Memorandum on United States Foreign Policy on Undocumented Immigration

TO: Dianne Feinstein, Senate Committee on Border Security and Immigration
CC: Professor Mark Shirk
FROM: Foreign Policy Analyst Trang Nguyen
DATE: June 11th, 2008
SUBJECT: Undocumented Immigration

There are more than 10 million undocumented aliens currently reside in the U.S., and that population is growing by 700,000 per year. Typical undocumented immigrants enter the U.S. either young or old, once employed, add value to the U.S. economy. However, they also pose problems within the legal and national security environment. When three out of every 100 people in America are undocumented, there is a profound security problem. The presence of millions of undocumented migrants can distort the law, distracts resources, and effectively creates a cover for terrorists and criminals. In other words, the real problem presented by undocumented immigration is security, not the supposed threat to the economy. Therefore, efforts to curtail the economic influx of migrants actually worsen the security dilemma by driving many migrant workers under the shadow, thereby encouraging the culture of illegality. This white paper recommends that non-citizen guest worker program is an essential component of securing the border, but only if it is the right program.





Solution 1: Guest Worker Program
In January 2004, the Bush Administration proposed a large-scale guest worker program. Undocumented immigrants and workers from abroad would be able to apply for a three-year work permit, which is renewable. The program would be non-sector specific, therefore addresses a larger population of undocumented immigrants. It requires a creation of an electronic database of willing foreign workers and willing U.S. employers. The macroeconomic argument in favor of immigration is especially compelling for highly educated individuals with backgrounds in science, engineering, and information technology. The increasing worry about outsourcing jobs to other nations is just one more reason to attract more jobs to America by insourcing labor.
The likelihood of this policy passing Congress and signed by the president with the current administration is moderate. The effectiveness of this policy in reducing the undocumented immigrants would be relatively high. Whether low-skilled or high skilled, immigrants boost national output, enhance specialization, and provide a net economic benefit. The 2005 Economic Report of the Presidents (ERP) devotes an entire chapter to immigration and states that Social Security payroll taxes paid by undocumented workers have led to a $463 billion funding surplus. In this proposal, all guest workers in the U.S. would be identified biometrically. All parties involved such as USCIS, DHS, ICE, and employers would have to collaborate through contracts, making more feasible to carry out.  The new law for guest workers would include both positive incentives for compliance and negative incentives for non-compliance. For example, a tenure caps can be expected to experience massive noncompliance. Thus, renewable short-term work permits have a greater likelihood of success than a single permit with an inflexible expiration date.
Solution 2:  Agricultural Worker Program Act
The Agricultural Worker Program Act legalizes the immigration status of farm workers by allowing agricultural workers and their families to apply for a blue card. A blue card gives these workers legal status and work authorization if they show consistent employment in U.S agriculture over the past two years, pay a fine, and pass a background check.
The likelihood of this policy passing Congress and being signed by the President is relatively low in general. However, the program does not cover a wide range of industries. Therefore, this policy would be widely accepted by the public concerned about the economy but vehemently opposed by those who support deportation. These agricultural jobs are largely unwanted by Americans, which creates room for this program to fill. According to Robert Guenther, senior vice president for the United Fresh Produce Association, a produce industry trade group, there are 1.5 to 2 millions farmworkers in the United State. The Department of Labor states that 50 to 70 percent of them is undocumented. These jobs cannot be replaced because out of the 489,000 people unemployed statewide in North Carolina in 2011, only two followed through and finished the season. Of the Mexican workers who took the rest of the jobs, 90 percent made it through the end. Therefore, in the long term, this alternative would be a good start to an immigration reform.
Sources:
Kirk Johnson and Tim Kane, “The Real Problem with Immigration... and the Real Solution,” The Heritage Foundation, http://www.heritage.org/immigration/report/the-real-problem-immigration-and-the-real-solutio
Tamar Haspel, “Illegal immigrants help fuel U.S. farms. Does affordable produce depend on them?,” The Washington Post, https://goo.gl/z8aSo8.

Comments

  1. I really liked the memorandum that you put together. It was very professional and well done. I especially liked your thoughts on the Agriculture Worker Program Act. There seems to be a paradox in the United States where we do not want undocumented workers, want them to be deployed, do not want to allow entry of that many people, and yet do not want to complete the tasks that many undocumented workers do ourselves. There are also studies that show that immigrants to the United States often work harder than United States citizens because they are sending money back home to their family. It would most likely be detrimental to the United States economy if we were not to allow at least some of these undocumented workers visas, and even more detrimental if the country pushed mass deportation.

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  2. I found your memorandum on United States foreign policy on undocumented immigrants be very well organized and quite intriguing! I especially thought it was interesting how you mentioned that immigrant workers allow for an increased specialization of labor and essentially boost the national economy. I definitely agree with this statement, especially considering that individuals who migrate to the United States to find work come from various different backgrounds and have diverse skills to contribute. I think that both the Guest Worker Program and the Agricultural Program Act are both efficient ways of boosting United States national output while also discouraging illegal immigration and encouraging legal immigration. Although you wrote this memorandum through the lens of an individual in 2008, do you think these programs would be favored by the foreign policy ideals of the current U.S. President and his administration? Why or why not?

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  3. You made some good points for your solution. Having renewable, short-term permits is a good idea since it will less likely that the immigrant workers will let their permit expire. It is also a good idea to not just deport the illegal immigrants because they do have an economic benefit to this country. There are many people that think that they should all be deported, but they do not realize that they take the jobs no American citizen will want to do. By allowing them to stay, find a job, and pay taxes, they will be productive members of society. The U.S. needs to focus on keeping jibs in this country instead of outsourcing many good paying jobs and loosing out on great innovative people. I think many American underestimate the significant positive impact undocumented workers have on the U.S. economy.

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