Let’s start by dispelling two myths right away.

The vast majority of immigrants are good, hard working people looking for a better life.  At the same time, there are some criminals and “bad apples” – probably in the same proportion as the rest of American society.  They are not all on welfare and they are not some massive burden on our society.  They pay taxes and spend money in our stores.  But, some are a burden – probably in the same proportion as the rest of American society. 

The idea that they have no effect on jobs and wages is also hard to defend.  They are competing for both skilled and unskilled positions.  At every economic level, including the lowest, having a larger labor pool creates competition for jobs and allows employers to pay less and resist unions.  Where we have competition for employees, wages tend to go up.  At the same time, there will always be some jobs – like migrant farm workers – that are suited to immigrants who will work long hours for a limited period and then go back to their families – where their cost of living is much lower.

So how do we fix the current immigration crisis?

We kick congress in the butt and tell them to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

The keystone of this reform program is reviving the guest worker program that we had decades ago. Right now we have millions of undocumented workers and unemployment is in the three percent range so it makes sense that we need a large proportion of these workers to keep our economy running. The difference is that these workers would be documented, would pay taxes and would be expected to return to their home country if their job were to be discontinued. Presumably, if there is a severe economic downturn or recession or surge in automation, these guest workers would be a safety valve to preserve American worker jobs. If unemployment goes above five percent, issuing new guest worker permits would probably stop and renewals would get additional scrutiny.

To force employers to use this new program, the law would impose severe penalties on employers who do not use e-verify to check the status of anyone they hire. If they can demonstrate that they’ve been unsuccessful at finding an American worker, they could apply for permission to use an immigrant worker. The government would have to commit to a rapid turnaround so businesses could hire in a timely manner. Presumably, agencies would spring up to supply the needed workers since anyone who is in the country illegally would not be eligible for guest status. hese workers would not pay payroll taxes or pay into social security but the employer would pay his share for the position so there would be no (or less) financial advantage to hiring an immigrant over an American. Since the workers don’t pay into any of those programs, they would not be eligible to collect from them either.

Asylum would have to be reformed also. Any policy that causes people to risk (and, sometimes lose) their lives is a bad policy. Any policy that creates a business opportunity for criminal cartels is a bad policy. All asylum applications would have to be submitted and approved before the applicant can enter the country. Anyone who crosses the border illegally would get one hearing in front of an administrative law judge. If that person is deemed to have not followed the required procedures, they can immediately be deported. No appeals.  

The law could also loosen restrictions on law enforcement when it comes to checking immigration status. There would be a focus on anyone police suspect of being a criminal. They could be questioned about their status and, if illegal, held and deported without having to prove their criminal activities. Special task forces could go after suspected gang members based simply on their immigration status.

Finally the law would have to define what a natural born citizen is. I’m sure one side would argue that it should be anyone born on American soil while the other side would say one of the parents must be a citizen. One possible compromise would be to make it anyone who is here legally but that would be up for negotiation.

The bottom line is that the reason we have so much illegal immigration is because the success rate is very high. If we make it very difficult to successfully find a job and employers fear the penalties for being lax about their hiring policies, the word will get out and those who want to come here will turn to the legal way – because it offers the possibility of success.