| It is certainly no wonder that there is sharp division | | | | not only tolerates, but requires illegal immigrants. We |
| and controversy in this Country on the subject of | | | | have a minimum wage system, a labor union |
| immigration. After all, the American attitude on the | | | | structure and laws which, while certainly desirable in |
| subject is conducive to mixed emotions which, in this | | | | many respects to American Labor, has made us, in |
| writer's opinion, rise to the level of schizophrenia. This | | | | large measure, unable to compete in a global |
| phenomenon is hardly new, although a superficial | | | | economy. Hence, the ever-increasing export of jobs |
| survey of current punditry would have us believe | | | | overseas. This is why, when one calls Microsoft Tech |
| that this whole subject has risen to public | | | | Support, he or she is connected to someone in India. |
| consciousness only in the past few months. | | | | The cost of employment in the U.S. mandates, in |
| In the middle of the 19th Century, a huge wave of | | | | practice, though technically contrary to law, that a |
| Irish immigration, fleeing the potato famine, arrived at | | | | cheap labor pool be available for low-end, unskilled |
| our shores. Americans of Anglo-Saxon origins were | | | | work. Although it is often said that illegal immigrants |
| very resentful, and frightened about the prospect of | | | | are doing jobs that Americans won't do, I do not |
| lost jobs. Sound familiar? Those of Anglo-Saxon origin | | | | really thing that that is necessarily true; rather, the |
| had, of course, themselves been immigrants not so | | | | cost of having American citizens do those jobs would |
| very long before. The Irish immigrants, quickly found | | | | drive up prices in certain areas, such as manufactured |
| a niche for themselves, and acquired political clout. So | | | | goods and agricultural products, to a level which |
| when Eastern European Jews, Italians and Slavs | | | | Americans would find intolerable. |
| arrived in the late 19th and Early 20th Centuries, the | | | | Thus, even if it were practical to deport 11 million |
| Irish were in a position to resent those new arrivals, | | | | illegal immigrants, I believe that such a move would |
| and did so quite vociferously. | | | | seriously threaten the viability of the real economy |
| "Give us your tired, your poor...?" Nice words, to be | | | | (i.e., the one we don't admit to) of the United States. |
| sure, but rarely meant by the entrenched American | | | | The proposed alternative is to find a way to bring |
| populace. | | | | these immigrants into the mainstream, and to give |
| Then, as now, it was the immigration of people | | | | them, ultimately, the opportunity to become legal, |
| seeking opportunity which, in large measure, gave our | | | | taxpaying citizens. The flaw in this, of course, is |
| country the energy and vibrancy which built it into a | | | | obvious. Once these illegal immigrants become legal, |
| mammoth industrial and economic machine. Now, we | | | | they will, among other things, have to be paid the |
| are hotly debating the issue of immigration once | | | | minimum wage, and the entire benefit that we |
| again, with both sides of the question asserting valid | | | | surreptitiously and hypocritically derive from our |
| points in support of their respective positions. I would | | | | underground, illegal workforce will be lost to us. |
| argue that, at the end of the day, a compromise | | | | Ultimately, therefore, the problem is not immigration. |
| somewhat in the nature of that proposed by the | | | | It is, regrettably, a much larger and more difficult one. |
| President is inevitable, but hardly sufficient to address | | | | How do we compete? We cannot produce goods as |
| the real and much more fundamental problem that | | | | cheaply as India or China. We cannot impose |
| we face. It is, rather, roughly analogous to "shifting | | | | punishing trade tariffs, because that just invites |
| the deck chairs on the Titanic." | | | | reciprocation, and black marketeering. America, I |
| It is certainly true, as argued by the "seal the | | | | believe, is in serious danger of losing its preeminent |
| borders" constituency, that, while we want to | | | | position on the world's economic stage. As it stands |
| encourage immigration, it should be legal immigration. | | | | today, our only remaining and potent weapon is our |
| People have been following the rules, and waiting | | | | seemingly insatiable consumer market. We need our |
| their turn, pursuing the right to enter into and work in | | | | economic gurus to figure out ways to leverage that |
| this Country and to become citizens, according to the | | | | into rewarding our friends and penalizing those who |
| laws enacted for that purpose. Why, the argument | | | | would bury us as an international economic power. |
| goes, should people who snuck over the border and | | | | There is no time to lose. And while sealing borders on |
| who have not been paying taxes, and have been | | | | the one hand, or creating the illusion of a country |
| receiving public benefits, schooling, etc., be permitted | | | | dedicated, on a renewed basis, to opportunity for |
| to "jump the line."? A very valid point, to be sure. | | | | the dispossessed may make us feel good for awhile, |
| This Country has a strong interest in enforcement of | | | | neither of these paths will solve the real problem. We |
| its laws and, equally importantly, an interest in being | | | | are victims of our own success and prosperity, and |
| seen to enforce its laws. | | | | the rest of the world wants what we have. If we |
| It is also true, however, that as a result of the | | | | don't protect it, it will surely be taken from us, and |
| confluence of intermittent enforcement of | | | | soon. |
| immigration policy coupled with labor policy, our | | | | Warren R. |
| American Economy is now based on a system which | | | | |