THE UNITED STATES has millions of low-wage jobs that must be filled to keep from pricing produce, restaurant meals and dozens of necessary services out of the reach of ordinary people.
The pay for many of those jobs is too low and the working conditions too harsh to attract U.S. workers.
The only way to fill the jobs is to import low-wage workers from other countries.
It is not a pretty way for an economy to work, but immigrant labor is a cornerstone of U.S. prosperity. As the income gap between the rich and everyone else gets wider and many families find their real income falling, it has become even more important — for economic and political stability — to hold down the price of food and other necessities.
For many decades, successive Congresses have played silly games with the issue of immigration. Politicians in Washington have postured on the topic of controlling immigration. They have restricted legal immigration to levels far below the demand for immigrant workers. But at the same time, they made sure — by skimping on funding for enforcement — that the nation’s borders would be porous enough to allow free passage to illegal workers.
That way, the politicians could keep voters happy by appearing to protect this country’s workers from foreign competition and keep businesses happy by not restricting the flow of the low-wage workers that businesses needed to keep their costs down and stay competitive.
An inevitable result of this two-faced approach to immigration was that the United States government lost all effective control over the flow of people across its national borders. The policy also helped support the traffic in illegal drugs. After all, crossing the border was just as easy for a drug smuggler working for a Colombian cartel as for an agricultural worker from Sonora.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, should have made it clear that this schizophrenic approach to immigration policy poses a terrible risk to the security of the nation. For the safety of its people, the United States must be able to control its borders. For the security of its economy, the nation must be able to allow as many workers as necessary to cross those borders legally.
That is the basic message of the immigration reform bill proposed by President Bush, and he is right.
But politics seldom appeals to reason. In this election year, many in Congress are happy to play the tough-guy role by demanding that borders be closed (even if it means building walls thousands of miles long). But few are willing to speak up for the essential second part of the plan — making legal immigration easier for needed workers.
Campaigning politicians think they can get more votes simply by blaming their opponents for being soft on immigration and by demonizing illegal immigrants. It would be more honest for these politicians to address the nation’s need for a sane immigration policy.
This is not rocket science, just common sense.
The United States needs immigrant workers and it needs secure borders — not one or the other.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor