Imaginary War

Senators McCain and Kennedy (among others) have introduced a landmark bill to overhaul U.S. immigration policy.

The bill, the 2005 Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, would allow illegal immigrants who pay fines and fees of at least $2,000, take English and civics courses, and undergo medical and background checks, to apply for green cards and eventually citizenship.

The bill would establish a new type of work visa, the H-5A, which would allow low-skilled foreign workers who have lined up jobs in the United States to come for three years. The visa could be renewed once for an additional three years. Illegal workers now in the United States would apply for H-5B visas that would be valid for six years. After the visa terms expire, immigrants could either return home or apply for permanent residence, and ultimately, citizenship.

This "is not amnesty; this is earned adjustment," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who co-sponsored the bill along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

This is a key bill, which goes a long way to both improving security along the border and correcting the insanity of current immigration law.  It can be improved on the margins but, on the whole, McCain-Kennedy deserves your support.

It will be attacked as an amnesty program. It's not.  The bill establishes a strict regimen that an illegal immigrant must follow to come into compliance with the law, including security background checks as a condition of continued residency.

It will be attacked as unfair to American workers.  It's not.  The bill levels the playing field, requires companies to put illegal workers "on the books," and imposes stiff penalties on companies and workers that continue to operate outside the system.

It will be attacked as a threat to U.S. security.  It's not.  The bill sets up screening programs and security checks stronger than anything currently on the books; strengthens the border; coordinates data collection on immigrant workers, so that fewer individuals can "slip through the cracks"; and frees up resources to catch the bad guys.

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Yes, you can expect the other side of the debate to say all these things, and more.  What you will not hear, however, are practical solutions.  Rather, the other side's solutions -- when they make the mistake of offering them -- will be to promise ever increasing expenditures on an unwinnable war against immigration.  They will talk about taller fences and more agents.  They will allude to new regulations on business.  They will mention mass deportations and the need for thousands more armed folks patrolling the border.

In an economy that depends upon immigrant labor (and this one has, for a long time), such attacks are not merely against migrant laborers.  They are also against the American businesses who employ them, and who are currently trapped in a system that makes it illegal to hire the workers they need and virtually impossible to tell who is legal and who is not.  Moreover, those against real immigration reform (like that proposed in McCain-Kennedy) will expect the American taxpayer to foot the bill for ever larger and more useless fences, as well as new agents and bureaucrats who will spend their time (and your money) tracking down and deporting tax-paying employees of our largest and most essential businesses.  These new agents and bureaucrats, needless to say, will not have much time to chase Al Queda.

Further details regarding the bill are below the fold (via RedState and California Yankee).

UPDATE:  Additional information in The New York Sun.

McCain-Kennedy-Kolbe-Flake-Gutierrez Bill at a Glance 5/12/2005 (Sen. Kennedy's website):

Title I: Border Security • Requires the development of various plans and reports evaluating information-sharing, international and federal-state-local coordination, technology, anti-smuggling, and other border security initiatives • Establishes a Border Security Advisory Committee made up of various stakeholders in the border region to provide recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security regarding border enforcement • Encourages the development of multilateral partnerships to establish a North American security perimeter and improve border security south of Mexico

Title II: State Criminal Alien Assistance • Reauthorizes the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program that provides reimbursement to state and local governments for incarcerating undocumented aliens convicted of crimes • Allows for funding to pay for additional criminal justice costs associated with undocumented immigrants charged or convicted of crimes

Title III: Essential Worker Visa Program • Creates a new temporary visa to allow foreign workers to enter and fill available jobs that require few or no skills (the H-5A visa) • Applicants must show that they have a job waiting in the U.S., pay a fee of $500 in addition to application fees, and clear all security, medical, and other checks • Requires updating of America's Job Bank to make sure job opportunities are seen first by American workers • Initial cap on H-5A visas is set at 400,000, but the annual limit will be gradually adjusted up or down based on demand in subsequent years • Visa is valid for three years, and can be renewed one time for a total of 6 years; at the end of the visa period the worker either has to return home or be in the pipeline for a green card • Visa is portable, but if the worker loses his job he has to find another one within 60 days or return home • Ensures that employers hiring temporary workers abide by Federal, state and local labor, employment and tax laws • Prohibits the hiring of temporary workers as independent contractors • Protects temporary workers from abuse by foreign labor contractors or employers. • Gives temporary workers and U.S. workers remedies for violations of their rights • An employer can sponsor the H-5A visa holder for a green card, or after accumulating four years of work in H-5A status, the worker can apply to adjust status on his/her own • Sets up a task force to evaluate the H-5A program and recommend improvements

