America’s immigration system is
broken. Ineffective enforcement and inadequate pathways to legal
immigration have led to a skyrocketing number of illegal immigrants. It
is estimated that nearly 12 million people live in this country without
authorization, with an additional 500,000 settling each year. Last
year, the Senate passed a comprehensive, bipartisan measure to address this
problem, but it was blocked by House Republicans. The American people
deserve better. In the 110th Congress, Democrats have made
immigration reform that is tough, fair, and practical a top priority. As
the Senate works to move forward on immigration reform, it is important to
remember why fixing our broken immigration system is important to our
nation.
Illegal immigration has more than doubled in the last ten years. Approximately
12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States today, up from 5
million in 1996. As of 2005, 66 percent of these immigrants had been in the
country for ten years or less, and 40 percent had been in the country five
years or less. It is estimated that nearly 30 percent of the foreign-born
population living in this country are unauthorized. (Pew Hispanic Center, “The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S.,” 03/06)
Weak enforcement at and
beyond the border has contributed to the skyrocketing number of unauthorized
immigrants. Under the Bush
Administration, apprehensions at the border have fallen by over 31
percent. Between Fiscal Years 1996 and 2000, the average number of
apprehensions was 1.52 million. Between the years of 2001 and 2004, this
number fell to 1.05 million. (Third Way, “A Heck of a Job on Immigration
Enforcement,” 05/06)
The Administration’s apprehension
rate in non-border states is even worse. Between Fiscal Years 1996 and 2000,
the average number of apprehensions was 40,193. Between the years of 2001
and 2004, that number fell to 25,901 -- a decrease of more than 36
percent. Because over half of the illegal immigrants who live in the United States live in non-Mexican border states, the chance of an illegal immigrant being
apprehended once inside the country is minimal. In fact, it would take over
200 years to apprehend and deport all of the undocumented aliens already in the
country under the Bush enforcement rates. (Third Way, “A Heck of a Job on
Immigration Enforcement,” 05/06)
For nearly five years, the Bush
Administration virtually abandoned the investigation and prosecution of
employers who knowingly hired illegal labor. In 1999, federal authorities imposed 417 fines against companies for
hiring illegal labor, but by 2004, they imposed only three fines. The Washington
Post reported that, “a 2003 memorandum issued by ICE required field offices
to request approval before opening work-site cases not related to protecting “critical
infrastructure,” such as nuclear plants. Agents focused on removing
unauthorized workers, not investigating and prosecuting employers who were
violating immigration laws. ICE also faced a $500 million budget
shortfall, and resources were shifted from traditional enforcement to
investigations related to national security. . . [Former INS Director of
Operations, Mark] Reed said, ‘We were pushed away from doing enforcement.’
The combination of an Administration that turned a blind eye to employer
misdeeds and employers who ignored the law created an environment where illegal
hiring could flourish. (Washington Post, “Illegal Hiring is Rarely
Penalized,” 7/19/06)
Inadequate paths to
legal immigration have incentivized illegal immigration. Our current immigration laws, which provide for only
5,000 permanent low-skilled work visas per year, have not kept up with the
needs of the job market, which are estimated at approximately 100 times that
allocation. Our family immigration system is so backlogged that many
people must wait years, in some cases decades, to be reunited with family
members. Many observers believe that the mismatch of supply of
legal means of entry and demand for immigration has contributed to increased illegal immigration. (National
Immigration Forum, “Answers to Important Questions on Comprehensive Immigration
Reform,” 06/06; Third Way, “A Heck of a Job on Immigration Enforcement,” 05/06)
Illegal immigration is a
threat to our national security.
America is a proud nation of immigrants, and the vast majority of
undocumented immigrants are productive people who contribute to the spirit,
culture, and economy of our country. Nevertheless, it is vital that we
know the identities and/or whereabouts of the millions
of foreign nationals who live within our borders. Failing to do so
represents an enormous gap in U.S. intelligence and fosters a black market of
fake documents and criminal smuggling that can be used by those who may
truly want to harm our nation. Given that it is not practical to round-up
and deport 12 million people, it is imperative that
we create incentives for undocumented persons to come out of the shadows and
reduce the number of immigrants crossing our borders illegally. (Coalition
for Immigration Security, 7/06)
Illegal immigration is
unfair to American taxpayers. Immigration
reform is needed to re-establish the rule of law and require all those who live
in the United States to pay their fair share of
taxes. Further, businesses that hire illegal immigrants must no longer be
allowed to avoid paying payroll taxes on these workers, who make up nearly five
percent of our workforce. (Pew Hispanic Center, “The Size and
Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S.,” 03/06)
Enforcement-only
solutions have not worked in the past. While strong and effective border and worksite enforcement is key, only
a comprehensive approach will repair America’s broken immigration system. While
Congress drastically increased the
budget for Border Patrol, from $151 million in 1986 to $1.6 billion in 2002,
and the number of border patrol agents, from 4,876 in 1995 to 11,106 in 2005,
illegal immigration has not decreased -- it has increased. In 1985, it is
estimated that there were 4 million illegal immigrants living in this country,
by 2005, there were more than 11 million. (National Immigration Forum,
“Immigration Enforcement: What Has Been Tried? What Has Been the Result?,” 03/06;
Third Way, “A Heck of a Job on Immigration Enforcement,” 05/06;
Pew Hispanic Center, “The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant
Population in the U.S.,” 03/06)
Further, increased enforcement
near urban centers has not only failed to stem the
flow of illegal immigration but has merely encouraged immigrants to
cross the border in more remote areas where they are more difficult to
apprehend and more likely to die. A record 460 undocumented immigrants
died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between October 1, 2004 and September 30,
2005. (Chicago Tribune, “460 illegal migrants died crossing border,”
10/2/05)
True immigration reform
will require a tough, fair, and practical approach that enforces the law and disincentivizes
illegal immigration. We need strong
and effective border patrol and tough sanctions for employers who break the
law, but we also need to give undocumented workers, who are already here, the
opportunity to earn their way to U.S. citizenship by getting in the back
of the line, working hard for several years, paying taxes, learning
English, passing criminal background checks, and paying fines and penalties.
We do not, however, need to spend the more than $200 billion over five years
that would be required to deport eight to nine million people, which is the
estimated number of people who would have to be removed involuntarily. (Center
for American Progress, “Deporting the Undocumented, A Cost Assessment, 7/05)
Americans support
immigration reform that is tough, fair and practical. A recent nationwide poll of likely voters showed that
75 percent of Americans support the comprehensive immigration reform package
that was passed in the Senate last year. That bipartisan proposal would
have addressed illegal immigration from all sides by strengthening border and
worksite enforcement, improving avenues to legalization, clearing visa
backlogs, and providing for a guest worker program. When asked to choose
between comprehensive reform and an enforcement-only approach (or “attrition”),
65 percent of Americans favored comprehensive reform and only 26 percent
favored the other approach. And a separate poll found that Americans’ top
goals for immigration reform are the same as the goals of our bipartisan,
comprehensive approach: Tough on the border, fair to taxpayers, and practical
in terms of fixing the problem and restoring the rule of law. (National
Immigration Forum & Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, “A National
Survey of Voter Attitudes on Immigration,” 04/07; Third Way/SEIU survey by
Benenson Strategies, 5/06)
