Over the next several months the Supreme Court will hear arguments over Arizona's state-passed immigration law. Regardless of the outcome one thing should be very clear: the anti-immigrant movement has no long-term strategy to fix our broken immigration system. All these laws have done is create an environment which has stagnated conversation about repairing the systemic problems inherent in our non-functioning immigration system. The bottom line: state-passed laws by design cannot and will not ever reform an immigration system which needs a uniform overhaul from Congress.
Any law which seeks to fix the problems associated with undocumented immigration in our country must deal with three issues on a national scale: 1) how best to enforce our immigration laws; 2) how to deal with those undocumented immigrants currently here; and 3) create a process for moving future flows of legal immigration into and out of the country.
The Obama Administration has already made significant movement on the enforcement part of this strategy. Deportations are at a record high level and undocumented immigration into the country is at a net zero. Most importantly, between 2009 and 2010 for the first time in decades the undocumented population actually dropped, and has remained stagnant to date. In fact in a huge reversal, more Mexican undocumented migrants are leaving the country then are entering it. Despite the strides made, there are those who see state-passed immigration laws as a legitimate fix for our broken immigration system. Playing the devil's advocate, let us envision a scenario in which the Supreme Court upholds SB1070.
Using simple arithmetic, 36 of 51 states have attempted to pass anti-immigration laws similar to Arizona SB1070. However, only six of the thirty six proposals or around16% have actually passed. This suggests that even if the Supreme Court sets a precedent by finding these laws constitutional, it is highly unlikely that anything close to a majority of the states would pass their own immigration laws. Under this scenario removing immigrants currently in this country without documentation would be all but impossible.
A patchwork of state-passed immigration laws will not remove immigrants from the country. The evidence suggests it merely causes them to move from one state to another. Carrying this proposed scenario out further, if states were given constitutional authority to generate mass deportations or to implement a system which compels self-deportation, they would still be reliant on federal enforcement resources and financial support.
From a basic process standpoint states do not have the legal means or resources to deport immigrants. Deportations are a controlled process with specific and expensive steps which must be adhered to. States who attempt to deport on their own would find themselves in a morass of legal red tape coupled with staggering costs. It can cost anywhere from $12,500 to $23,480 to deport one immigrant. Estimates show that deporting the population of undocumented immigrants already in this country could cost as much as $285 billion.
A patchwork of state-passed immigration laws does nothing to fix the utterly broken process of legal immigration into the country. The majority of undocumented immigrants in the country are Visa overstays who came into the country legally. The number of immigrants who apply to come in legally far outnumbers the allocations for visas currently given. Even if possible, deporting all of the undocumented immigrants in the country would accomplish nothing, if the process of legally moving people into and out of the country is not fixed. On their own states simply cannot do this. Any scenario which finds state-passed immigration laws constitutional will only bring the country right back to where we are now, dealing with an immigration system that doesn't work.
The rise of the state-passed immigration movement has been an ideological dead end for the country and a stagnation of real conversation around reforming our current system. The Supreme Court case matters, not just because of the precedent it will set, but because upholding these laws would only give Congressional Republicans the ability to continue to shirk their duty to come to the table and fix our immigration system. Regardless of whether or not the Supreme Court strikes down some or all of SB1070, the inescapable fact remains, states individually will never be able to fix the larger problems associated with our immigration system. Most assuredly, with time the Court's decision will only reinforce a simple fact: the only entity that can fix the mess we are in is Congress.
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Jim Wallis: Arizona's Immigration Legislation Undermines Christian Values
I waited patiently, I did what was asked, the fees, the interviews, and voila...I am now a citizen.
Hey Kristian, it worked for MILLIONS, it's not broken.
An immigrant follows the laws, an illegal alien jumps the border when no one is looking, or doesn't bother to update their visa.
Democracies are slow to recognize a problem, even slower coming to concensus to deal with it. But I think we're there. Any chance of "amnesty" is so 47 seconds ago. No chance today.
Since the author refuses to even address this problem, it is apparent that he has no serious intent for reform at all. The fact is that over 60% of illegals came in illegally, and that according to most surveys the visa overstayers are about 40%. The visa overstayers are a lesser problem since we know who they are and when and where they came in.
It is a false option to state that only arrests and deportations can solve the problem without reform. In fact with rigorous enfocement of E-Verify, and Secure Communities, and round up of illegals, the majority of illegals will leave on their own. That is what happened under Eisenhower when he deported about one million illegals, and the rest left on their own. So we would be looking at most about 6 million being deported at the worst case. All we need is the will to do so, and we could easily get that done in a few years.
The fact that 36 states have passed or are passing anti-illegal legislation is proof that the federal government has been in dereliction of its duty. We have a large military. We should post it all along the border instead of sending it on overseas adventures. After all, the only legitimate use of a military these days is to defend national borders.
Do your job and quit giving illegal aliens a free ride in America.
Enough is ENOUGH!
The idea of foreigners coming in and stealing American jobs and social services is a ploy by political and corporate elites to keep us from seeing the real causes of middle-class economic stagnation. Illegal immigrants aren't the problem, people, don't get distracted from the real job-stealers.
If you look at construction jobs and many other areas, you will find illegals working there. In fact the ICE raided an aircraft overhaul facility and took out over 20 illegals who had false papers and licenses. Those were jobs stolen from US licensed, union workers. They also drive honest contractors out of business when they offer rates based on illegal workers. In Texas the upscale homes built by Robert Perry are done by his mostly iilegal workforce. He is also a big GOP donor which is why no E-Verify law will be passed in Texas since it will cost him and the GOP millions of dollars.
1. It's difficult to immigrate here if you don't have a relative who is a U.S. citizen; even
if you do, it takes years ( some times more than 10 ) to get your "papers" in order.
if you do, it takes years ( some times more than 10 ) to get your "papers" in order."
So what! You have a country. These people are not living on a raft in the middle of the ocean. It's not a humane right to come to America. There are 6.5 billion non Americans in the world. They all won't make the cutoff to be allowed in. These people also have a country which is run by their countryman, people who are just like them. Their countries are the result of practices which they and their countrymen allowed to happened.
Stop crying and jumping ship. Their countries are never going to improve themselves if the people keep fleeing.
The "difficult" is what makes it great.
There is no crying in immigration.