WP: The defeat of the Dream Act and our lost decade on immigration reform

[pampango]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122302215.html

Advocates on one side, mostly Republicans, would like to see enforcement policies tough enough to induce an exodus. But that does not seem achievable anytime soon, because unauthorized immigrants have proved to be a very durable and resilient population. The number of illegal arrivals dropped sharply during the recession, but the people already here did not leave, though they faced massive unemployment and ramped-up deportations. If they could ride out those twin storms, how much enforcement over how many years would it take to seriously reduce their numbers? Probably too much and too many to be feasible. Besides, even if Democrats suffer another electoral disaster or two, they are likely still to have enough votes in the Senate to block an Arizona-style law that would make every cop an alien-hunter.

Advocates on the other side, mostly Democrats, would like to give a path to citizenship to as many of the undocumented as possible. That also seems unlikely; Republicans have blocked every effort at legalization. Beyond all the principled arguments, the Republicans would have to be politically suicidal to offer citizenship, and therefore voting rights, to 11 million people who would be likely to vote against them en masse.

Would they settle for a legal life here without citizenship? ... There would be a larger cost, however, if legalization came without citizenship: the cost to the nation's political soul of having a population deliberately excluded from the democratic process. No one would set out to create such a population. But policy failures have created something worse. We have 11 million people living among us who not only can't vote but also increasingly are afraid to report a crime or to get vaccinations for a child or to look their landlord in the eye.

Much of the debate over the past decade has been about whether legalization would be an unjust reward for "lawbreakers." The status quo, however, rewards everyone who has ever benefited from the cheap, disposable labor provided by illegal workers. To start to fix the situation, everyone - undocumented workers, employers, consumers, lawmakers - has to admit their errors and make amends.

[dkf]

1. Excess labor brings down wages.

Full employment is the only thing that will being up wages so don't complain about the poor being poor if you allow or condone rampant illegal immigration.

[pampango]

2. The OP recommends neither condoning nor allowing illegal immigration.

It does deal with the presence of 11 million illegal immigrants as a "fact of life". It points out that for the last 10 years the immigration reform debate has degenerated into a yelling match between the "condoning illegal behavior" crowd and the "path to citizenship" crowd, resulting in a stalemate.

Meanwhile the 11 million aren't going anywhere, as the OP points out, and will continue to serve as an employer's dream of large numbers of easily exploitable workers. Employers know the 11 million aren't going anywhere and want them to stay "illegal" while they continue to live and work here. That is why organized labor supports the DREAM Act and comprehensive reform.

The resulting gridlock on immigration reform has resulted in a status quo that employers are happy with, but which benefits neither legal workers nor the illegal immigrants themselves.