With the Department of Justice’s filing of a lawsuit this week seeking to prevent the enforcement of the new Arizona law attempting to target illegal immigration, I thought it would be relevant and timely to bequeath you all with a few thoughts about it.
This is, at first blush, a simple issue. If a person is here without having gone through the appropriate legal channels, then they have violated our national immigration laws. The penalty typically is and should be deportation, perhaps coupled with a suspension of that person’s ability to come back to our country. Very simple. Just think about the case where you yourself traveled to another country without the appropriate visa. You would expect to get in trouble, wouldn’t you? Easy enough.
However, there are other factors driving the debate about illegal immigration, some more troubling than others. The most important of these from a policy standpoint is economic. Most of the construction, lawn maintenance, and restaurant-cooking that goes on in this country is performed or dominated by illegal immigrants. These low-paying but physically demanding jobs are precisely the kinds of jobs that illegal immigrants can obtain, because very few people want them. Turning out all of these workers would mean a labor shortage, higher wages, and higher prices. Is the American consumer prepared to pay significantly more for homes and food? Maybe—but you don’t hear any discussion about this economic impact, at least not among the policy-setters (the politicians).
The more troubling factor at play is the passion behind this issue. Are people passionate because they feel that illegal immigrants are getting a free ride in this country? I think some are; and there is no doubt that, because we are a society that has (in some ways, at least) treated people with a minimum threshold of care since the Great Depression and Great Society projects created a minimal safety-net of social programs, free-riding is possible. A prime example is health care: critically injured or sick people are required to be treated at hospital emergency rooms regardless of their immigration status. (This was a big issue that should have been addressed with health care reform this year… but because this issue is toxic, no one was willing to tackle it). I can wax passionate on the debate of illegal immigration because of the free-rider issue; but, of course, my proposed solution would be to work these people in, make them pay for these services, not let them suffer or die.
The thing that worries me is, I think that many people are passionate about this issue neither for the economic reason, which is typically—wrongly—posed as “they’re taking our jobs,” nor the free-rider problem. I think many simply hold a racist, disparaging view of Latinos*. Think about it. You probably know someone who uses racial epithets against Latinos or is otherwise clearly prejudiced. I know I do—many people, in fact, some of whom are family members. For a person who views Latinos negatively solely because they’re Latinos (regardless of immigration status), you can see how they would use the illegal immigration debate as an outlet.
If that doesn’t disturb you, it should. It means that a significant political and economic issue for our country that deserves clear thinking and rational debate is being strongly influenced by frank hatred. This is what causes legal immigrants in this country and “liberals” or rational thinkers like me to flinch a bit when a law like that of Arizona is enacted. The actual wording of the law is not really offensive; the purpose, however, is suspect.
* Note that I refer to Latinos only, although, obviously, people from Latin countries are not the only illegal immigrants. I think that most of this is being driven by immigration from countries south of the U.S. border, however.
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