Is Immigration Overhaul Vital To U.S. Recovery?

In a word - yes. On NPR's Morning Edition today, Simon elaborates on our Case for Passage of Immigration Reform This Year, highlighting the increasing urgency of passing reform as a tool to revive the U.S. economy.  NDN has long sustained that undocumented immigrants suffer under the current broken immigration system because they fall victim to bad-actor employers.  These individuals make up about 5% of the U.S. labor force - that means 5% of workers fall outside of the protection of U.S. wage and labor laws, in addition to not being able to receive benefits or organize with labor unions.  We can implement a number of economic plans, but there will remain a trap door under wages until we fix the broken immigration system: 

Simon Rosenberg, of the Democratic think-tank NDN, says legalizing immigrants would go a long way..."The people who are not playing on an even playing field are the undocumented, because they can be paid less than you. They can be given less benefits. They can be forced to work 60, 70 hours by unscrupulous employers," he says.

Legalization Means New Revenue

Rosenberg and others also point to a Congressional Budget Office study that found legalizing the estimated 6 or 7 million unauthorized workers and their families would add tens of billions to the U.S. Treasury. It would come through more taxes paid, plus the fees and fines likely in any legalization package.

David Kallick, of the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York, says when 5 percent of the workforce lacks legal status, the economy takes another kind of hit.

"It means they can start an entry level job, but they can't really make the step to improve their education, get to the next level," he says. "And so you're essentially holding a whole contingent of people back from contributing even more to the economy than they do."

Immigration Proxy Wars

Both sides do agree on this - absent any larger solution, immigration will keep coming up on almost anything lawmakers touch. It's already happened this year on debates over children's healthcare and the stimulus package, and Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg predicts more battles over the census, Mexican border security and especially healthcare.

"It's impossible to understand how we have universal health insurance in America without first fixing the broken immigration system," he says. "Because what the healthcare fight will become is a debate over whether universal healthcare covers illegal immigrants."

To find out more about what legalization of the undocumented would mean for the economy, check out the Immigration Policy Institute's latest report and fact check on the issue.  Opponents of reform, like Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, will argue that tax benefits will outweigh the cost of all the social services newly legalized workers would be eligible for.  This contention has been proven incorrect by the Congressional Budget Office, cited by Simon, which has stated a legalization program would provide a net benefit of dozens of billions of dollars. 

Continuing the discussion over reform and its impact on the economy, an excellent editorial in today's New York Times reiterates the same fundamental principles that have constituted NDN's proposal for CIR:

Immigration Reform and Hard Times
The Obama administration said last week that it would begin a major push for immigration reform this year. The country's two big labor federations just announced that they are joining forces to support that effort, which includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. That's double good news.

The administration is saying that it will keep its promise to fix the broken system, even if it means pushing the hottest of hot buttons: legalization, the dreaded "amnesty" that sets the Republican right wing ablaze and makes many Democrats quiver.

We are also heartened that American labor is speaking with a united voice in hard times, rejecting the false claim that fixing the immigration system will somehow hurt American workers. Even in a bad economy - especially in a bad economy - getting undocumented immigrants on the right side of the law only makes sense.

Administration officials said President Obama planned to speak publicly about the issue next month and would convene working groups this summer, à la health care, to begin discussing future legislation. Immigrant advocates were ecstatic, though it is important to note that this was not a promise to move a bill, only to start the debate. Even that is not going to be easy. Reform was thwarted in the last two Congresses by obstructionist Republicans committed to the delusion that expelling 12 million people amounts to a realistic policy.

The country has suffered mightily in the meantime. American workers and businesses continue to be undercut by the underground economy. The economic potential of some of the country's most industrious workers is thwarted. Working off the books - and living in constant fear of apprehension - they earn less, spend less, pay less in taxes and have little ability to report abuses or to improve their skills or job prospects.

The ingredients of reform are clear: legalization for the 12 million, to yield bumper crops of new citizens, to make it easier to weed out criminals and to end the fear and hopelessness of life in the shadows; sensible enforcement at the border that focuses resources on fighting crime, drugs and violence; a strengthened employment system that punishes businesses that exploit illegal labor; and a future flow of workers that is attuned to the economy's needs and fully protects workers' rights.

The last point has been a sticky one with some unions. The agreement between the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and Change to Win - a rival federation that includes service employees, the Teamsters and carpenters - will center on a new approach to future immigration, a compromise in which an independent national commission calibrates the size of temporary-worker programs each year, based on conditions in labor markets. It may not be a perfect plan, but after years of vitriol, it's encouraging to hear calmer voices outlining smart reform.

We expect to hear more from Mr. Obama soon.

The editorial goes on to highlight that, "It will take courage to defend the wisdom and necessity of fixing the immigration system. It will take even more courage to engage in the serious fight to do so."  This is true, and we are all ready to join in the conversation - not to fight, but to pass immigration reform because, "It is what the country needs and what American voters elected Mr. Obama to do."