New Canaan League of Women Voters
Immigration Study Group
CONSENSUS PREPARATION KIT
Chairmen Introduction
Immigration Study Considerations
Consensus
Questions
It’s Time for Consensus on Immigration!
No need to tell you how critical it is for the United States to have a coherent immigration
policy. Everyone agrees we don’t have one now, but that is as far as the agreement goes.
Before continuing, a word (or two) on Consensus, League-style, may be useful. Historically,
the League takes positions on statements/issues that a substantial majority (usually over two-thirds) of participating League
members can agree upon. If after discussion no such common ground is found, the League reports a “No Consensus”
on the discussion item. That process is what we are about here, regarding Immigration.
Because of the realities of national politics right now, including the 2008 Presidential
election, everyone also agrees that immigration legislation is at least a year away. This is a great time, therefore, for
the LVWUS to understand its members’ philosophy on immigration, and to lobby accordingly when the right time comes.
To do this, LWVUS has framed a number of questions for us and other local Leagues throughout the United States to consider,
answers to the sum total of which will describe our thinking on this subject. You will find these questions enclosed.
Also enclosed is background information
the study group has prepared to augment your own personal knowledge of the situation. Please read this information
before coming to the meeting! There will be no presentations at the meeting—just discussion of the Consensus questions.
If you don’t thoroughly digest this information, you will be at a disadvantage during discussions! Additional
pertinent information, if you have time, exists on the League website: www.lwvus.org.
To prepare you, the New Canaan League Immigration Study group met several times over the summer.
The Study Group consists of 18 members, including representatives from Leagues in Fairfield, Ridgefield, Norwalk and
Wilton. The Study Group had numerous outside speakers, and heard presentations
prepared by League members. Those presentations are available to you on our website. In
addition, Paul Pimentel, an aide to Congressman Christopher Shays, spoke to the membership of the League about immigration
issues at the November program. The background information set forth below is the result of the Study Group’s
work. On review, you will see that the questions to be addressed by our League are general rather than
specific. This will allow the LWVUS to understand your general principles on these subjects and then apply them as needed
to the particulars of any legislation coming forward. Sorry, we can’t add or edit questions or answers. LWVUS needs
uniform responses across the country.
The New Canaan
LWV Consensus meeting will be held Wednesday, January 23rd at the Lapham Community Center. The
meeting will begin at 12:45 p.m., and be preceded by an optional lunch at noon. You must make reservations
to attend the lunch. Reservations can be made by calling 594-3620 prior to noon on Friday, January 18th.
The cost of the lunch is $3.00.
The procedure will
be to examine each question briefly (as you can see, there are a lot of them). We will then see if the assembled group can
agree (or come close to it) on whether it is High Priority, Lower Priority, or No Priority. Otherwise, we will report “No
Consensus” on that question.
See you on the
23rd! You have to be there to be part of the Consensus process—no email/snailmail/telephone input can be
accepted!
Helen Campbell and Karin Naill
IMMIGRATION STUDY CONSIDERATIONS
PATTERNS
1. There
are approximately 37 million foreign-born persons living in the U.S. Two-thirds—or about 24.6 million—are
authorized to be in the country. About 11.5 million are naturalized citizens, about 11.8 million are lawful permanent residents,
about 1.3 million have temporary or other immigrant status, and more than 11 million are undocumented (unauthorized).
2. Nearly
one-third of the foreign-born population is not authorized to be in the U.S. The size of the undocumented population is estimated
to be growing by about 500,000 per year.
3. Globalization—which increases access to information
about lifestyles and opportunities in industrialized countries—is stimulating migration. Pressures to emigrate from
developing countries will remain intense fueled by poverty, lack of jobs, and population growth.
4. Approximately 53.3
percent of foreign-born persons originate from Latin America (including Central America, South America and the Caribbean),
25.0 percent from Asia, 13.7 percent from Europe, and 8.0 percent from other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania.
