Immigration
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Angles
What are the basic angles to explore in this segment, from left, right or other?
First, a brief discussion on how people legally immigrate to this country (family based and employment based) because most people have no idea how the system really works.
I'm a legal immigrant in NYC on a TN visa, and people often look askance at me when I identify as an "immigrant"-- my Canadian accent isn't immediately apparent and I'm white, so even though I'm not from this country, they seem to consider "immigrant" an overstatement of my foreign-ness. The TN visa itself is very easy to obtain under current NAFTA regulations; there's a list of seemingly-arbitrary occupations that qualify, and as long as you have a university degree and can demonstrate a job offer and relevant experience for a job on the list, you're in. There isn't even a waiting period; if you can visit the border in person and present your paperwork, the visa is granted on the spot and lasts one year. That moment during the primaries when candidates were on an anti-NAFTA run made me anxious, but as long as there are so many other things for candidates to focus on, the TN visa's relative security should be safe. -Aileen C.
I immigrated to this country as a child 41 years ago. I have never been convinced by the arguments that immigration, legal or illegal is an economic liability for this country. Quite to the contrary. The population of the United States is getting older. The ratio of younger productive workers to older, sicker, perhaps retired workers is getting lower as Americans have fewer children. This is a common problem in industrialized countries. A shrinking pool of younger workers will bear the tax burden of the Social Security benefits for a growing pool of older less productive or retired people. The only way to stem or slow down this trend is importing young workers from elsewhere. Yet far from going out of our way to induce these young immigrants to come to our country, we portray it as a threat and a problem. (Fear of the other or plain racism is a more plausible explanation of this behavior rather than economics) Illegal immigrants are overwhelmingly young people seeking work. If we would let this fundamentally good effect immigration has on our economy inform the debate, the remaining issues would seem quite manageable. The remaining major problems of how to tax and keep track of immigrants and how to keep them from undermining the wages of the lower wage workers would be much easier to deal with if we stopped forcibly deporting them. If all they want to do is work and instead of deporting them we regulate and enforce the ability to work, and collect taxes, few immigrants would remain outside the legal framework, and their wages would rise so they would no longer undermine the lowest paid workers.
While relevant to the discussion of free trade, the TN visa classification doesn't fully represent the absurdities of the US's current immigration system. Few people understand the limitations of the H1B classification---the primary means by which foreign professionals, including those who have been educated here, are able to be legally employed in the US. Each year, a little more than 60,000 H1B "slots" are available to new applicants. While these visas have been used up more and more rapidly each year, in 2007 and 2008 the Citizenship & Immigration Service (CIS) received more than enough applications to exhaust the entire cap on the first days of filing. As a result, everyone, even qualified applicants who submitted all of their materials in a timely manner, was subject to a random lottery drawing. The details for 2008's filings are explained at the CIS's Press Room website from April 2008 [1]
Further, H2B employment is also extremely limited. These visas are the only means by which US employers can legally hire the "unskilled" workers who landscape lawns, clean hotel rooms, serve at restaurants and generally provide the backbone to our recreational economy. Rather than a national security issue, the lack of H2B visas is most appropriately viewed as a small business issue [2]. I should note, too, that H2B employment is typically approved only for a temporary (less than 10 month) period. Thus, there is effectively no way through our current immigration system for a business owner to legally hire non-professional workers for a year round position, much less for multiple years. It's no wonder so many companies resort to hiring illegal workers whose personal rights are compromised and whose employment compromises the working conditions for US workers. -lkz
Then discuss what are the problems with the system that make it difficult to legally immigrate (long back logs; sponsorship limited to spouse, parent, adult child or sibling who are a USC or LPR; affidavit of support) would be good to briefly touch on how the system is much more restrictive than when the first great wave of European immigration occurred, therefore not relevant to say "my relatives came legally, two generations ago".
Discuss immigration in the larger context of "free market" economics. There are many calls, especially by Republican leaders, about how the "free market" ought to solve the Wall Street problem. But a "free market" is only free if labor is able to move without restriction. Discuss how the free movement of capital creates terrible distortions in the market if there is not an equally free movement of labor. Those who say there should be no regulations on capital are hypocritical if they *do* want regulations on immigration. (Catherine T)
Finally discuss different proposals (including the Republican new anti-immgration plank) for solving the problem of the 12-15 million undocumented in the country as well as improving the system for future immigrants, other than the impossible to actually carry out "deport them all" - which can not actually be done economically.
Also might want to address myths about how much money/crime/healthcare are actually caused by immigrants and compare to how much they contribute to society in sales tax, income taxes, property taxes, not collecting the social security they pay. - Meaghan Tuohey-Kay (immigration attorney)
Consider addressing the notion circulating among some right wingers that lending to illegal immigrants is a cause of the mortgage-backed securities meltdown[3]. (Might also contextualize this notion in the "race angle"[4] on the meltdown that has some currency on the right.) - nascardaughter
-- Massive infusion of hard cash -- absolute worship of American goods and services -- holders of millions of mortgages and notes on homes, business and vehicles... not to mention the thousands of businesses built on cheap labor... Indeed, I always assumed that Bush's real economic plan was simply bump the number of immigrants into the US from 1 million to double or triple that. When the spigot of immigrants closed up, legislatively, wasn't that Bush's failure in guiding the economy? Would he agree, more or less, w this assertion? I think so. Superf88
Fundamental Issues:
Path to citizenship for Illegal Immigrants [5]
Net impact on the economy [6]
Building a fence along the Mexican border? [7]
Merits of a guest worker program [8]
Should the Federal Government of State Government play a bigger/exclusive role in enforcing immigration laws. [9]
U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants: citizens at birth? [10]
U.S. Official Language? [11]
President Bush's immigration proposal...equivalent to amnesty? [12]
- Geoff
Another fundamental issue: How much of the anti-immigration debate is fueled not by concern for public good, but by thinly veiled racism? -lkz
Candidate Positions
What have McCain and Obama said or done on this issue? Do their actions match their words?
