As we rush to the Capitol Hill today to lobby for the passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, we face the reality of the times. Every visit we made to each legislative office was met with a question asking us advocates to explain the effect of immigration reform on the economic crisis,
Mario, a long time bank executive in Northern California was terminated from his job. He expressed his frustration and said that his loss of employment and the resulting hardship humbled him in ways he never anticipated. When he hears news of efforts to have a comprehensive immigration reform pass and legalize the undocumented aliens in the US, he just raises his voice and questions the appropriateness of granting visas to foreign workers when 10% of US citizens are unemployed. To him it did not make sense that the undocumented aliens are going to be legalized or that more visas are to be granted to foreign workers on H1B visas while the unemployment rate is increasing each day. Are foreign workers stealing US jobs?
Broken Immigration System
Even before this recession, the number of undocumented aliens in the US was already around 12 million. The immigration system is established in a way that does not provide a legal path for undocumented aliens to obtain their visas and legalize their stay.
Even for legal immigration, the system is already broken. The fact that the siblings of US citizens from the Philippines will have to wait for 24 years before the visas are actually issued is a very lengthy process indicative of a broken system. Permanent residents’ petition for their spouses takes seven years before they are actually interviewed for a visa. Families are separated for a long time because of these unreasonable and unnecessary backlogs.
Unfortunately when families are separated for many years, there is a tendency for family members to enter the US by different means and remain in the country unlawfully
There is an urgent need to fix the immigration system by passing the immigration reform bill. Contrary to the anti immigrant argument, keeping families together by enactment of legislation that increases the number of visas allotted and giving immediate visas to spouses and minor children will foster economic growth. When a family is together and stable, there is a tendency to pool their resources to start businesses, purchase homes and send family members to college. It will actually stimulate the economy in a lot of ways.
Economics of Immigration
Immigration did not cause the economic crisis. Real immigration reform will help promote economic recovery.
At the moment, 12 million undocumented workers are already in the US and are contributing to the system. There are billions of dollars that are unaccounted in the Social Security system because the social security numbers used by the undocumented do not match their names. This is expected because these undocumented are still in the underground economy. If immigration reform is passed, these workers will become legal taxpayers and contribute significant tax revenues. This revenue will help the economy regain strength and vitality.
The other alternative to dealing with the undocumented is to deport all 12 million. This destructionist view is definitely not realistic neither is it pragmatic. This deportation proposal will be costly and will disrupt the economy further.
Visas for Foreign Skilled Workers
In just a few weeks or beginning April 1, 2009, the Petitions for Nonimmigrant Working Visas or H1Bs will be accepted for filing by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. These visas are given to professionals or those who require a bachelors degree to perform the job. The anti immigrant groups are very vocal about attacking the need for the H1B visas and are against the cap being raised to accommodate the demand for highly skilled jobs.
Foreign skilled workers do not steal jobs from US workers. The way the H1B visa regulations are implemented is to ensure that these workers “do not displace or adversely affect wages or working conditions of US workers.” There are protections that are put in place by the regulations to protect the US workers. Before the H1B visa petition is approved, the US Department of Labor requires a filing of the Labor Condition Application (LCA) in which the employer “the employer must attest that the firm will pay the nonimmigrant the greater of the actual compensation paid other employees in the same job or the prevailing compensation for that occupation; the firm will provide working conditions for the nonimmigrant that do not cause the working conditions of the other employees to be adversely affected; and that there is no applicable strike or lockout.”
Foreign Workers Easiest to Blame
The accusation that immigrants are stealing jobs of US workers is more of a visceral than a rational reaction. We may raise positive information about the benefits of immigrants to the US but when one is experiencing a corresponding hardship as a result of termination from employment, the immigrants become the easy target even if they are not actually responsible for the crisis. After all, it is easiest to blame innocent, hardworking immigrants than identify the in depth sequence of events that resulted in this economic downturn and layoffs.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177)