Migrants from Central America (including, for data purposes, Mexico) account for nearly one-third of the entire foreign-born
population. Mexicans make up the largest single group, with 27 percent of all foreign born. El Salvador
and Guatemala run a distant second and third place.
5. Mexico is experiencing
a decline in population and an increase in economic prospects. Despite this, disparities in living standards, the increased
demand for labor in the U.S., and U.S. immigration rules regarding family ties will sustain Mexico as the single largest source
of documented and undocumented immigration to the U.S. Mexico has a new job creation rate of 700,000 a year, while the number
of new workers entering the Mexican market is nearly one million annually. Emigration has become a substitute for the lack
of opportunities in Mexico.
6.
During the past 10 years, more than 200,000 persons per year have been admitted to the U.S. as
beneficiaries of family preference visas. Two-thirds of all immigrants enter under sponsorship of a family member.
7.
Employment-based preferences make up 22 percent permanent residence
visas.
8.
Networks are established between migrants and their kin and friends in countries of origin
and between migrants and their employers. These networks play into one another, providing migrants' employers with a labor
pool made up of migrants’ kin and friends in countries of origin, and by providing migrants’ kin and friends with
sources for employment. They go where the jobs are.
9. Immigrants have traditionally
settled in states such as California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Texas. Over the past 15 years, immigrants have increasingly
located to “new growth” states such as Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada, and Oregon.
WORK-FORCE NEEDS AND ISSUES
1. Overall, the flow
of immigration throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries was directly tied to the strength or weakness of the American
economy, with levels of immigration fluctuating in response to economic cycles of boom and panic in this country. Immigration
is primarily a response to laws of supply and demand—workers filling work-force openings. Bureau of Labor Statistics
(1996-2005) suggests that when the job market is weak, foreign-born workers have a harder time finding work than those born
in the U.S.; but during strong job markets, when there is a shortage of labor, employers rely more on workers born in other
countries.
2.
Between 2005 and 2015 the native-born work force will grow by 10 percent.
3. Between
2002 and 2012, 56 million new jobs will be created in this country; nearly 43 percent will require no more than a high school
education. In 1960, half of all American men dropped out of high school to look for unskilled work; fewer than 10 percent
do so now. At the same time, between 2002 and 2012, declining native-born fertility rates will be approaching replacement
level in the population and more than 75 million Americans will retire. The impact on available unskilled labor—estimated
to run to hundreds of thousands of workers a year—is showing up in sector after sector of the economy.
4.
Labor shortages are projected for the restaurant and construction sectors of the economy. With
12.5 million workers nationwide, restaurants are the nation’s largest private-sector employer. Restaurant-industry demand
for labor is expected to grow by 15 percent between 2005 and 2015. The population of 16-24 year old job seekers (the key demographic
for the restaurant industry) will not expand at all between 2005 and 2015. The construction industry creates
approximately 185,000 jobs annually. Construction workers now earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year. Despite these income
levels available in the industry, employers in trades such as masonry and dry-walling are unable to find enough Americans
to do the work. The hotel industry has one of the highest concentrations of foreign-born workers—28.3 percent, trailing
only the textile and apparel industry, and household workers. Personal and home-care-aide jobs have a projected growth rate
of 41 percent.
5.
Despite the popular image of farm workers being the typical immigrant worker, the relatively
low number of employees in the mechanized agricultural industry limits the number of jobs it provides to foreign-born workers.
6.
Approximately 10,000 U.S. visas are available each year for low-skilled workers. Temporary work-based
visa issuances and admissions for agricultural workers, in fiscal year 2004, numbered 31,774 and 22,141, respectively. Yet
as many as 500,000 undocumented immigrants are added to the population each year, the majority of whom work mostly in low-wage
jobs available in the U.S.
