Immigrant Tools

One of the few Bush initiatives that received praise from left leaning pundits was his 2006 proposal on immigration reform. In contrast with the unsympathetic positions assumed by fellow conservatives like Bill O'Reilly, who suggested we deport 12 million people, a more realistic approach does seem an improvement. Are expanded guest visa programs and immigration normalization processes that are tied to employment, as President Bush offers, the best compromise? I do not think so.

On the other hand, many on the left deplored parts of the initiative that would construct a wall to prevent immigration over our southern border. I disagree- I do not think that a wall is such a bad idea.

First, let's take a look at expanded guest visa programs. The way they work is that a foreigner, once he/she has lined up an employer, can come and work for that employer for a specified amount of time and then must return home. The arguments for this are that:

1) Americans won't do jobs that foreigners do.
2) Legalizing immigration status for short term labor, apart from letting us know who is in the country, permits us to treat immigrants more humanely than having them live in fear.

In regards to point 1, I don't believe this. Illegal immigrants take jobs not that Americans don't want, but jobs that don't pay enough for Americans to do. A simple visit to areas without large immigrant labor pools will show plenty of born and bred Americans working supposedly "un-American" jobs, such as cleaning help and chefs, because those jobs offer competitive wages. European countries with very small immigrant workforces still manage to eat fast food. Besides, I am prett sure that reality TV has proven that Americans will do anything to make money without consideration of dignity.

What we really mean when we say that immigrants take jobs Americans will not do is "We are worried that having less immigrants around will increase wage levels in unskilled labor." Doesn't sound like a bad thing to me in light of growing income disparity. Furthermore, the jobs that Americans supposedly won't do here are mainly the ones that we can't export, like chefs and cleaning, so the argument that the nation will become uncompetitive and lose jobs seems unlikely.

Regarding the second point and whether guest visa programs are humane, what we are really talking about is bondage. we say to the immigrant, "No you cannot create roots and have a life here (or have time to integrate into the community and add to its vitality). Forget about negotiating work conditions and wages- I fire you and you are deported."

Bush's expanded guest worker programs are brilliantly designed, if you're a business owner looking to suppress wages for everyone and make sure your labor is docile and powerless to your whim. The Arab states have done this quite well in fact- the South Asian work force there do much of the manual labor, live in shanty towns, and are completely unintegrated. As a side effect, manual labor assumes class distinctions, so that natives view it as unworthy work, resulting in high unemployment in spite of avialble jobs. Sound familiar?- "Americans won't do this."

Here is what I suggest instead. Yes, let's make sure as best as possible that illegal immigration stops. That way, we can make sure that those who do come in are integrated and not exploited. Then we can have sovereignty over the size of the unskilled labor pool and hopefully stem some growth of the income gap. If halting illegal immigration takes a wall, so be it. At least immigrants won't permit themselves to be tools.