One View of Our Immigration System

January 20, 2006

A broken immigration system, By DAVID LEOPOLD

THOSE who followed the heartbreaking saga of my client, Manuel Bartsch, the German teenager who was locked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he inquired about his citizenship status, have now seen how badly our nation’s immigration system is broken.

Sadly, stories such as this one are not unique. Divided families, deaths in the southwestern desert, fake documents, and community tensions are just a few of the symptoms of a system so hobbled and inadequate nothing short of a complete overhaul will suffice.

The failed immigration system of United States is hardly a new problem. Nor is it a new idea that this problem can be solved, as some have suggested, simply by stepping up enforcement.

Over the past decade, the U.S. has quintupled the nation’s immigration enforcement budget. All told, we have flushed more than $20 billion into attempts to plug the helplessly leak-riddled dike that is our current border control system.

The result? The number of illegal immigrants pouring into our country has risen steadily to a mind-numbing 11 million people. Pumping more money into enforcement-only measures won’t change a thing, except the total dollar amount spent upon fruitless efforts.

But so far Congress has offered nothing more than mean-spirited legislation that focuses exclusively upon enforcement in an attempt to provide the appearance of getting tough.

HR 4437, passed by the House last month, does little to stop the flow of people entering the United States illegally. Instead it criminalizes the 11 million undocumented people and threatens the civil liberties of citizens and noncitizens alike.

Moreover, criminalizing and deporting the 11 million undocumented workers already in this country would prove an impossible and ridiculously unwise task.

Documented and undocumented workers make up 40 percent of farming, fishing, and forestry jobs in the United States, 33 percent of jobs in building and grounds maintenance, 22 percent of food preparation jobs, and 22 percent of construction jobs. Our economy relies heavily upon the contributions of these workers, who often take jobs Americans remain unwilling to take themselves.

Even if we wanted to jettison undocumented workers, the U.S. government simply doesn’t have the resources to do so.

The Center for American Progress estimates it would cost roughly $206 billion to ferret them out and ship them home, roughly $41 billion per year over five years. That’s more than the total annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security. Most Americans wouldn’t even support such measures.

We need a fair, orderly, controlled system of immigration that reflects our nation’s values and restores the rule of law. We need common sense and creative immigration policies that will remedy the broken immigration system and help our nation meet the economic challenges of the 21st century.

As the House bill moves to the Senate this spring, Ohioans should demand that our senators support measures that toughen security around our nation’s borders and, at the same time, offer undocumented workers the opportunity to earn their way to legal status by working, paying taxes, learning English, and being committed to American values.

We need reforms that enhance our national security while reuniting families, some of whom have been separated for 20 years. I, for one, would rather know who is here and keep out those who mean us harm. Such reform would facilitate the cross-border flow of people and goods that is essential to our economy.

Tough talk may make us feel better but it does nothing to keep us safe, improve our quality of life, or bolster our economy. What we need is action.

It’s time to pass real, common sense comprehensive immigration reform policies that will restore order and security to our nation’s borders and all of America.

David Leopold is a Cleveland-based attorney who represents Manuel Bartsch. He also is adjunct professor of immigration law at the Case Western Reserve and Cleveland-Marshall Schools of Law.

KJ