not. Oh, and there's that whole no taxation without representation thing, but that's pretty much a historical anachronism anyway.
That is labor law, however. What of immigration law? This is where law versus justice becomes muddy. Unlike the laws against murder, theft and the like, immigration law is much more about controlling the economic interests of the country. There isn't really a strong moral underpinning for why we allow some people in, why some can become citizens and why some must stay out. Why, from a moral or justice standpoint, should a person be barred from coming to this country and working if he or she wants to? If labor laws are just and strongly enforced, then one would think this would be desirable. Granted, there could potentially be some downward pressure on wages as labor supply increases, but there doesn't seem to be a moral dilemma with this.
Now, just because there isn't a clear moral underpinning to the law doesn't mean it is unjust. Some laws are good laws simply because they maintain the good functioning of society - stop at red lights, for instance. I would not advocate simply opening the borders and allowing people free access as between the states. The reason, however, has nothing to do with the economic issues and everything to do with security. We still want to know who is coming into our country, especially from the relatively porous Mexico.
This brings me to my last interlocking issue - border security. Immigration and border security are two distinctly different things. Border security implies keeping out those who are potentially harmful to our national security or who may be violating the human rights of others From my standpoint that would include smugglers of illegal substances (e.g. drugs), sex traffickers and those seeking to do violence to people within our borders. If we would allow people seeking work easy and legal access, that would significantly reduce the number of people attempting to cross the border for that reason alone. This would, I think, make patrolling the border a much easier thing, since those seeking to cross illegally would be reduced to mostly drug smugglers.
Does this mean I favor a guest worker program? To quote the apostle Paul, "by no means!" I think anyone who comes to this country and wants citizenship should be able to attain it based on current naturalization standards. Now, we may want to take a look at naturalization and hone that law, but that is a different topic altogether. A guest worker program seems to me a lousy idea, since it creates a sub-class of people who are allowed to work here but not attain citizenship, nor be granted those rights. On the other hand, an open border would allow the benefits of the guest worker legislation without the restrictions it applies. Workers would work legally, pay taxes as expected, be eligible for services such as public education and have the opportunity, if so they so desired, to follow the path of citizenship.
Is an open border a perfect solution? No way. It is only part of a good solution. Fair and just labor laws that are strongly enforced also need to be applied. Border security will always be an issue, but one that is greatly reduced and narrowed in focus. There is also one more thing that will go a long way towards just immigration: improving the economic and political conditions of our southern neighbors.
Next Time: Outside the Box - The Foreign Policy of Immigration.