Should bring up McCain's complete reversal from sponsoring the very common-sense based McCain-Kennedy bill to now having the most anti-immigration plank in the Republican platform ever. Also address why the Republican's are turning their backs on the immigrant votes that Bush had worked so hard to gain in his elections. - M. Tuohey-Kay
McCain-Kennedy proposal would establish a worker visa program that would allow employers to temporarily hire foreign citizens to fill jobs that cannot be filled with U.S. laborers. [13]
McCain on O'Reilly Factor defending his immigration bill (via whereIstand.com) [14]
Border state Governors should take responsibility for certifying safe borders [15]
John McCain voted yes on the Secure Borders Act, authorizing a 700-mile long fence along the Mexican border. [16]
Obama also voted for the Secure Fence Act referred to above[17]
Possible Guests
Who would help guide this discussion? This could be reporters familiar with the topic; academics or think-tankers who know the issue; people to talk on behalf of the candidates; or more "outside-the-box" guests who may have an interesting perspective.
Eleanor Acer from Human Rights First in NYC and/or Amy Gottlieb of American Friends Service Committee in Newark would be great guests on the basic description of the law as it is now, what are the problems with the current system and ways to improve it. Bishop Nicolas DiMarzio (Long Island) is great on the moral issues of immigration. Sen. Robert Menendaz would be good on the political realites of the situation. Attorney Chris Nugent is an expert on how the current immigration sitaution effects children. - M. Tuohey-Kay
Morristown was briefly thrust onto the national stage when Mayor Cresitello tried to deputize the local police force as INS agents. There is an immigrant resource center in town called Wind of the Spirit. You could speak to them about it. They deal with the issue on the ground level, in a community with a growing immigrant population where it has been used as a divisive political issue. -S. Mandel, Morristown, NJ
Aarti Shahani from Families for Freedom would be very good at describing the impact of immigration policies on actual human beings, both the immigrants and their family members. -David L. Wilson, Flushing, NY
ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is a grassroots organization that does a lot of advocacy work for and on behalf of immigrants. ACORN has offices in Brooklyn and the Bronx. ACORN's stance on immigration can be found here. People at ACORN might be helpful in communicating the issues/opinions of actual immigrants to the US. Elocina 19:55, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association [18] would be able to clearly and accurately communicate the intricacies of the current immigration system. -lkz
Opening Copy
How should Brian frame the issue at the beginning of the segment?
Immigration is the huge elephant in the room - nine months ago it was a hottest topic in the news, now no one will address it - Why? and Why is it an important issues for the candidates (and the winner) to address. - M. Tuohey-Kay
Questions
What are the key questions? What order should they be asked in?
- I would like to the hear the candidates answer the following question: What is your proposal for addressing the 12-15 million undocumented people in the country, without simply saying they should all be deported which is fiscally and logistically impossible and fails to address the fact that many undocumented people are either the spouse or parent of a US citizen. - M. Tuohey-Kay
- Both candidates seem to favor an eventual path to citizenship for the 12-15 million undocumented people already in the country. If these people are given amnesty or otherwise naturalized over the next ten to twenty years, what will the effect be on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare? Is it possible that adding ten million mostly younger, healthier workers suddenly paying into the system could rescue these debt-ridden social entitlements?? -S. Mandel, Morristown, NJ
- Is it time to end jus soli (birthright citizenship) in the United States, that is the right of citizenship to any individual born in the territory of the United States? --David Shankbone 15:54, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
- Is it time to open the borders and simply register all those who enter? By opening the borders, we eliminate the need to sneak in. Then, we'll know that those who do sneak in are doing so for nefarious reasons. Therefore, Homeland Security will now truly be looking for those who pose a danger to us-- not harassing people who simply need work. (Catherine T)
Audio Clips to Use
Are there any audio clips out there that we should include? Or particular music we should include? Be specific.
You could play that song, "coming to America."
- What about the song "Paper Planes" by M.I.A.? It's more modern and less obvious. According to Wikipedia the song was "written as a response to the problems [the artist] faced in obtaining a visa to work in the U.S." An explanation of the song can also be found here: http://ur1.ca/71w . Elocina 02:05, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
A clip of McCain getting booed on the primary campaign trail when he alludes to offering amnesty to some illegal immigrants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-nVJGsTdKU&feature=related --nascardaughter 05:28, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
Links to Research Materials
Do you have any readings, videos or any other relevant material to recommend?
- Birthright citizenship question - the Wikipedia article.
- Our website has a list of resources, along with a blog that gives links to recent articles and reports: The Politics of Immigration
What Else?
Use this space to offer any other suggestions or ideas that may not fit into the above categories.