7. A controversial issue in the field of labor economics
is that more job seekers from abroad mean fewer opportunities, or lower wages, for native workers. Some economic research
suggests that immigration causes native unskilled workers to pay a price in wages, in their ability to find areas within the
U.S. to migrate to for jobs, and perhaps in finding employment altogether. Some studies from the 1980s and 1990s estimate
that immigration has resulted in a one-to-five-percent lowering of wages for native-born high-school dropouts. On the other
hand, cheaper low-skilled labor can provide financial incentives for employers to build or expand factories or businesses
(such as valet-parking, housecleaning, and landscaping).
8. The rate of labor-force participation
among foreign-born men exceeds that of native-born. The rate of labor-force participation among undocumented immigrant men
is the highest of any group—94 percent.
9. A wage gap exists
between native-born workers ($45,000/annually), all immigrant workers ($37,000/annually), and Mexican immigrant workers ($22,300/annually).
One reason is a profound difference in educational attainment. More than 60 percent of Mexicans have less than a high-school
education compared with fewer than 10 percent of Americans. Mexicans are supplying a skill level very much
in demand, for which Americans are generally overqualified. Another reason is that statistics on wages do not make the distinction
between unskilled manual laborers in a sector and skilled tradesmen, a field far more dominated by native-born workers.
10. Many industries maintain
that, if they pay higher salaries to attract American-born workers, they would be undercut by imports from countries that
have access to cheaper labor sources.
11. Labor standards can be undercut by the presence of immigrant labor unused
to American standards and, in particular, by undocumented labor which has no avenues for complaint.
COMPETITION FOR HIGHLY SKILLED WORKERS
1. Globalization increases the demand for high-tech and other professional workers. Immigrants
play a substantial role in science and engineering specialties, which are particularly essential to national security and
economic success. Developed countries will continue to compete for foreign-born workers in order to fuel their information
technology and strategic sectors.
2. In the United States, graduate degrees in the sciences and engineering are increasingly
earned by the foreign-born. In 2003, 16 and 19 percent of bachelor’s-degree holders in science and engineering occupations
were foreign-born; as were between 29 and 32 percent of scientists and engineers holding master’s degrees. In 2003,
between 36 and 40 percent of those holding doctoral degrees were foreign-born. In 2004, graduate enrollments in engineering
were 50-percent foreign-born, and graduate enrollments in the physical sciences were 41-percent foreign-born. In contrast,
in 2004, the two largest graduate fields chosen by native-born students were education and business. This trend of native-born
career choices, coupled with global competition for highly skilled workers, will make it difficult for the U.S. to fill its
technical professional job openings.
3. Fueling the global competition,
the European Union will face a shortage of several hundred high-tech workers annually. Germany, alone, was projected to need
some 300,000 additional high-tech workers by 2005.
4. U.S. immigration policy
affecting high-skilled workers becomes increasingly important as the competition for high-skilled labor increases around the
world. Ease of employment-linked permanent residence is a factor that can facilitate or deter immigration to the U.S. High-tech
workers and entrepreneurs will emigrate from countries such as India, East Asia, and Russia, provided immigration laws are
sufficiently flexible to allow them easy entry.
TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAM
1. The scale of the various agricultural, non-agricultural, and high-skilled visa programs that admit temporary
workers and their dependents is at an historic high. Traditionally, the purpose of temporary immigration visas has been to
meet seasonal or transitory needs and shortages. Increasingly, temporary workers are meeting standing ongoing labor market
needs and employer preferences.
2. The US has had a formal
temporary worker program in the past. Started in August 1942, the Bracero Program (after the Spanish word for “unskilled
laborer”), was a temporary contract labor program between the United States and Mexico. Through the Bracero Program,
deductions were taken from the pay of Mexican workers, from 1942 to 1948, for savings accounts which they were legally guaranteed
to receive upon their return to Mexico at the conclusion of their contracts. Many workers in the Bracero Program never received
the proceeds of the savings accounts established by the program. A lawsuit presented in federal court in California documenting
that savings accounts belonging to the workers never reached them was thrown out because the Mexican banks, having never operated
in the United States, did not fall within the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. In addition, lawsuits presented in federal courts
in California, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, highlighted the substandard conditions under which Bracero Program laborers
lived and worked.
