Immigration Debate Must Focus on Realities
Special to Roll Call
As the debate over immigration reform intensifies, and the number of competing bills grows almost daily, it is important that we focus on the realities of the current climate, not the red-hot rhetoric, if we are going to seriously address this important issue.
The first thing I believe we can all agree on, regardless of the legislative vehicle one supports, is that the current immigration system is failing our nation: It hurts families. It hinders businesses. And it hampers our ability to effectively enforce our national security.
But how do we fix it? What is the solution?
Is the answer that we deport the 8 million to 11 million undocumented individuals who are working and contributing to their communities? How much would that approach cost?
According to a recent study by the Center for American Progress, it would cost more than $41 billion annually for five years — and would exceed the entire budget of the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal 2006.
In addition, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff recently told the Senate Judiciary Committee that it would cost “billions and billions and billions,” adding that it would not be a realistic policy.
More importantly, what would a mass deportation do to our work force and to our economy?
The Labor Department estimates that the total number of jobs requiring only short-term training will increase from 53.2 million in 2000 to 60.9 million by 2010, a net increase of 7.7 million jobs.
The simple truth is that most of our aging, more educated work force is unwilling to perform this type of labor. However, these jobs need to get done to keep our economy growing and our communities thriving.
I think the late President Ronald Reagan probably summed up this issue best when he described unpicked apples rotting on a tree.
He said, “It makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss. Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion, or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t do? One thing is certain in this hungry world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters.”
It is probably important to note that today, more than 80 percent of apple pickers in Washington state are immigrants, and more than half of those are undocumented.
When you look at other industries across the spectrum, you arrive at the same conclusion.
Today, there are more than 700,000 undocumented restaurant workers, more than 250,000 undocumented household employees and more than 1 million undocumented farm workers.
So, what should we do to ensure that we create an immigration system that, as President Bush said, can “match willing foreign workers with willing employers when no Americans can be found to fill the job”?
I think the answer is comprehensive immigration reform.
Earlier this Congress, I introduced the Secure America Orderly Immigration Act with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in the Senate and Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) in the House.
It is a bipartisan, bicameral comprehensive solution to the challenges we face.
Our bill would allow people to come out of the shadows and work here legally, safely and humanely. It regulates future flows of workers. And it greatly enhances our border security through a combination of improved cooperation, cutting-edge technology and increased resources.
It also creates a system predicated on family values by developing laws that better value families — a system that keeps families strong and, most importantly, keeps them together. It corrects the injustice in our current immigration system that is tearing thousands of families apart, leaving single parents to fend for themselves, and children who are U.S. citizens to grow up without a loving mother or father.
I know there is a lot of talk about enforcement and border security, but that is only one part of the immigration equation.
Recent studies show that the Border Patrol budget has increased tenfold since 1986. And, as you know, this rapidly rising budget has done very little to stem the rapid rise in undocumented immigration.
So I think we need to do more than simply throw more money at the problem. We need to think more comprehensively and more strategically about the issue — because building a giant fence or sending more unfunded mandates to our states will not solve this problem.
I believe the solution lies in the fact that we must stop targeting Windex-wielding cleaning ladies and other low-wage workers and start focusing our limited resources on better targeting the real terrorists and criminals and smugglers who wish to do our nation harm.
And we can do this if we deal directly with the millions of undocumented workers who are already here — living and working and contributing to a better, more dynamic America.
Let me be clear: These people should be penalized, but the punishment should fit the crime. They should be fined and fingerprinted and thoroughly vetted. But at the end of the process, hard-working and deserving undocumented residents should have access to a fair and clear path to permanency and citizenship.
Because our immigrant community today, as they have for generation after generation, works the longest hours at the hardest jobs for the lowest pay.
They pick our fruit. They care for our children and elderly. They change bedpans. They clear our tables and wash our dishes.
But immigrants do these jobs not because they want to take anything away from America, but because they want to give their skills, sweat and labor for a better life and for the opportunity to help build a better America.
Their lives are hard. They work for meager wages. They have to sacrifice to pay for rent, for groceries and for clothes. But they work so hard because they love America, and they want to be Americans.
So let’s work together to create an immigration system that works for families, works for businesses and works for our communities.
Because each day that goes by with silence and inaction on this issue means the potential for another dead body turning up in the desert, another child separated from her parent, another worker exploited and another dream denied.
For the sake of the millions of families adversely affected by our immigration laws, for the sake of our national security and for the sake of our economy, let’s get comprehensive immigration reform passed this Congress.
The time to do this is now, and the time for excuses is over.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration task force and the Democratic Caucus Immigration task force.
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