The Question of Immigration
In the recent months, increased scrutiny and attention has been given to the question of illegal immigration and how best to address what has become a heated issue for the two different countries. Today, millions of immigrants, many from , live in the shadows in the . These immigrants, classified as illegal as they have not gone through the standard and established immigration procedure, work, shop, live and play as do natural citizens and legal immigrants. However, these illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes, they work for lower wages, use resources otherwise reserved for citizens and residents of the and their numbers continue to grow.
The border between the and spans a vast distance covering several different states. While the major arteries between the two countries are guarded by Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials allowing the flow of illegal immigrants to be kept at a minimum in these locations, such is not the case along the rest of the border where consistent security in some areas is best compared to a sieve. Thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border each day in these areas. While some of the illegal immigrants are stopped, detained and then returned to , it is not unusual for them to head for the border once they are home. There are simply not enough immigration enforcement officials on the border and it is generally the case that illegal immigrants cross the border without challenge. This has caused for drastic measures to be taken by private citizens. In many border states private citizens have even been mobilizing to provide surveillance on the border to inform custom enforcement officials when illegal immigrants are crossing. Fences are even being constructed by private citizens. Many people, citizens and legal immigrants alike, are calling for criminal sanctions against employers of illegal immigrants, deportation of the illegal immigrants already in the , penalties for illegal immigrants for avoiding taxes, and even the construction of a fence covering the entire border between the and . Others want amnesty given to those who are here illegally which would include granting of citizenship and forgiveness for tax avoidance.
In response to the pressures and demands that have been made regarding the topic of immigration, millions of illegal immigrants recently staged a “work-out” where they didn’t show up for work in an effort to show that the depended on the contributions the illegal immigrants make to the economy.
While this debate has been on going, the United States House and Senate have been considering different approaches to a solution to this problem. The President has called for a comprehensive approach and solution to the plan. At the time of the writing of this article, the Senate has passed a bill that reaches across party lines addressing the problem by way of compromise on the issues. The bill calls for strengthened border protection, creating guest worker provisions and a controversial provision that would allow many illegal immigrants a chance for citizenship. As well, there are provisions dealing with verifying the legal status of workers and also for punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants. Some senators have said the bill approaches amnesty and that it will also not work to secure our borders. Others have said it is actually very similar to legislation that was passed in the 1980’s that was not enforced or followed through upon.
The House version of an immigration bill, which was passed generally along party lines, deals mainly with border protection and for penalties for illegal workers. There are no provisions for amnesty of citizenship for men, women or children who are presently in the country illegal in the House bill. House members have said that they do not want a bill coming to the floor of the house that provides illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. As the Senate bill does this, for a bill to be sent to the President for consideration, a compromise will have to be reached.
Both the House and Senate have passed immigration bills so the challenge now becomes negotiating between the two bodies in an effort to reach a compromise. However, early efforts at negotiations have not looked promising.
This week, to add to the debate, Mexican President Vicente Fox has been speaking in different locations across the in opposition to the idea of a wall being built between the and countries. This idea has been posed as an additional method of deterring the flow of immigrants. Fox has however said that there needs to be a system in place that regulates the flow of persons between the two countries and that a wall is not the answer.
The flow of immigrants into the continues to grow while the debate continues. Under Presidential order, National Guardsmen are even being dispatched to the border. While the governors of the various states have said that they will deploy their Guardsmen, the general message is that the governors expect this to be a temporary remedy to the problem.
It is clear that something must be done to combat the problem. The was built on the backs of immigrants, but of immigrants that followed the existing procedure to legally gain entry and ultimate citizenship into the . Presently there are many illegal immigrants in the that want to become citizens and are hoping that there will be some degree of amnesty granted by Congress to allow the fact of their illegal entry to be overlooked. Many feel that this would be an insult to the millions of immigrants who obeyed the law to gain their legal status. To remedy the problem, Congress will have to not only have to address the issue of border security, but they will also have to decide what to do with the illegal workers that are here. Many feel that unless there is some punitive measure taken as to either the actual illegal immigrants or those that employ them, the immigrants who are in the illegally will have no incentive to seek a legal status or otherwise change what they are presently doing.
At this point, neither the House or Senate seems prepared to move from their position. Many of the individual border states are even considering their own versions of solutions to the problem. Only time will tell what will remedy this problem, but the one thing that everyone can agree upon is the time to fix it is now.