3. Temporary immigration programs have increasingly been used as a step to permanent immigration for skilled and unskilled
immigrants.
FAMILY REUNIFICATION
1. Because the current immigration system is backlogged and over-burdened, it is unable handle legal immigration in
a timely manner. Delays in processing applications contribute to difficulties in family reunification and employment. Many
applications pass through three separate agencies: Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Department of Homeland Security,
the Department of Labor, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the Department of State. Each has its own application, processing
requirements, fees, backlogs, and information tracking and data systems. A U.S. citizen sponsoring an unmarried adult child
from Mexico is likely to endure a nearly 14-year wait for unification. A lawful permanent resident sponsoring a spouse, regardless
of origin, can expect to wait six years for unification.
2. Faced with the prospect of being separated for more than a decade during their children’s
formative years, some immigrant parents and spouses take desperate measures to try to reunite sooner, overstaying visitor
visas or paying smugglers to bring the family members into the United States, the latter often at great risk to the safety
of the family. Few realize that that this action will eventually force them to choose between remaining indefinitely in legal
limbo or to risk their family unity again. Once the long-awaited date for entry becomes current, they are required to return
to the American embassy in their homeland for visa processing. At the same time, another law prohibits the re-entry to the
United States for 10 years of anyone who has been in the United States out of status for one year or more
3.
In recent years, consular officials began routinely denying
visitor visas to the spouses and children of legal permanent residents due to the risk that they would overstay the visa.
SERVICES AND COSTS
1. The fiscal net difference between what immigrants
consume in government benefits and what they contribute in taxes is close to a wash in most states. However, the costs and
benefits of immigrant integration are not evenly felt or allocated. Taxes paid to the federal government and the productivity
of the macroeconomy make immigration a net benefit to the nation. At the local level, however, communities are faced with
unanticipated demands for services, particularly in education and health care. Fiscal costs are offset by the taxes immigrants
pay, their entrepreneurship, lower prices for goods and services, and new growth and vitality for communities. But the revenues
and costs flow unevenly to and from different sectors. The mismatch is experienced most acutely at the local level, where
the difference between costs and benefits from immigrant populations can be substantial. For example, in most states in the
1990s, the fiscal net difference between what immigrants consume in government benefits and what they contribute in taxes
was no more than a couple of hundred dollars a year per native-born household. In California, however, the cost in the 1990s—the
fiscal net difference between what immigrants consume in government benefits and what they contribute in taxes—was $1,178.
2.
According to estimates, two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have income tax withheld from their
paychecks, and the Social Security Administration collects some $7 billion a year that goes unclaimed, most of it thought
to come from undocumented workers. Legal immigrants, who account for about two-thirds of the total immigration influx, are
not eligible during their first five to ten years in the United States for welfare transfers that could sustain them during
periods of unemployment. Undocumented immigrants receive virtually no welfare transfers. Undocumented immigrants and non-permanent
documented immigrants, such as individuals with student or temporary work visas, also are not eligible for Medicaid, except
limited Medicaid coverage for emergency services.
3. Twenty-one percent of total medical costs were
paid through public sources for native-born citizens, compared to 16 percent for documented and undocumented immigrants. Immigrants’
medical care is primarily provided through emergency services, due primarily to lack of insurance. The
1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act states: Reimbursement will be provided to state and local
governments that provide emergency medical treatment . . . to undocumented aliens through public hospitals, other public facilities,
or contracted hospitals or facilities. Implementation of this provision is subject to available federal appropriations. Reimbursement
is available only to the extent such costs are not reimbursed by other federal programs and can’t be recovered from
the alien or another person. Hospitals may also increase the price of services for insured patients to cover the short-fall.
