Suman Raghunathan

Mayhem and Misinformation on Immigration at the GOP Presidential Debate

During last night's Republican Presidential debate, mayhem (and misinformation) abounded among candidates on the proposed Senate immigration bill and its effect on the American middle class.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney criticized the Senate bill for not having enough enforcement oomph.

Focusing immigration reform only on enforcement is sure to be a losing strategy, not only for presidential candidates, but for American workers. Why, you may ask?

Because spending energy exclusively on enforcing existing immigration laws without providing a way for undocumented workers to legalize their status will only make them retreat even further into an underground economy, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and pushing wage rates through the floor.

Let me explain this sinister domino effect.

Once undocumented workers are forced to work in the shadows to avoid a system that focuses on punishing them for participating in our economy, it's all downhill from there. As DMI has shown, in this underground labor market employers and potential employers are able to use workers' immigration status as a weapon to force undocumented immigrants to accept lower wages to work in sweatshop conditions, risk injury on the job, access few rights in the workplace, and no option to unionize. The result? American workers' wages may plunge too -- particularly those who compete with immigrant workers for jobs in some sectors. In the long run, undocumented workers will have to live and work in fear, and the American middle class will be forced to deal with lower wages and the loss of immigrants contributions to the economy as a whole as, ahem, consumers.

The misinformation among the candidates was also highly entertaining.

Mitt Romney actually got the details of the bill wrong: undocumented immigrants who applied for a Z visa to legalize their status would NOT go to the front of the line of those waiting for green cards. Rudy Giuliani in turn complained undocumented immigrants would not be identified.

Um, hello, wrong on both counts.

In fact, undocumented immigrants would pay a fine, go through a background check, and get in the back of line for a green card. See one of my previous posts for more details on what undocumented immigrants would have to go through to legalize their status.

A shortsighted enforcement-only approach to immigration would only devalue immigrant contributions to the economy as a whole -- as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs. As DMI has argued, in the long run, this approach would also undermine the future of American workers.

Though playing bad cop (without developing a smart way to integrate immigrants already here into our economy) may play well in a television soundbite, in the end it makes no sense for American workers or its middle class.

Suman Raghunathan: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 5:14 PM, Jun 06, 2007 in Immigration
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