When and where did we lose the spirit of Ellis Island and legal immigration in this country? Lady Liberty still proudly holds her lamp “beside the golden door” but U.S. immigration is now in chaos. More than 24 million immigrants (or “aliens” as they were called) were legally processed in the U.S. between 1892 and 1954. The bulk of that influx and the “melting pot” that it sparked occurred up until 1924. There was a clear standard of admission then and the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was able to orderly process 1.2 million applications for citizenship per year. Ultimately, foreign quota laws were instituted and each nation was given a two percent quota based on the most recent census.
Fast forward to the present – there is a current backlog of more than three million pending applications for citizenship and a five year backlog of applications for work visas by unskilled workers. 12 million illegals roam at will in America. $20 Billion or more is sent home to Mexico each year by illegal immigrants in America. This is more than what Mexico receives each year from its government controlled oil industry (and it is the 5th largest oil producer in the world).
For the past 25 years, an annual conference of U.S. and Mexican border governors has been held. Do they huddle and develop solutions to the steady flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico to America (a 10% exodus of the Mexican population)? Apparently not! While many Americans call for securing the border and employer verifications and even a fence stretching the length of our multi state border if necessary (all at staggering cost and complexity), the governors complain of bottlenecks and “massive traffic jams at the U.S. – Mexico border”. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is quoted as saying that long border waits are America’s fault. “Our missing partner is the federal government and that is where we need to put our efforts next,” she said. Mexico profits from and condones the flood of illegal immigration that forces us to increase security at the border and the Arizona Governor complains of “traffic jams” and calls our government, the “missing partner.” No – the “missing partner” has always been the Mexican government. They profit so substantially from the status quo that they have no reason whatsoever to do anything until they are finally held accountable.
Mexico is one of only two countries that prohibit any foreign investment in oil exploration. (Korea is the other). It is estimated that new investment in oil refining would generate 200,000 jobs in Mexico. A recent study reports that Mexico’s tax system is so full of corruption and evasion that 40-70% of businesses and professionals either cheat on their taxes or pay nothing at all. Many of the illegals from Mexico come for Agriculture jobs. Why? In Mexico, 42% of the rural population lives in extreme poverty. Mexico’s education system graduates only 25% of its students from high school. But we don’t talk about these things in America. Instead, we fight among ourselves. We wrestle with how to reconcile the genuine compassion we feel for unfortunate people in search of a better life for their families, the chaos that has ensued in this country from years of neglect of our immigration system and our need to maintain some semblance of law and order.
When President Vincente Fox of Mexico came to Utah in 2006, he spoke to the State Legislature. I am sorry to report, however, that it was only a carefully controlled media event (“photo-op”). We were not allowed to ask any questions. There was no exchange of ideas and no commitment to work together to produce real solutions. Rather, the chaotic status quo was praised and blessed.
In 1986, America compassionately extended amnesty to three million illegal immigrants and sought to give them a “path to citizenship”. It was thought to be a one time occurrence and a chance to get our laws and our law enforcement back on track. However, the situation has grown four times as big since then. Utah prisons contain more than 200 illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes and sex offenses. Nationally (as of 2003), there were 151,000 illegal immigrants in state prisons and 205,000 in local jails. However, at the same time, there are so many who in the spirit of Ellis Island and our legal immigration heritage we would proudly welcome and help any way we can. (Today, more than 40% of Americans or over 100 million Americans trace their roots to ancestors who came through Ellis Island).
Who can look into the face of a needy youth or desperate parents yearning for the blessings of liberty and not be stirred with compassion? Our churches and our charities are willing and able to do much to assist them to the extent our laws and our government will allow. We have numerous young people who were brought here illegally as children by their family. They have been educated here and have progressed and now desire legal citizenship. They dead-end, however, when state and federal laws conflict and Congress (under federal preemption and the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution) is either unable or unwilling to correct the harsh realities of those contradictions.
If there was ever a time for government to work in full cooperation with “faith based charities” to solve a problem that seems to have overwhelmed the bureaucrats, this is it. Still, even more basic, however, is the need for Mexico to acknowledge and work internally to solve its own problems. The recurring exodus and porous borders are but symptoms of their own deficiencies, which have spilled over into America. This has created a wedge of contention and divisiveness in our public dialogue and deliberations. In short, Mexico’s problem has become ours and past experience confirms that a unilateral policy cannot possibly offset the glaring absence of Mexico in all this. The first rule of common sense when you are in a leaky boat is to find and plug the hole. Endlessly “bailing out” the rising water in which we find ourselves will not do.
Clearly, today’s ongoing Congressional indecision is a decision nonetheless and nothing neglected ever remains the same. But until we address the $20 Billion annual profit that Mexico is reaping from the status quo, the illegal immigration crisis in America will never be fully resolved. (What if, in the interim, we required $20 billion in oil from the Mexican government each year?). Unfortunately, securing our borders today may require the same lines, inspections and inconveniences to law abiding citizens that 9/11 and the “tennis shoe bomber” have caused at our airports.
Posted by: LaVar Christensen