In 2005, health insurance premiums for a family of four were $922 higher and individual health insurance premiums were $341
higher due to the cost of health care for the uninsured, which includes immigrants
4. Adults in low-income
immigrant working families are almost twice as likely to be without health insurance as their counterparts in native-born
families, 56 vs. 29 percent respectively, in large part because they work in low-wage jobs with few benefits and because the
high price of purchasing individual or family policies is prohibitive. Roughly 1.5 million—25 percent—of the 6
million uninsured children who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP are excluded from these programs due to their
immigration status. Without health insurance, immigrants are unlikely to visit healthcare professionals for follow-up (after
emergency services) or preventative care (such as inoculations against communicative disease),
possibly putting the whole community at risk.
5. In terms of taxes
paid per household, health care that authorized immigrants receive from public sources equates to $56 a year; for the undocumented,
emergency services cost $11 a year. Fewer that 10 percent of Mexican immigrants, both documented and undocumented, who have
been in the United States for fewer than 10 years, reported using an emergency room, compared to 20 percent of native-born
whites and Mexican Americans.
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
1. Immigrants
who have not gone through the naturalization process, as well as undocumented immigrants and immigrants legalized in the 1986
amnesty program, have many of the same rights as native-born citizens, including constitutional rights guaranteed in the Bill
of Rights. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution (ratified 7/9/1868) holds that “All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In Plyler v. Doe (457 U.S. 202) the Supreme
Court stated in dicta that undocumented immigrants are “within the jurisdiction” of the states in which they reside,
and added in a footnote that “no plausible distinction with respect to Fourteenth Amendment ‘jurisdiction’
can be drawn between resident aliens.”
2. Individuals who do not have legal status have minimal legal rights and are, therefore,
subject to many forms of exploitation. The potential for widespread abuses of basic rights undermines the rule of law and
the well-being of communities in many areas, such as housing, employment standards, and public health. Temporary and provisional
workers cannot change employers without jeopardizing their immigration status and do not have worker protections that are
compatible to those of similarly employed U.S. workers. Foreign workers are vulnerable to exploitation due to limited English-language
skills, lack of knowledge regarding legal protections, and dependence on employer sponsorships. Some forms of temporary worker
programs have had a troubling legacy of abuse and exploitation.
3. The existence of a sizeable undocumented population dilutes progress toward immigrant
integration, which is contingent on an immigrants’ opportunity to “belong” in American society and fully
participate in its civic and public life. The undocumented have no legal claim to be or stay in the United States, are ineligible
for most government benefits and services, and have limited rights.
4. The legal process under some sections of immigration law is not the same as the “due
process” for American citizens.
IMMIGRATION PROCESS AND LAW
1.
The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Immigration Act (Hart-Celler)
abolished the national origins quota system established in 1921 that had favored immigrants from Europe to the exclusion of
those from other parts of the world. Hart-Celler provided a family preference quota framework that systematized the sponsorship
of relatives of legal immigrants, emphasizing the reunification of immigrant families. During the past 10 years, more than
200,000 persons per year have been admitted to the United States as beneficiaries of family preference visas.
2.
Federal law includes provisions for medical examinations to
identify immigration applicants who have inadmissible health-related conditions. Legal immigrants are also subject to screening
for criminal activity before immigration is allowed. “Criminal Activity” in terms of immigration law does not
mean that an individual was ever convicted of a crime; certain sections of immigration law only require that the immigration
officer “know…or have reason to believe” an individual has engaged in illegal activity. Only
a very small number of charges brought before Immigration Courts involve actual criminal change
3.
The most common charge (over 75 percent) brought before Immigration
Courts are entry without inspection and violations of the Immigration and Naturalization Act to enter or stay in the United
States. Some estimates suggest that as much as 40 to 50 percent of the undocumented population may have entered through a
port of entry where they passed through immigration inspection and then overstayed their visas. Undocumented immigration is
a misdemeanor punishable by deportation. It doesn’t become a felony unless, the deported person returns to this country
thus violating his/her deportation.
4. Age has not been regulated for immigration, except to determine eligibility for a child as a minor to accompany a
parent.
