The House of Representatives continued the United States' lengthy history of punitive and racist immigration policies when it passed the "Immigration in the National Interest Act" last week. This bill takes drastic measures to reduce legal and illegal immigration and denies many basic services to documented and undocumented residents.
Companion bills are currently pending in the Senate, and, if they pass by the same margins as the House bill, they could become law, regardless of whether Clinton vetoes them.
The House bill's provisions on legal immigration rely on a mistaken belief that immigration takes jobs away from American workers and that it is necessary to curb immigration to ensure continued economic growth. Consequently, family-based immigration is reduced by nearly one-third and employment-based immigration is severely reduced.
In reality, however, the U.S. Department of Labor has found that immigrants increase the competitiveness of U.S. industries, expand jobs through higher rates of self-employment, and boost wages and provide greater mobility for large numbers of U.S. workers. According to the conservative Alexis de Touqueville Institute, states with high immigration populations also have correspondingly low rates of unemployment. The National Association of Manufacturers argues that the bill will seriously impair the industry's ability to develop new products.
Sponsors of the bill also claim that large amounts of U.S. federal tax dollars subsidize immigrants when the reality is just the opposite. Immigrants and refugees pay approximately $28 million more in taxes than they consume in services, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute. Despite higher poverty rates, immigrants are less likely than citizens to use public benefits.
Despite these facts, the bill attempts to deny immigrants their right to many basic governmental services. Under the bill's provisions, legal immigrants are subject to "deeming," which means that the sponsors' income are counted along with the immigrants' income in order to determine eligibility for federal programs. As a result, most immigrants, even those with low income sponsors, would be ineligible for the full range of federal programs, including student aid, food stamps and welfare. One of the many negative consequences of this provision is that it will now be even more difficult for immigrant women in abusive relationships to leave their husbands. In most cases, the men who are battering them are the same ones who sponsored them, and they will therefore be unable to receive any type of public assistance if they leave.
The provisions for illegal immigration are equally outrageous. Five thousand new border control agents will be hired and several new detention facilities will be built at a large expense to U.S. taxpayers. Clearly, the purpose of this action is to discourage Mexicans from crossing the border. However, the largest populations of undocumented persons in the U.S. are Canadians, Irish, Poles and Russians -- not Mexicans. In fact, most illegal immigrants enter the country legally and overstay their visas. The recent talk about heightening border controls and building walls around Texas are not rational measures to reduce immigration but racist attempts to specifically prevent more Mexicans from entering the country.
The House bill also denies primary and secondary education to the sons and daughters of illegal immigrants. Because of some societal judgment about their parents' actions, these children are destined to be trapped in low-paying jobs, and many will not learn to speak or read English. Regardless of how you feel about illegal immigration, it does not seem fair to hold children accountable and to cut-off one of their only routes to a better life.
In reality, these bills do not seem to be based on facts or rooted in reality. Instead, they are one of many attempts over the past few years to appeal to race and class prejudices and to blame others for our economic difficulties. We live in a world where large businesses increasingly view the bottom line as the only relevant consideration in a competitive global economy, and people are scared. In these instances, it becomes easier to blame immigrants or welfare mothers than faceless corporate executives.
However, dramatically reducing the flow of immigrants to the U.S. is a hypocritical and foolish response to these problems. With the important exception of African-Americans and Native Americans, the United States is a country of immigrants. In fact, the U.S. can be properly viewed as a country dominated by illegal immigrants, as our title to the lands is based on conquest and slaughter of the peoples that were here before us.
Large numbers of the immigrants coming here today are escaping dire poverty and conditions unimaginable to most of us. Many are fleeing political strife and threats of violence. Like many of our parents and grandparents, they want desperately to give their families opportunities to make a better life for themselves and to achieve the "American Dream." Preventing them from doing so is not going to suddenly make jobs appear where none were before. Don't kid yourself.