Title IV: Enforcement • Creates a new electronic work authorization system that will ultimately replace the paper-based, fraud-prone I-9 system, to be phased in gradually • When operational, the system will be applied universally and cannot be used to discriminate against job applicants • Individuals will have the right to review and correct their own records; data privacy protections are in place • Immigration-related documents and US-VISIT will be upgraded to require biometric verification of travelers • The Department of Labor will have new authority to conduct random audits of employers and ensure compliance with labor laws; also includes new worker protections and enhanced fines for illegal employment practices

TITLE V: Promoting Circular Migration Patterns • Requires foreign countries to enter into migration agreements with the U.S. that help control the flow of their citizens to jobs in the U.S., with emphasis on encouraging the re-integration of citizens returning home • Encourages the U.S. government to partner with Mexico to promote economic opportunity back home and reduce the pressure to immigrate to the U.S. • Encourages the U.S. government to partner with Mexico on health care access so that the U.S. is not unfairly impacted with the costs of administering health care to Mexican nationals

Title VI: Family Unity and Backlog Reduction • Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not counted against the 480,000 annual cap on family-sponsored green cards, thereby providing additional visas to the family preference categories • The current per-country limit on green cards is raised slightly to clear up backlogs • Income requirements for sponsoring a family member for a green card are changed from 125% of the federal poverty guidelines to 100%, and other obstacles are removed to ensure fairness • The employment-based categories are revised to provide additional visas for employers who need to hire permanent workers, and the annual cap is raised from 140,000 to 290,000 • Immigrant visas lost due to processing delays are recaptured for future allotments

Title VII: Adjustment of Status for H-5B Non-Immigrants • Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. on date of introduction can register for a temporary visa (H-5B), valid for six years • Applicants have to show work history, clean criminal record, and that they are not a security problem to be eligible for a temporary visa • They will receive work and travel authorization • Their spouses and children are also eligible • In order to qualify for permanent status, workers will have to meet a future work requirement, clear additional security/background checks, pay substantial fines and application fees ($2000 or more per adult) as well as back taxes, and meet English/civics requirements

Title VIII: Protection Against Immigration Fraud • Attempts to eliminate the exploitation of immigrants by notarios or other unlicensed immigration law practitioners by imposing new legal requirements on such individuals • Allows immigrants defrauded by unauthorized legal representatives to file actions against their perpetrators

Title IX: Civics Integration • Creates a public-private foundation under the USCIS Office of Citizenship to support programs that promote citizenship and to fund civics and English language instruction for immigrants • Provides for new money to fund civic and English language instruction for immigrants

Title X: Promoting Access to Health Care • Extends the authorization of federal reimbursements for hospitals that provide emergency care to undocumented immigrants; includes H-5A and H-5B workers in the program

Title XI: Miscellaneous • Distributes the fees and fines paid by H-5A and H-5B workers among the DHS and DOS for processing, DHS for border security efforts, DOL for enforcement of labor laws, SSA for development of the employment eligibility confirmation system, hospitals to pay for uncompensated health care, and the USCIS Office of Citizenship for civic integration and English classes • Requires the dissemination of information related to the provisions of this legislation • Includes anti-discrimination protections that cover all workers, including H-5A and H-5B visa holders

Comments

[votermom]

*Jumps up and down excitedly*
As a third world survivor, I am whole-heartedly in favor!

[Jay Sundahl]

I don't understand the rationale for a 6 year H-5b visa for illegal immigrants already here and a 3 year H-5a for new legal immigrants.

[rilkefan]

Excellent post. Glad McCain is pushing bipartisan solutions at this time of stress in the Senate (and after his annoying meddling in baseball.)

[Slartibartfast]

Maybe this will earn him some forgiveness for McCain-Feingold, from both sides.

[Slartibartfast]

Oh, and I'm guessing that Minimum Wage law will apply, along with tax withholding?

[praktike]

thank goodness some adults are weighing in on this one. Too bad RealID went in first, though.

[Jay Sundahl]

Slartibartfast: from the summary above

Ensures that employers hiring temporary workers abide by Federal, state and local labor, employment and tax laws

I haven't found a source for the text. It doesn't appear on Thomas.gov yet.

