President Obama’s unilateral action on immigration angered
many in Congress and among the public. With Republicans taking control of
Congress, it is tempting to respond aggressively. Instead, a more measured and
constructive approach would move the country forward and address the concerns
that the voters expressed in the recent election.
To fix a system that the president admits is “broken,”
Congress can pass legislation to deal with three issues. First, use market
indicators to award green cards that favor immigrants in needed occupations and
industries. Second, create a new class of visa that carries an annual fee,
available to some of the undocumented, and provide for a guest-worker program.
Third, use employer-based incentives to deal with illegal immigration, past and
future.
Right now most immigrants come to the U.S. on the basis of
family ties, not on the basis of their skills. Family reunification
considerations are important, but they should not trump all others. Typically,
fewer than one-sixth of immigrants each year obtain green cards based on their
skills, according to the Department of Homeland Security. More slots should be
allocated on the basis of occupational needs. The easiest way to determine
which industries and occupations are experiencing labor shortages is to
identify those with rapid wage growth. When labor demand rises relative to supply,
wages go up.
Congress could allocate perhaps half of the annual number of
green cards issued on a statistics-determined skill basis, where priority is
given to skills for which demand is growing most rapidly relative to supply.
Green-card entry criteria could be adjusted periodically to reflect
labor-market conditions.
This reform would help the economy but several studies over
the years show that it would not significantly depress domestic wages. Robert
LaLonde and Robert H. Topel and Giovanni Peri provide evidence that immigrants
have negligible effects on those already in a country—wage pressure, if any, is
primarily on immigrants who came earlier. Using labor-market data to determine
labor-market tightness will mitigate any adverse impact on wages.
Most Americans accept that those who have entered illegally
or overstayed their visas have committed a crime. Complete amnesty seems
inappropriate and would encourage illegal entry in the future. As an
alternative to deportation, however, one reasonable approach is to fine
undocumented immigrants rather than deport them.
Congress could create a “Z” visa, to be issued to
undocumented immigrants who can demonstrate that they have been in the U.S. for
five years or more and have no criminal record. The visa would allow them,
their spouses and children to stay, provided that they pay an annual visa fee
of, say, a few hundred dollars. Anyone with a Z visa could apply for a green
card, but would go to the end of the queue, continuing to have Z status during
the waiting period, as long as the annual visa fee was paid.
Holders of the Z visa would be able to work while they wait
for their green cards. A useful and equitable extension of the Z-visa system
would be to allow a limited number of those who are not already in the country,
but have been waiting patiently, to obtain Z visas and pay the visa fee while
they await regular green-card status.
Finally, Congress should create appropriate incentives to
apply for legal status. Employer enforcement is essential to ensure that the
undocumented do not choose to stay in the shadows rather than pay the fee for a
Z visa. Programs like E-Verify are necessary and should be enhanced. Firms
should be fined heavily for hiring those who are here illegally, but given safe
harbor as long as they check the status of new employees.
A system that penalizes employing those without legal status
in the U.S. is also the best way to keep new illegal immigrants out. Border
enforcement is necessary and uncontroversial, but immigrants who cannot work
cannot afford to live in the U.S. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, nearly
half of all illegal immigrants in the U.S. entered the country legally and
overstayed their visas. The only way to close that avenue is to eliminate their
employment possibilities.
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