Civic Issues in Immigration

December 2020, 1:00-3:00 PM

Unless your ancestors were native to these shores, or forcibly enslaved and brought here as part of our original sin as a nation, most Americans can trace their family history back to a choice–a choice to leave behind everything that was familiar in search of new opportunities and a new life.” So begins Joe Biden’s Plan for Securing Our Values As A Nation of Immigrants. It continues, “It is a moral failing and a national shame when a father and his baby daughter drown seeking our shores. When children are locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government seeks to keep them there indefinitely. When our government argues in court against giving those children toothbrushes and soap.”  He goes on to note, “Generations of immigrants have come to this country with little more than the clothes on their backs, the hope in their heart, and a desire to claim their own piece of the American Dream. It’s the reason we have constantly been able to renew ourselves, to grow better and stronger as a nation, and to meet new challenges. Immigration is essential to who we are as a nation, our core values, and our aspirations for our future.”

Inspiring words, and a very different register than outgoing President Trump but how exactly SHOULD we approach immigration? One of the only things Democrats and Republicans can agree upon these days is that the immigration system is broken. Beyond that shared recognition, there are many different ways of understanding what is at stake and what matters most to us when we face difficult problems that don’t have perfect solutions. Left and right are deeply divided about what they perceive to be the problem and the solution(s)--divides that are compounded by media coverage of “illegal immigrants” committing acts of violence against innocent Americans and “stealing” American jobs on the right or the American government committing acts of cruelty against innocent immigrants and separating children at the border. 

 

While both the left and the right tout their own curated facts, they rarely tell the whole story. How might we cultivate a considerate, nuanced, sensible approach to immigration in America that is both compassionate and pragmatic? Here are some facts that attempt to be non-politicized, curated by the Pew Research Center and The New Center.

  • Today, more than 44.8 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants. 

  • Immigrants today account for 13.7% of the U.S. population, nearly triple the share (4.8%) in 1970. 77% of these immigrants are documented; almost a quarter are unauthorized.  

  • More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. each year. In 2018, the top country of origin for new immigrants coming into the U.S. was China, with 149,000 people, followed by India (129,000), Mexico (120,000) and the Philippines (46,000).

  • The number of undocumented immigrants living in America has actually dropped since 2007. The number, however, quadrupled in the two decades prior (1987-2007.)

  • Immigrants and their descendants are projected to account for 88% of U.S. population growth through 2065, assuming current immigration trends continue.

  • Undocumented immigrants commit all categories of crime at lower rates than native-borns. But unauthorized immigrants are also much more likely to be involved in fatal car accidents due to their lack of driver’s licenses.

  • Legal immigration is generally good for the economy and for U.S. workers—but it isn’t good for all workers in all places, and the benefits accrue more for some (white-collar workers living in cities) than others (blue-collar workers who don’t).

  • Immigration tends to positively affect the federal budget but negatively impact state and local budgets in the short term. This helps explain why attitudes about immigration vary so much by region.

  • America is and always has been a nation that welcomes immigrants. But the share of foreign-born people living in the U.S. is now higher than at any point in almost a century.

It has been more than 30 years since the passage of the last comprehensive immigration reform bill with a legalization program, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Since then, a gap between what the people want and what policymakers deliver has broadened. Although some common ground has been forged in Congress--bipartisan immigration bills cleared the Senate twice by large margins, once in 2006 and once in 2013--they didn’t make it through the House at that point, and many believe any progressive immigration reform wouldn’t make it through the Senate presently, if Republicans retain control. 

 

So there is agreement that the U.S. needs a new approach to immigration--one that resolves the status of the unauthorized and creates a better process for selecting and tracking immigrant hopefuls--coupled with Washington’s inability to craft and approve one.  The stagnation stems from both partisan gridlock and the failure of legislators to address key questions like:

  • Which policies will strengthen American communities? 

  • How do we enforce immigration laws and what do we do about people already here?

  • What is the price to the public of admitting or deporting the unauthorized? 

  • Given that entirely open borders aren’t realistic, what are our viable alternatives?

  • Where should we draw the lines?

  • How should we enforce border controls?

    • What is the least cruel way of cracking down?

  • How do we get various federal, state, and local entities working together instead of separately?

 

Although “illegal immigration” dominates the public debate, the shape of America’s system of legal immigration is just as consequential:

  • Should we welcome more newcomers to build a more vibrant and diverse society, or does this pose too great a threat to national unity?

  • How many people should and can realistically become American each year? 

  • Should family-based immigration continue to be the prime criterion for entry into the U.S., or should we give more weight to other factors, like the potential contributions of new arrivals to our economy?

  • Should we accept more of the growing numbers of refugees from war-torn regions, or should we avoid the risk of allowing in people whose backgrounds may not have been fully checked?

  • What would an immigration system that makes sense for the times we live in look like--a system that provides security and strengthens our country? 

With a new presidential administration coming to power, these questions are more salient than others. We look forward to grappling with them together within our Civic Forum on Immigration on Sunday, Dec 13. We will be joined in doing so by Felipe de la Hoz, an investigative and explanatory reporter focusing on immigration in the United States, cofounder of the weekly immigration policy newsletter Border/Lines, and a Lecturer at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY. Felipe is a former reporter for the investigative site Documented, and has written for The Intercept, The Appeal, The New Republic, The Baffler, The Daily Beast, WNYC, The Village Voice, and other outlets. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, has worked in Brazil, Colombia, and the United States, and is an alumnus of the Dow Jones News Fund's data journalism program, The New York Times Student Journalism Institute, and New York University. Felipe is a fan of data and skeptical of conventional wisdom.

Background Resources--please choose 3-4 in each category (more are better!)

Issues facing the Biden administration

 

What’s the Situation and How Did We Get Here?

What Can Be Done (and What It Will Take)