[freelunch]

This strikes me as a usable transition to a permanent reform in immigration. Our experience has been that we can accept roughly a million more people a year than we have been allowing into the country. Eventually, I would like to see all H-x visas abolished. We should include all immigrants within a cap of roughly 1% per annum of total population, though 3 million a year may seem a bit high at the moment.

The real reform, which I strongly applaud, comes in creating a method that actually requires employers in America to hire only those who have the right to work in America and makes it possible to do so.

[Anderson]

It's like the "war on drugs": if you don't hit at the demand, you're doomed, because the supply is unstoppable. Inasmuch as this bill attempts to do so, it's a good thing. Like any good thing, it has little hope in this Congress; though Bush, who made immigration-reform noises a while back, would be hailed as a political master if he got on board & flummoxed the Malkins of the world.

[John Biles]

I have a feeling a lot of these illegal immigrants are going to have a really hard time finding 2000 dollars to pay the fine. Beyond that, though, this looks eminently reasonable. Much cheaper and more efficient than trying to plug a border that is just too long.

[von]

I have a feeling a lot of these illegal immigrants are going to have a really hard time finding 2000 dollars to pay the fine.

Many pay as much (or nearly as much) to coyotes who smuggle them across the border -- and then the money is used to finance a web of Mexican, U.S., and Central American gangs.

[Slartibartfast]

Great...fine the coyotes, too. If you can.

[sidereal]

Please do. Double if they keep hassling the chickens.

[jerseycityjoan]

Federal minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for eight years. Wages for many people -- especially on the lower end of the scale -- haven't been keeping up with inflation.

Can it be wise to cement into place a de facto economic system that encourages low-skilled immigrants to come here and employers to look outside the country for workers?

While I agree the current situation is a mess, anything that seems to encourage more low-skilled people to come here seems counterproductive. The cost of housing is already soaring, increasing 2-3-4+ times the rate of inflation in many places. The US Census bureau predicts our population will increase from about 295 million today to 400 million in 2050. Frankly I don't know how we're going to educate, house and employ all those extra people -- 105 million of them! Why on earth should we look to add still more people to a rapidly growing population?

P.S. How much of a revolving door do you think the guest workers program will be? Who will go back, especially since their children born here will be U.S. citizens?

[otto]

Anderson,

Good point on the demand aspect of immigration. It always seems odd to me in relationships like this one that the effect (illegals) and not the cause (need for cheap labor) gets the most attention. Also, the power factor is invariably missed. Who is in a more powerful, influential position with regard to immigration, an illegal from Mexico or American agribusiness?

JerseyCityJoan,

Encouraging more low-skilled people to come to the US would seem counterproductive if the main issues were the ones you suggest: jobs, education, housing. Unfortunately, increasing low skill immigration is beneficial to some US business interests. There is a reason for the many US-owned maquiladoras that have sprouted up on the Mexican side of the border since the passage of NAFTA. And what would food prices here look like without a cheap supply of migrant farm labor and federal agriculture subsidy? It is revealing that there is so much talk currently about the supposed economic drain on our health care system by illegals but not a word about the money we make from their labor. Illegals get spun as if they were welfare lie-abouts with the financial arrow only pointing from our pockets to theirs. The real kicker is that corporate interest (getting the most from labor while paying the least for it) has been sold to average Americans by whipping up terrorist fears, racial hatred, and job insecurities (have you seen the vigilante groups like Ranch Rescue and The Minutemen?). I suspect that if corporations were actually on the side of the bulk of Americans they would not be moving factories overseas or sheltering an estimated $250 billion worth of annual tax revenue in assests offshore (1998 Merrill Lynch/Cap Gemini's "World Wealth Report").

[background checks]

i really like how they are doing background checks on immigrates

[SMITH]

The children from the illegal aliens will be US Ciizens, but so what? if the illegals stay in the US illegally they can still get married and have children and the children will still be US citizens. There is no difference. The likely hood that an illegal alien will go back to their home country, whom has been in this country for more than 10 years is .001%.
So why keep them opressed? Why not legalize their status. They will stay in this country and they will just increase poverty because they are currently being exploited.

In addition, many of these illegal aliens have married US Citizens and have had children. There is currently no law that can legalize the status for those that have married US Citizens.
It is also unfair to our US Citizens to have spouses who are illegal and live in fear of being deported.

The worlds population is growing in over all, not just the US. The US already has the issue of having illegals, legalizing the status of the illegals will take care of an internal problem, which is completely seperate from increasing security in the border.