5. The
immigration and naturalization function was moved into the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003 with the stated purpose
of fighting terrorism. Only 114 of more than 800,000 individuals have been brought to immigration courts
under “national security” charges, however. Only 37 cases resulted in actual removals. DHS investigators have
chosen to bring “national security” charges before federal district courts, where the sentence is prison rather
than deportation.
6. A provision of the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986 (IRCA) makes the following activities illegal: knowingly
hiring, recruiting, or referring for a fee aliens who they know are undocumented to work in the US; continued employment of
persons not authorized to work (those employed prior to IRCA’s enactment are not subject to these restrictions); and
hiring individuals without verifying or correctly documenting their identity and eligibility to work legally in the U.S. Violators
of the law can face civil fines for violations or criminal penalties when there is a pattern of violations.
7.
A federal 1997 online prototype system is available for employer
use to verify job-seekers’ documents through a very limited federal database. The system is primitive and not widely
used, however. Employer verification of Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration is a process that
can take months. Undocumented immigrants with falsified identification papers are being employed in increasing numbers. Proving
intentional violations of immigration law by employers is difficult. Between 2000 and 2003 the number of investigations of
employer violations was fewer that 2,200 cases per year, and only three notices of intent to fine were issued by the federal
government.
8. The
United States, the world’s largest resettler of refugees, is one of 18 nations that resettle refugees. The United States
has treaty obligations to receive refugees into our country. In the past two years, however, the Department of Justice has
denied over 80 percent of “defensive asylum applications.” In addition, Iraqis are applying in large numbers for
asylum outside their country, often because of their employment with or assistance to American military or diplomatic efforts.
People who have been employed by the United States or have aided US agents are at grave risk. UN High Commissioner for Refugees
estimates that nearly 3 million Iraqis have been displaced since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Between 2003 and
2006, 764 Iraqi refugees, approximately 0.4 percent of total refugee admissions over the same period, were resettled here.
In February, 2007, the White House promised to admit 7,000 Iraqi refugees in FY 2007, later revising that goal down to 2,000.
The White House has said it will raise the admissions cap for Iraqi refugees to 12,000, or approximately 15 percent of total
refugee admissions for 2008.
IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION
1.
A key factor to successful immigration is effective immigrant
integration. In the absence of substantial governmental support, integration of newcomers into communities and the life of
the nation has historically been carried out locally by families, employers, schools, churches, and nongovernmental organizations.
Successful integration of newcomers builds communities that are stronger economically and more inclusive socially and culturally.
The process is a two-way street that involves change by immigrants as well as by receiving communities.
2.
Research indicates that integration is proceeding across immigrant
groups and across most indicators of social and economic mobility: educational attainment, labor force participation, income,
and job quality. While language communication can be a problem, the costs associated with it are no higher than
the past, and immigrants are learning as quickly as they have in the past.
3.
There are concerns that integration among new immigrants will not continue as it
has in the past. Reasons for concern include the following:
a)
High and changing immigration flows since the 1990s.
b) The increased percentage of the unauthorized
to the total foreign-born population (from 15
percent to 33 percent
in just a decade).
c) The increase of low-income children who are children of immigrants (from 22 percent
to 26
percent between 1999 and 2002);
d) The increase in the limited-English-proficient-student population (100 percent between 1993
and 2003).
e) The decreased economic, social, and political
impact of institutions that promoted immigrant
integration in the past, such as unions, manufacturing,
firms, urban schools, and local political party machines.
MAINTAINING THE BORDERS
1.
Retention rates for Border Patrol are poor because of low pay,
poor working conditions and few opportunities for advancement.
2. Total immigration enforcement spending increased fivefold
between 1985 and 2002, from $1 billion to almost $5 billion.
3.
Construction of San Diego’s triple fencing resulted in
a drop of undocumented apprehensions in that sector by 75 percent between 1994 and 2002. In the same period, however, undocumented
apprehensions in the Tucson sector increased 342 percent.
