The REAL Immigration Issue No One Is Discussing

Our ongoing and heated debate over immigration addresses many issues -- legal versus illegal immigration, guest worker programs, securing the borders, penalizing employers and whether to naturalize or deport illegal immigrants in the country now. But really the whole debate over immigration comes down to a single issue that no one is discussing directly -- how much of it do we want? Perhaps it is understandable that no one wants to directly face the question of how much immigration we want, given that this country is extremely divided on that subject, with extreme views ranging from none at all to unlimited. But the issue has to be faced. The basic reason we have so much illegal immigration is that more people want to go to the United States than we are willing to admit. And nearly all proposals on how to address the issue ultimately are disguised statements on how many immigrants to accept.

Consider first the case of anti-immigration activists. Officially, such activists always say that they have no objection to legal immigration, only to illegal immigration. They are not hostile to immigrants, but only want to uphold the law. But such activists also oppose guest worker plans which would allow greater legal immigration. The real message here is that the number of immigrants the United States currently admits legally is about right and the number coming here illegally is way too many.

Any serious consideration of why people oppose illegal immigration supports this statement. People fear that illegal immigrants depress wages and that they consume services without paying taxes. Others worry about the burden on our schools of teaching so many children who do not speak English. Some worry that people low on the economic scale, and often young men entering without their families, will be prone to crime. Others see 15 or more people living in a single family dwelling and worry about damage they may cause and harm to property values. These are all legitimate concerns and not mere bigotry. But the lowering of wages, the overuse of services, the burden on schools, the risk of crime, and damage to neighborhoods have nothing to do with who does or does not have a green card and everything to do with the number of immigrants involved. (The one exception is taxes which legal immigrants obviously pay more of than illegal, although illegal immigrants do pay sales takes and many have even joined programs allowing them to pay income taxes in hopes of eventually gaining legal status).

Other people oppose illegal immigration for less worthy reasons. They call it an "invasion" of aliens cultures and values that will undermine American identity. They feel threatened by the presence of people who speak Spanish and have Spanish radio stations, or by demonstrators waving the Mexican flag and chanting slogans n Spanish. A few even believe that it is plot by the Mexican government to infiltrate and reconquer the Southwest. Once again, these fears have nothing to do with green cards and immigration papers and everything to do with the number of people involved. Finally, consider the following thought experiment. Suppose our government managed to deport all illegal immigrants, and then expanded its legal immigration program to admit just as many people legally as are now entering illegally. Would it resolve anything?

Consider the issue, on the other hand, from a pro-immigration perspective. A Mexican national wants to go to the United States and has a choice between going legally or illegally. Going illegally means walking miles and miles across blazing, waterless deserts, being preyed upon by immigrant smugglers, and then living in constant fear of being found and deported. Going legally means the paperwork and red tape of applying for a green card. Given the options, why would anyone chose to go illegally? The answer is simple -- there are so few green cards and so many people who want them that the chances of being admitted legally too small to take seriously. Illegal immigrants, in effect, are voting with their feet for a much higher rate of immigration than the United States allows.

Immigrants inside the United States do not make the sharp dicotomy between legal and illegal residents because they do not see the difference as one between the law-abiding and criminals, but simply between the lucky and the unlucky. The huge immigrant rallies we have witnessed called for legalization are, in effect, all calling for a great expansion in the number of immigrants admitted. Employers who support guest worker plans also want to increase the number of immigrants admitted. (An exception may be union leaders who also favor expanded legalization. Union leaders are in a conflicted position of favoring immigration insofar as it means admitting more potential union member and opposing it insofar as it lowers wages. But whatever the volume of immigration, union leaders necessarily care whether it is legal or illegal because illegal immigrants are liable to be too easily indimidated to join a union or protest abuses by their employers).

In short, the single underlying issue about immigration is how much of it we want. Any honest discussion of illegal immigration means facing the fact illegal immigration really means more people want to come here than we are willing to allow. It is undoubtedly true that more Mexicans and Central Americans want to come to the United States than we can reasonably admit. In the short run there are only two ways to stop illegal immigration: (1) Raise a physical barrier to keep illegal immigrants out. (2) Lower legal barriers to entering so that illegal entry is no longer attractive. It is certainly possible to raise physical barriers and at least partially lower legal barriers at the same time; that is what the bill in the Senate seeks to do. In the long run, the only way to end illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is to make them attractive enough that people no longer want to leave. That, too, is in our interest and needs to be discussed.