Five MYTHS about IMMIGRATION

Keeping in view the latest Bill by Barack Obama penalizing firms having more than 50% people working on job visas, here a reality check. Its an older post of kaleidoscope but is more relevant now. 


Source- HT
(The author wrote addressing the US citizens)
Despite the fact that US is a nation of immigrants  or perhaps because of it  immigration continues to be one of America’s most contentious topics. The new law in Arizona authorising police to arrest individuals who cannot show documents proving that they are in the country legally has set off a fresh bout of acrimony. But as in the past, much of the debate is founded on mythology. Here are some of the myths:

1.)Immigrants take jobs from American workers

Although immigrants account for 12.5 percent of the US population, they make up about 15 percent of the workforce. They are overrepresented among workers largely because the rest of our population is aging: Immigrants and their children have accounted for 58 percent of US population growth since 1980. This probably won’t change anytime soon. Low US fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in what we call the “prime age” workforce  workers ages 25 to 55  in the decades ahead. As record numbers of retirees begin drawing Social Security checks, younger immigrant workers will be paying taxes, somewhat easing the financial pressures on the system.

Immigrants tend to be concentrated in high- and low-skilled occupations that complement  rather than compete with  jobs held by natives. As a result, immigrants experience higher employment than natives during booms  but they suffer higher job losses during downturns.

2.)Immigration at an all-time high; most came illegally

The historic high came in 1890, when immigrants made up 14.8 percent of US population. Today, about two-thirds of immigrants are here legally, commonly known as “green card” holders. And of the approximately 10.8 million immigrants who are in the country illegally, about 40 percent overstayed their visas.

It’s worth noting that although the unauthorized immigrant population includes more people from Mexico than from any other country, Mexicans are also the largest group of lawful immigrants. Apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border have declined by more than 50 percent over the past four years. This decline is largely due to the recession, but stepped-up border enforcement is playing a part.

3.)Today’s immigrants are not integrating into society

The integration of immigrants remains a hallmark of America’s vitality as a society. Although some people complain that today’s immigrants are not integrating into US society as quickly as previous newcomers did, the same charge was leveled at virtually every past wave of immigrants, including the large numbers of Germans, Irish and Italians who arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today, as before, immigrant integration takes a generation or two. Learning English is one key driver of this process; the education and upward mobility of immigrants’ children is the other. On the first count, today’s immigrants consistently seek English instruction in such large numbers that adult-education programs cannot meet the demand, especially in places such as California. 

However, the unauthorised status of millions of immigrants can interrupt integration. For example, illegal immigrants are ineligible for in-state tuition, making higher education  out of their reach. 

4.)Curbing illegal crossings will make us safe

The job of protecting the nation’s borders is immense, encompassing nearly 7,500 miles of land borders, 12,380 miles of coastline and a vast network of sea ports, international airports, ports of entry along the Mexican and Canadian borders and visa-issuing consulates abroad.

Our southwest border is more a classic law enforcement challenge than a front line in the war on terrorism. Antiterrorism measures rely heavily on intelligence gathering and clandestine efforts that are unrelated to border enforcement.

The seasoned enforcement officials  contend that if we provided enough visas to meet the economy’s demand for workers, border agents would be freed to focus on protecting the nation from truly dangerous individuals.

5.)Reform cannot happen in an election year

The politics of immigration can be explosive, especially as elections near, with the result that Congress infrequently updates immigration laws. However, all the significant immigration bills enacted in recent decades were passed in election years.

This list dates back to the Refugee Act of 1980, which established our system for humanitarian protection and refugee and asylum admissions. Next came the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which made it illegal to hire unauthorised immigrants and provided amnesty for 2.7 million illegal immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of visas allotted to highly skilled workers. And the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act charged immigration agencies with implementing significant new law enforcement mandates.

Legislative attempts to make urgently needed changes fizzled in the House in 2005 and in the Senate in 2006 and 2007, and the to-do list for this Congress is substantial. But ruling out immigration reform, whether because Congress has other priorities or because it’s an election year, would be a mistake. The outline for immigration legislation that Senator Charles Schumer (NY) and his Democratic colleagues unveiled last week, together with the uproar over the Arizona law, may help convince lawmakers that there’s no time like now.