posted July 6, 2003
Congressman Zach Wamp gets one thing right in his June 19th opinion piece regarding immigration policies. Immigrants should follow the rules when coming to the U.S. His point is driven home by the illustration he provides - the hundreds of people who die every year trying to cross our borders.
What Congressman Wamp does not tell you is that there really is no legal way for most of the people who cross illegally into this country. And given a choice between risking one's life to find work in the United States or remaining mired in poverty in Mexico, many make the rational choice and take their chances crossing into this country illegally. Right now there really are no legal alternatives for most of the undocumented immigrants in this country.
For those who look back sentimentally on the millions of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island a hundred years ago, it helps to offer the reminder that if today's immigration rules covered our ancestors who immigrated to the U.S., it is likely most would have been turned away.
Contrary to what Congressman Wamp implies, immigrants are not coming to America to receive Welfare or other public benefits. They're not eligible for most benefits anyway. No, most are coming here for one simple reason - to work.
And they are finding jobs in the millions because there are jobs to be had. Despite a recession and rising unemployment in the U.S., Americans still are not desperate enough to take the dirty and backbreaking jobs immigrants are.
Hundreds of businesses across the South - particularly in the textile field - have closed or relocated their plants abroad because they could not find enough American workers.
The costs of housing would skyrocket and we would end up in a situation where we imported all of our food if many of the anti-immigrant forces had their way. The same lack of security we face because we import so much oil would come back into a new part of our lives - our stomachs.
And our need for immigrants is only going to grow. Our population is aging and as Americans leave the work force there is going to be a shortage of available workers to replace them. Who is going to be paying in to Social Security to ensure our seniors receive their benefits? Who is going to pay for the new prescription drug program just passed by Congress when the portion of our population needing those benefits starts to increase dramatically? Alan Greenspan mentioned recently in testimony to Congress that immigration was one of the best ways to ensure our work force can grow enough to support this older population.
So we have a few options regarding immigration. 1) Close down the border and try to deport those residing illegally in this country. 2) Continue the current policy of pretending we are securing the borders and looking the other way when it comes to dealing with the millions of illegal workers living among us. Or 3) introduce a genuine guest worker program that provides a legal and safe way for workers to come to America to fill jobs employers can prove are going unfilled.
I think the answer is clear and it is time for Congress to deal with establishing a new visa category that is available in large numbers to people coming in to provide needed labor. By establishing a way for workers to enter legally, we can then turn our attention to actually securing our borders to prevent terrorists from bringing more destruction on this country.
Congressman Wamp could achieve his objective of dramatically curtailing illegal immigration with such a program and the U.S. economy and our national security would benefit as well.
Greg Siskind, Attorney at Law
Siskind Susser - Immigration Lawyers
5400 Poplar Avenue, Suite 300
Memphis, TN
Telephone: 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455
Fax: 800-684-1267 or 630-604-9306
Email: gsiskind@visalaw.com
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