Saturday, April 08, 2006
Our Backdoor
Our back door is open:
As the hand wringing continues in Washington, the
population shift continues at our southern border.
There is no doubt that in many places outside of the USA
conditions are desperate. The hopes of large parts of the
Latino world are not at home but instead in the promise
of the American way. It is a natural result of success and
bounty in one place that populations move in that
direction. This normal shifting in itself is not good or bad,
but there are some very real consequences when it
happens. One thing is the wholesale violation of the
immigration laws. This seemingly minor transgression
has a major effect on both the citizens in the USA and on
the incoming population. Ignoring and not enforcing
established laws degrades the respect for law that is the
basis of civilization. Also, the migrating population, by not
having a legal path to the work that calls them, are forced
into an illegal underworld. This state of affairs has
continued for decades and given rise to much division
within the USA.
This problem of legal/illegal is just one of many that
comes when discussing the issue of worker migration.
But these problems have been in the press for years and I
am not going to speak of them. The way forward may be
the only discussion of value. First the US must find out
who is here. The national ID card with strong biometrics
should be rolled out. This ID would be the key to the tax,
welfare, and retirement systems. By providing legal
residents services keyed to their ID, the distribution of
entitlements and citizen benefits would be controlled. It is
now grounds for detention for not providing identification
to law enforcement. Not much time would be needed to
find all but the most reclusive residents. I maintain this
identification issue could be completed at the same time
as the next census.
The second step needed to address illegal immigration
into the USA is to hold employers responsible for who they
hire. The US IRS that sees employer tax statements where
labor expenses are paid to unknown persons is looking the
other way. This ignoring of known violations of tax law is
being done as a mater of policy and can be changed. To do
these things without disruption of the economy must
include a path for the migrants to become legal workers.
The talk of citizenship and migrant workers are two different
issues, we can have millions of non-citizen workers here,
we already do. The real problem is we don’t know who is
here and what we don’t know we can’t control.
As the hand wringing continues in Washington, the
population shift continues at our southern border.
There is no doubt that in many places outside of the USA
conditions are desperate. The hopes of large parts of the
Latino world are not at home but instead in the promise
of the American way. It is a natural result of success and
bounty in one place that populations move in that
direction. This normal shifting in itself is not good or bad,
but there are some very real consequences when it
happens. One thing is the wholesale violation of the
immigration laws. This seemingly minor transgression
has a major effect on both the citizens in the USA and on
the incoming population. Ignoring and not enforcing
established laws degrades the respect for law that is the
basis of civilization. Also, the migrating population, by not
having a legal path to the work that calls them, are forced
into an illegal underworld. This state of affairs has
continued for decades and given rise to much division
within the USA.
This problem of legal/illegal is just one of many that
comes when discussing the issue of worker migration.
But these problems have been in the press for years and I
am not going to speak of them. The way forward may be
the only discussion of value. First the US must find out
who is here. The national ID card with strong biometrics
should be rolled out. This ID would be the key to the tax,
welfare, and retirement systems. By providing legal
residents services keyed to their ID, the distribution of
entitlements and citizen benefits would be controlled. It is
now grounds for detention for not providing identification
to law enforcement. Not much time would be needed to
find all but the most reclusive residents. I maintain this
identification issue could be completed at the same time
as the next census.
The second step needed to address illegal immigration
into the USA is to hold employers responsible for who they
hire. The US IRS that sees employer tax statements where
labor expenses are paid to unknown persons is looking the
other way. This ignoring of known violations of tax law is
being done as a mater of policy and can be changed. To do
these things without disruption of the economy must
include a path for the migrants to become legal workers.
The talk of citizenship and migrant workers are two different
issues, we can have millions of non-citizen workers here,
we already do. The real problem is we don’t know who is
here and what we don’t know we can’t control.
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