THE TABLET
June 30, 2007
Liberty and Justice for All

The current immigration debate has the possibility of being a sad page in U.S. immigration history. The history of U.S. immigration has had its highs and lows.  At times it has been dominated by bias in discriminatory practices and other times it has been open to the real situation of labor market and family unification needs.  The current debate seems not to be influenced by our history or the present reality.

There are two overriding issues that need to be dealt with today.  The first is national security and the second is labor market and family unification needs.  Without a secure border, the internal security of our nation is compromised.  The Church has always taught that when a nation has a right to determine who enters and regulate with just policies, immigration flows.  Unfortunately, our immigration system has not kept up effectively with our labor market needs, or with the legitimate desire of families to be united.

Security at the border must be a cooperative effort with the nations who share our frontiers, namely, Mexico and Canada.  Without international cooperation, long-term security will not be assured by a wall of any length or height.  Without mutual international surveillance, people will continue to cross our borders.

On the other hand, our labor market at this present time is one with low unemployment nationally and expanding labor market needs, especially in the service sectors.  Although undocumented aliens can be found in all sectors of the labor market, the majority do work in service, construction and other areas in need of workers.

The need for agricultural workers has been a constant theme in our immigration policy.  The latest proposal to admit temporary workers, not only for agricultural work, but in related areas, is one that is unproven, but worth some investigation.  The fact is there always have been seasonal flows of migrants across our borders to do temporary work.  Unfortunately this proposed program will not allow these temporary workers to gain permanent status at some point. 

Another change that has been proposed is that of a point system that will favor those with higher skills and English language knowledge, for example.  There are just a few points to be gained by family connections; however, this may be an ill-conceived policy as it will affect nations with skilled and professional people who wish to migrate to the United States for higher wages, while at the same time leaving their own nations, that provided for their education, bereft of their best and brightest.  The family immigration system in the past has provided not only low income wage earners, but also higher skilled people, certainly after the first generation.

Our own nation has relied on family unification, fortunately now characterized as “chain migration,” to populate our nation from its very beginning.  It was always on the basis of an affidavit of support that immigrants were allowed into our country.  The immigrant family which wished to bring in other members took responsibility for their initial integration into the labor market and saw to all their personal needs, even to the point of promising that they would not become public charges in any way.  This system has served the nation well and the unproven system of unconnected skilled individuals should be a pilot program initially.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is the perception that the program of legalization is an amnesty program that rewards law breakers.  There are different types of laws that are broken every day.  Some of them have great consequences, others do not.  For example, passing an intersection on a red light can have serious and dangerous consequences if another car is coming, but in the absence of oncoming traffic and in an emergency, going through a red light does not have dire consequences.  Our present labor laws and immigration laws have encouraged people to go through red lights since their labor was needed and they could find ready work in the marketplace. 

In the future it will be important that a secure identity and work card be established in our nation.  With due regard to civil liberty considerations, the present situation undermines internal security and demands that some type of uniform identification system be implemented.  Security is a critical concern to our nation today and if we do not have internal security, our security at the borders will make little sense.

Unfortunately, today our immigration reform is being driven by partisan political considerations and very often in a very punitive manner which betrays racist prejudices.  The nation desperately needs comprehensive immigration reform; however, this reform needs to take place in an atmosphere of cooperation among our political parties, and also in cooperation with nations who allow their nationals to migrate.  They too bear responsibility for the well being of their own citizens. With international collaborative mechanisms, reform can be achieved.

Any untested reform is an exercise of “putting out into the deep.”  As our nation approaches the Fourth of July celebration this year, the lack of truly generous immigration reform threatens to compromise the founding principles of our nation where liberty and justice for all should prevail.

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