An Easy, Three-Part Immigration Solution That Would Create Jobs

By Joe Guzzardi
November 30, 2011

With immigration a major topic in the Republican debates and with each candidate offering his own plan, one important feature has been overlooked.

The candidates agree that immigration solutions begin with secure borders. At that point, some suggest that an amnesty is the next logical step. But no one identifies how long the borders should be sealed before millions of existing illegal aliens could be put on a path to citizenship. What America can’t afford is a patchwork approach wherein Capitol Hill simply proclaims without tangible evidence that the border is secure and then proceeds immediately toward amnesty.

The timeline, along with vigorous internal enforcement, are the crucial elements. Once the borders are successfully shut and assuming that the federal government pursues a strong interior oversight policy that includes heavy penalties and possible jail time for employers who hire illegal immigrants, then—but not before—an amnesty might be considered. But, ironically, if the borders were secured and internal enforcement in place, there might not be any aliens left.

Since the 1965 Immigration Act millions of legal and illegal immigrants have arrived. I estimate that 10 years of shut borders would be about the right amount of time to measure the effectiveness of keeping aliens out. Assuming internal enforcement would include the Legal Work Force Act which would drive aliens out of their current payroll jobs, the existing illegal immigrant population would steadily be reduced during the decade.

The intervening years of effective enforcement would send a signal to the world that the United States had changed its unwritten lax immigration guidelines that condone law breakers. During the transitional decades, the prospect of amnesty would gradually fade. In 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act passed, the nation’s alien population was slightly over 2 million; today, it’s at least 10 million. With five times more aliens today than 25 years ago, it’s a proven that amnesty begets illegal immigration.

Strong political will would be required to make these measures effective. As the process toward truly secure borders moved along, some aliens would remain and their lobby would intensely pursue citizenship for them. Responses would have to be along the lines of, “Sorry, we’re going in a different direction.” No quarter could be given.

As an indicator of how enforcement-first and removing jobs lessens incentives for aliens, estimates are that the 2008-2009 recession which dried up employment may have forced 2 million illegals back home.

Ending illegal immigration would be part one of a two-part immigration solution. Part two must include severely restricting legal immigration. The leading Republican candidates are wrongly unified in their belief that America’s future depends on importing more foreign-born labor though various visas, most commonly the widely abused H-1B non-immigrant work visa.

Not a shred of evidence exists to support claims that the nation has a jobs shortage—in any category. The national unemployment rate has been at 9 percent or higher since March 2009. Recent immigrants have it worse. The Latino unemployment rate is nearly 12 percent. No one can convincingly argue that the United States needs more labor, low-skilled or otherwise.

My three-step plan—prolonged border security, internal enforcement and meaningful legal immigration reductions—is one that would work and, quite possibly, be a winning platform for whoever adopts it.

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Joe Guzzardi’s editorial columns, mostly about immigration and related social issues, have been published since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). Contact him at [email protected].