Congress should implement an expanded guest worker program to allow more foreign workers into the county legally.
That was a recommendation that received near-unanimous approval of attendees at an immigration forum held at ASU Downtown on Dec. 11.
In general, participants also agreed that immigration is predominately a federal concern and must be addressed through federal action. Nevertheless, in absence of congressional action, the state should take whatever legal and constitutional steps it can to address the problem.
Part of the session, organized by the California-based Communications Institute, was devoted to a discussion of new research that concluded illegal immigrants do not take jobs from U.S. citizens and that many illegals were involved in jobs that were complementary to — not in competition with — occupations held by legal workers. For example, in some construction trades, including masons and flooring installers, illegals approached 30 percent of the work force. If these workers were not available, the pace of construction would slow, and there would be fewer jobs available in trades in which legal workers comprise virtually the entire labor pool, such as plumbing, electrical and air conditioning.
There was some controversy regarding whether the net economic contribution of immigrants exceeds the cost of government services extended to them. One study, authored by Judith Gans of the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for the Study of Public Policy, concluded that in 2004 (the last year for which a full set of data was available) illegal immigrants contributed $1.5 billion in tax revenue while costing $1.4 billion in services, for a net positive impact of approximately $100,000 million.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-8, said the cost estimates were incomplete because they did not include the cost of educating children of illegals.
Jack Cox, president of The Communications Institute, said the purpose of the forum was not necessarily to bring forth specific policy proposals so much as to initiate and continue civil dialogue among many community leaders with different points of view.
“To that extent,” Cox said, “I think the day was a great success. You had people like [Minuteman President] Chris Simcox and [District 23 Democrat, Representative] Pete Rios finding common ground. The only way we’re going to resolve this problem is to get past the heated political rhetoric and look for rational solutions.”
Among the points made during the day:
• As security increases along the border, more illegals resort to paying smugglers to get them across, and more business for smugglers results in more incidents of violence.
• Heightened border security also means that once in this country, illegals do not go back home
• The costs of illegal immigration are borne disproportionately by local governments that receive less of the economic benefits. The federal government receives approximately $1.5 billion in payroll taxes from illegals, but aside from modest costs associated with increased border security, the federal government does not bear much of the economic burden.
• Said one participant: “It is a perfectly normal human impulse to move in order to better one’s economic condition. If that is an illegal activity, then we are all descendents of illegals.”
• Kavanagh said he likes to compare the situation with that of a store-front business in a high crime part of a big city. “The business owner displays a sign that says: ‘Protected by Acme Security.’ That’s the Border Patrol,” Kavanagh said. “The businessman also erects metal shutters and a steel gate across the entrance. That’s the wall at the border. And finally he will open the cash register to show anyone from the outside that there’s nothing to gain by breaking in. That’s the denial of benefits.”
Of the dire economic consequences that will ensue because of the employer sanctions law set to go into effect Jan 1, Kavanagh said he is reminded of the complaints by bar and restaurant owners before the statewide ban on smoking went into effect. “They told us they would go out of business and that’s just not what happened,” he said. “[Enforcement of the sanctions bill] will be phased in. There won’t be any county attorney except Maricopa County [Attorney Andrew Thomas] who will aggressively enforce this. Other [county attorneys] will require signed and notarized complaints, and that will kill enforcement.”
Most participants agreed there must be a way for illegals to self-identify and be able to choose a pathway to citizenship. William Beach, Director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, suggested that the touch-back provision whereby illegals must return to their home countries before being allowed to come back into the U.S. under a work visa, might be satisfied by having illegals travel to their consulate office (which is sovereign territory of a foreign government) and obtain work papers there. He said the Heritage Foundation would probably oppose such an arrangement, but he offered it as a starting point for dialogue.
In response to a question of whether the Legislature should pass a bill that would make an illegal immigrant guilty of trespassing so that local police would have a state law with which to charge illegals, Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden said that would take a 20-minute stop, which now ends with his officers calling federal officers who are the professionals and turn it into a 26-hour booking process, which would sap his department’s and the county’s resources.
Forum organizer Communications Institute became involved with immigration issues as a result of a meeting with Thomas R. Brown, who co-founded Burr-Brown in Tucson in 1956. Brown commissioned a study in 2005 to determine what issues community leaders and policy makers felt presented the greatest challenges to the state. Illegal immigration was at the top of the list. The Communications Institute has been working with the Brown Foundation ever since in trying to provide an economic basis for policy decisions aimed at the immigration problem.
A summary of the day’s discussion may be found on www.analysisonline.org.