4. The increase in border enforcement has resulted in higher death rates for immigrants attempting
to cross the border at riskier points. Increased Border Patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border has made the smuggler a powerful
and increasingly costly alternative for undocumented immigrants trying to enter the United States. Department of Homeland
Security officials concede that they lack funding and technology to have exit-monitoring systems at the 50 busiest crossings
by December 2007. This means they will be unable to track exits.
5.
In 2006, Congress passed the
Secure Fence Act which authorized 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Its cost is estimated cost at $9 billion.
Full funding is not in place.
CRIMINAL
ACTIVITY
1. Data
from the 2000 U.S. Census Five Percent Public Use Microsample were used to measure the institutionalization rates of immigrants
and natives, focusing on males 18 to 39. The data show the incarceration rate of the US-born (3.51 percent) was four times
the rate of the foreign born (0.86 percent). The foreign-born rate was half the 1.71 percent rate for non-Hispanic white natives.
2.
Among the foreign-born, the highest incarceration rate by far
(4.5 percent) was observed among island-born Puerto Ricans, who are not immigrants as such since they are US citizens by birth
and can travel to the mainland as natives. If island-born Puerto Ricans were excluded from the foreign-born totals, the national
incarceration rate for foreign-born would drop to 0.68 percent.
3. While incarceration rates are found to be extraordinarily low among immigrants, they are
also seen to rise rapidly by the second generation. Incarceration rates increase significantly for all US-born co-ethnics
without exception. That is most notable for Mexicans, whose incarceration rate increases more than eightfold to 5.9 percent
among the U.S.-born; for Vietnamese (from 0.46 to 5.6 percent among the US born); and for the Laotians and Cambodians (from
0.92 percent to 7.26 percent, the highest of any group except for native blacks). Almost all of the U.S.-born among those
of Latin American and Asian origin can be assumed to consist of second-generation persons, with the exception of Mexicans
and Puerto Ricans, whose numbers may include a sizable number (around 25 percent) of third-generation individuals. (Since
1980, when the questions on parents' country of birth were dropped, the decennial census has not permitted the precise
identification of second vs. third or higher generations.)
4. For all ethnic groups the risk of imprisonment is highest for men who are high school
dropouts (6.91 percent) compared to those who are high school graduates (2.0 percent). This differential in the risk of incarceration
by education is observed principally among native-born men, not immigrants. Among the U.S.-born, 9.76 percent
of all male dropouts 18 to 39 were in jail or prison in 2000, compared to 2.23 percent among those who had graduated from
high school. But among the foreign born, the incarceration gap by education was much narrower: 1.31 percent of immigrant men
who were high school dropouts were incarcerated, compared to 0.57 percent of those with at least a high school diploma.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
1. The more people in the United States, whether immigrants or native-born, the greater the negative impact on the environment.
In the United States, each individual’s ecological footprint is about 24 acres compared to
about 5 acres per person worldwide. A revised temporary worker policy that accommodates immigrants who wish to work
in the United States, earn and save money, and then return to their families might significantly reduce the number of immigrant
family members in the United States.
TRADING TREATIES
1.
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA)
tariff reductions opened the Mexican market to corn imports from the United States and Canada at low prices, local
Mexican farmers have been unable to compete. In the United States, corn, cotton, wheat, rice and soy beans receive billions
of dollars in government subsidies. Nearly a million farmers in the Mexican market have been displaced since NAFTA went into
effect in 1994. The situation is expected to worsen in 2008 when Mexico is required to comply with a NAFTA deadline to totally
eliminate its corn and bean import tariffs. Real wages for most Mexicans are lower than when NAFTA went into effect.
2.
Because of NAFTA, trade is now 55 percent of Mexico’s
gross domestic product compared with 30 percent in 1990.
3. NAFTA has caused Mexico to become an export-dependent economy to Mexico’s detriment.
Component parts are imported, processed, and assembled for re-export without enough value-added to greatly benefit the Mexican
economy.
