Immigration Reform
In this paper I will discuss how the United States needs a new immigration policy that is based less on wishful thinking and more on realism. Spending vast sums of money trying to enforce arbitrary numerical limits on immigration that bear no relationship to economic reality is a fool’s errand. We need flexible limits on immigration that rise and fall with U.S. labor demand, coupled with strict enforcement of tough wage and labor laws that protect all workers, regardless of where they were born. We need to respect the natural human desire for family reunification, while recognizing that even family-based immigrants are unlikely to come here if jobs are not available. And we need to create a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants who pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants who are already here so that they can no longer be exploited by unscrupulous employers who hang the threat of deportation over their heads.
The dysfunction of the current U.S. immigration system is deeply rooted and broadly based. For decades, legal limits on both employment-based and family-based immigration to the United States have been determined largely by domestic political compromises that seldom bear any relationship to the labor needs of the U.S. economy or the social needs of the U.S. populace (Abowd,2007). Immigration remains one of the most enduring leitmotifs in political debates because of its profound influences on American society, economy, and national identity. These debates often focus on whether immigration adversely affects the labor market outcomes of workers in the United States, whether the immigration system selects people with right of skills. Additional noneconomic factors make immigration an in my in your backyard issue. First, the current number of immigrants, 38 million, is at a historical hight (Abowd,2007 ). Second, eight in ten immigrants have come from
The dysfunction of the current U.S. immigration system is deeply rooted and broadly based. For decades, legal limits on both employment-based and family-based immigration to the United States have been determined largely by domestic political compromises that seldom bear any relationship to the labor needs of the U.S. economy or the social needs of the U.S. populace (Abowd,2007). Immigration remains one of the most enduring leitmotifs in political debates because of its profound influences on American society, economy, and national identity. These debates often focus on whether immigration adversely affects the labor market outcomes of workers in the United States, whether the immigration system selects people with right of skills. Additional noneconomic factors make immigration an in my in your backyard issue. First, the current number of immigrants, 38 million, is at a historical hight (Abowd,2007 ). Second, eight in ten immigrants have come from
References: Abowd, M. John.( 2007) Immgration, Trade, and the Labor Market. Chicago, Ill, The University of Chicago Press. Beacon, David. (2008) Illegal People: Boston, Massachusetts, Beacon Press Books. Bruno Andorra. (2010) Unauthorized Alien Students: Issues and Dream Act, New York, NY. Congressional Research Service. Taylor, Yoku. (2012) Immigration and Assimilation: Lanham, Maryland. Published by Government Institutes .