Cato is a Libertarian think-tank, meaning they are conservative fiscally and approach the issue in a pragmatic way. They outline what I feel is a very good solution to the immigration crisis that we could appropriately label “Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” A good example of real-life legislation that mirrors their proposal would be the McCain/Kennedy Bill of 2006.

In a nutshell:

• The border must be secured! Probably high tech tools are more effective, cheaper and less politically damaging than a wall or fence.

• Family Reunification. Separated families are waiting years to be reunited, so we have to fix that and bring in long-waiting family members of current residents or citizens.

• Guest Worker Program. According to the NY Times, only 5,000 visas exist for low-skill, entry-level workers into the U.S! Cato proposes to increase that number to, I believe, 400,000. McCain had it at like 250,000 in his legislation. Whatever the new number for low-skill visas should be - we are currently way off from the estimated 500,000 new jobs created yearly in this entry-level, unskilled labor force. It is important to note also how we cannot meet this demand for workers domestically because baby-boomers are retiring and my generation is too educated to do those jobs. We either have to deport industry or bring in more workers!

• Path to Citizenship. Rather than 'amnesty' we must allow for the people currently here to come forward, pay back taxes, learn English, pass a background check, maybe even pay a penalty to begin the process of legalization. This would be a years-long wait and not some “freebie.” The guest worker program should probably be connected to this path towards legalization so that we are not creating a slave labor force of foreign workers who have no chance at bettering their status, but again the wait time to citizenship according to the McCain bill would be almost 13 years. The reality, though, is many won't want to stay, rather they would like to be able to work and save and then return to their country of origin.
These are the basic tenets of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, or CIR as it is sometimes referred to. Every major Christian group advocating for immigrants that I know about use CIR as their proposed solution. This differs from the enforcement-only folks who are mainly against things and propose little in the way of solutions. It is NOT a 'pro-amnesty' or 'open-borders' position! We believe in the rule of law, but we know that many forces were complicit in bringing this wave of workers here, and penalizing only the voiceless workers would be unjust and probably un-Christian.

We cannot do “enforcement first” or “secure the border” and then deal with those here illegally, in my opinion, because the border cannot be secured unless we increase entry points. People will find a way to get in and industry will continue to lure them in. We have tripled spending on the border over the last decade only to see immigration skyrocket. We must both increase enforcement and begin legalizing folks at the same time. Also, the human side of deportations or even what they call “deportation through attrition” - meaning alienating a population so much that they choose to self-deport back the very poverty they were escaping - is a pretty ugly thought and why most of us Christians get so bent out of shape.

We know these families and feel the fear and marginalization and lack of opportunity and it makes us angry. Practically all of the key leadership students in my youth group are undocumented and they are some of the kindest, smartest, most giving young people that I know. Knowing how hard it will be for them to go on to college, meanwhile living in constant fear for themselves and their families, really makes me angry.

I would love to continue the dialogue. Anything I am missing here? Does this basically make sense?

Paz.

Ian Danley
Serves Youth at Neighborhood Ministries in Downtown Phoenix
Community Organizes alongside their Mothers for Migrant Rights
Self-Described Guero from the Ghetto
Gets preachy about immigration way too much...