Special Report

View Newer Items | View Older Items

Learning from IRCA: Lessons for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

If the current political stalemate over immigration reform is any indication, many U.S. policymakers have yet to heed the lessons of recent history when it comes to formulating a realistic strategy to control undocumented immigration. In 1986, lawmakers passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in an attempt to reign in undocumented immigration through heightened worksite and border enforcement, combined with legalization of most undocumented immigrants already in the country. Unfortunately, IRCA failed to offer a long-term solution to the problem of undocumented immigration because: (1) it did not expand avenues for legal immigration to match the U.S. economy's continuing demand for immigrant workers; (2) it did not create an effective system through which employers could verify that their employees are authorized to work in the United States; and (3) the employer sanctions provisions of the bill were weakly enforced. Lawmakers should take care not to make the same mistakes in crafting new immigration reform legislation. (May 2006)

Immigration Scare-Tactics: Exaggerated Estimates of New Immigration Under S.2611

The immigration projections being released by some opponents of S. 2611 clearly are intended to frighten rather than to inform. Using statistics that are rife with errors and based on unrealistic assumptions, these projections play to the fears of the American public rather than contributing to an informed debate on how best to reform the U.S. immigration system. (May 2006)

Read more...

Border Insecurity: U.S. Border-Enforcement Policies and National Security

The U.S. government's efforts to stem undocumented immigration by fortifying the U.S.-Mexico border have increased the profitability of the people-smuggling business and fostered greater sophistication in the smuggling networks through which a foreign terrorist might enter the country. U.S. national security would be better served if undocumented labor migration were taken out of the border-security equation by reforming the U.S. immigration system to accommodate U.S. labor demand. (Spring 2006)

Immigrants, Skills, and Wages: Measuring the Economic Gains from Immigration

Foreign-born workers do not substitute perfectly for, and therefore do not compete with, most native-born workers. Rather, the complementary nature of the skills, occupations, and abilities of foreign-born workers increases the productivity of natives, stimulates investment, and enhances the choices available to consumers. As a result, immigration increases the average wages of all native-born workers, except those who do not have a high-school diploma. Even for the small and shrinking number of native-born workers without a high-school diploma, the decline in wages from immigration is much smaller than some have estimated. A well-balanced immigration policy that attracts foreign-born workers at both ends of the educational spectrum would maximize the economic benefits of immigration for the native-born and build on the traditional appeal of the United States as a country of destination for both highly skilled and less-skilled immigrants. (March 2006)

Achieving 'Security and Prosperity': Migration and North American Economic Integration

Most of the border-enforcement and immigration-reform proposals currently being considered in Washington, DC, are not comprehensive or adequate solutions to the issue of undocumented immigration. The process of North American economic integration, and development within Mexico itself, create structural conditions that encourage Mexican migration to the United States. However, the multilateral agreements that have paved the way for this integration-the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)-do not adequately deal with the issue of labor migration. Real security and prosperity for all three NAFTA partners requires incorporating an agreement on labor migration into the project of North American economic integration. Without such a labor accord, additional security measures along the U.S.-Mexico border will not be successful in reducing undocumented migration. Multilateral cooperation is particularly important in an era where security threats, such as terrorism, extend across North America's collective borders. (February 2006)

Playing Politics on Immigration: Congress Favors Image over Substance in Passing H.R. 4437

Congressional representatives who supported H.R. 4437—the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005—are most likely to represent districts with relatively few undocumented immigrants. (February 2006)

Read more...

More Than a Temporary Fix: The Role of Permanent Immigration in Comprehensive Reform

The immigration debate once again is dominated by narrow thinking and the search for simplistic solutions to complex problems. Most lawmakers and the press have come to equate “immigration reform” with the question of whether or not enhanced immigration enforcement should be coupled with a new guest worker program that is more responsive than current immigration policies to the labor needs of the U.S. economy. All but lost in this debate have been the calls by prominent immigration reform advocates to improve and expand pathways for permanent immigration as well. But immigration reform will not be truly comprehensive, or effective, unless it recognizes the vital contributions of temporary workers and permanent immigrants alike, and the inadequacy of the current immigration system in providing legal channels for either to enter the country. Both temporary workers and permanent immigrants fill critical gaps in the U.S. labor force, but permanent immigrants are far more likely to acquire new job skills, achieve upward mobility, learn English, buy homes, create businesses, and revitalize urban areas. (January 2006)