LWVUS IMMIGRATION STUDY
BELOW ARE THE QUESTIONS FOR THE IMMIGRATION STUDY CONSENSUS
PROCESS. IN QUESTIONS 1 THROUGH 4, CONSIDER HOW THE AREAS LISTED RATE:
High Priority: Our group considered this area most important in the
development of immigration legislation
Lower Priority: Our group considered this area to be important in the development
of immigration legislation, but not as one of the most important considerations
Disagree: Our group did not think this
area should be considered in the development of immigration legislation
No Consensus: Our group could not come to agreement on whether this
area should be considered in the development of immigration or whether it should be considered either high or lower priority
in the development of immigration legislation.
QUESTION 1
Federal immigration laws should take into consideration criteria such
as the following (not listed in
any
particular order or hierarchy):
a. Ethnic and Cultural Diversity
b. Economic, Business and Service Employment Needs
c. Environmental Impact/Sustainability
d.
Family Reunification of Authorized Immigrants and Citizens with Spouses and Minor Children
e. History of Criminal Activity
f.
Humanitarian Crises/ Political Persecution in Home Countries
g.
Immigrant Characteristics (health and age)
h. Rights
of All Workers to Safe Working Conditions and Liveable Wage
i.
Rights of Families to Remain Together
j. Rights of all
Individuals in U.S. to Fair Treatment Under the Law (Fair Hearing, Right to Counsel, Right of Appeal, and
Humane Treatment)
k. Education and Training
QUESTION 2
Unauthorized immigrants currently in the U.S. should be treated as follows: (rate each one)
a. Deport Unauthorized Immigrants
b. Some Deported/Some Allowed To Earn Legal Adjustment of Status Based on Length of Residence
in U.S.
c. Some Deported/Some Allowed to Earn Legal Adjustment
of Status Based on Needs of US Employers
d. All Allowed
to Earn Legal Adjustment of Status by Doing Things Such as Paying Taxes, Learning English, Studying Civics, Etc.
e. If Deported, Assess Fines Before Possible Re-Entry
f. Assess Fines Before Allowed To Earn Legal Adjustment Of Status
QUESTION 3
Federal
immigration law should provide an efficient, expeditious system (with minimal or no backlogs) for legal entry into the U.S.
for immigrants who are: (rate each one)
a. Immediate Family
Members Joining Family Member Already Admitted for Legal Permanent Residence in the U.S
b. Entering the U.S. to Meet Labor Needs
c.
Entering the U.S. as Students
d. Entering the U.S. because of Persecution
in Home Country
QUESTION 4
A: In order to deal more effectively with unauthorized immigrants, Federal immigration law
should include:
Social Security
Card or Other National Identification Card with Secure Identifiers for All Persons Residing in
the U.S.
B:
Federal immigration law dealing with unauthorized immigrants should be enforced by
including: (rate each one)
i. Physical Barriers (such as Fences) and Surveillance at Borders
ii. Increased Personnel at Land, Air, and Sea Entry Points
iii. More Effective Tracking of Persons with Non-Immigrant Visas Until They Leave the Country
iv. Verification Documents, such as Green Cards and Work
Permits with Secure Identifiers.
v. Improved Technology
to Facilitate Employer Verification of Employee Visa Status
vi.
Improved Technology for Sharing Information Among Federal Agencies
vii.
A Program to Allow Immigrant Workers to Go in and Out of the U.S. to Meet Seasonal and Sporadic Labor Needs
viii. Significant Fines Proportionate to Revenue for Employers Who
Fail to Take Adequate Steps to Verify Work Authorization of Employees
IN QUESTIONS 5 AND 6, PLEASE MARK EACH QUESTION AS “CONSENSUS”
OR “NO CONSENSUS”
QUESTION
5
Federal immigration law should address
and balance the long-term federal financial benefit from immigrants with the financial costs borne by states and local governments
with large immigrant populations.
QUESTION 6
Federal immigration law should be coordinated with U.S. foreign policy
to pro-actively help improve economies, education and job opportunities, and living conditions of nations with large emigrating
populations.
