This is a little reminder of things I’ve been pretty consistent in over the last 20 years.
- I think we need a guest worker program. The 10,000 work visas for which Mexicans are eligible is obscenely, absurdly low. Think a million, two million rather than 10,000.
- I think we need some sort of accommodation for people who were brought to the U. S. illegally as children.
- Our immigration policies should be changed to resemble those of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—all countries with which we have much in common historically, culturally, and economically—more than they do our present policies. They all have workplace enforcement and vigorous border control. Maybe I’ve just missed them but I haven’t seen Canada, Australia, or New Zealand’s policies likened to the Third Reich or complaints of a holocaust on their borders in the American media.
One more point. Mexico deported twice as many Central Americans as we did last year. They shouldn’t do that—those are refugees and asylum-seekers. Rejecting them is a violation of their treaty obligations.
I agree w/ 2 & 3, but remain unconvinced about 1. The class of immigrants coming from Central America have the lowest skills and receive the lowest income in the U.S. I wouldn’t place any special burden on immigration from Mexico, but I wouldn’t privilege it due to its impacts on lower income Americans.
The best case I can make regarding 1 is that if we move towards a more skills-based immigration policy, the most significant change would be on would-be Mexican immigrants. Mexicans currently constitute about 30% of those seeking a green card based upon family ties, but only about 2% of employer-sponsored immigration applications. Maybe a change along the lines being suggested by either Dave or me would be too sudden and have unforeseen consequences on Mexico. We have a foreign policy interest in Mexico not being a basket-case, though I’m not sure how we necessarily do that.
To riff off of PDs comment. I have no idea how you would really make it skills based. These people are mostly no skills. Period. Perhaps the way is to just limit the number. Crude but…..
2mm sounds high. Maybe 500k to 1mm.
I’m not impressed that Canada is not shrieking Nazi!! That seems an American affliction.
“They shouldn’t do that—those are refugees and asylum-seekers.”
I thought you made the claim that these are mostly people seeking economic asylum and have no special right to be granted asylum. Wouldn’t that hold true for Mexico also?
Steve
I agree with them all.
With #1, I’d add the following caveats:
-Guest worker jobs should be based on US standards including compensation, safety, workman’s comp, etc.
-Employers must provide or pay for healthcare while they are working in the US.
-No non-working family members unless the employer sponsors them.
-Wages would be federally taxed at a low, flat rate – enough to cover the federal services utilized, plus an extra percent or two.
-The work permit should be of limited duration and require returning to the country of origin at regular intervals.
Sorry, no. When they flee Guatemala or Honduras and go to Mexico, the first country they enter, they are refugees. When they depart Mexico for the U. S., they’re economic migrants. Look at the definition of “refugee”.
Andy:
Yes, those are my assumptions.