U.S. Border Control

Temporary workers, yes; backdoor immigration, no

By Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.)
September 6, 2005

The precondition to any honest debate about a new guest-worker plan is securing the borders and taking control of illegal immigration.

The public will not trust any plan that involves mere promises to secure the borders. It must be accomplished before we launch any new guest-worker program.

Put simply, we must shut the back door before we enlarge the front door.
Another precondition to a guest-worker plan is to prove that we actually need guest workers. So often I hear about the great number of jobs that “no American will do” — as if Americans have acquired an aversion to jobs that involve their backs as well as their minds.

I remember growing up doing many jobs that I didn’t particularly like doing — in fact I’d imagine most Americans would rather be golfing, watching TV or playing with their kids than sitting behind their desks. Most of us work to make money, and that’s the part missing from the oft-recited phrase: jobs Americans won’t do at that price. Wages in dozens of occupations have been artificially depressed for years by the ready availability of cheap labor.

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that too many employers have become addicted to illegal labor. When outlaw employers import illegals to make an extra buck, in the process they shortchange the American worker. With millions of illegal workers willing to earn Third World pay, there is strong downward pressure on wages.

This is an epidemic, for example, in the construction industry. Contractors who want to obey the law cannot bid successfully against those who use illegal labor at half the wages formerly earned by American workers.

Why would an employer hire an American worker for $9 per hour when he can hire an illegal worker for $6 with no medical insurance and no overtime while he doesn’t have to worry about getting caught? The result of allowing this practice for 20 years is that, for perhaps the first time in American history, the wages of low-skilled workers have declined. With a sensible immigration policy, that decline can be reversed.

The onus must be put on the employer to demonstrate that no American worker will do the job at a free-market wage. He must advertise and seek out American workers at the prevailing wage for that job in his region. If there really are jobs that Americans won’t do, then by all means find temporary labor to fill that need and hire as many as necessary.

To remain the premier economy, we can’t afford to build two nations within our borders — an elite investor class that lives off of imported, low-skilled labor. We must use our advantage in technology, research and training to upgrade our tools and our skill base instead of being hobbled by industries that only make it each year with more and more illegal labor crossing the border.

Once guest workers are here, we need to make sure that they are guests. They are here for one purpose — to help fill a temporary shortage of labor in an industry.

No guest-worker plan will succeed if it is simply one more back door to permanent residence. Temporary workers should get no preference in applying for permanent residency, the length of time allowed for the work must be limited and they should not bring families with them. Children born to temporary workers or illegal workers should not be considered U.S. citizens.

Currently, non-immigrants here for jobs have to sign a statement declaring that they have no intention of becoming immigrants. Of course, many non-immigrants have no intention of following the law — the statement they sign isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

This situation makes a mockery of our justice system. If we genuinely need more immigration, then lift the legal cap and enforce the law.

Everyone recognizes that our country’s immigration system is a mess. Unfortunately, it was only recently that the political elite joined the rest of us in understanding this. If we take control of our borders, if politicians decide that it’s time for change, and if our free market shows that there’s a genuine need for temporary workers, a guest-worker plan may be necessary and helpful.

What we do not need is a replay of the 1986 fiasco, when Congress passed an amnesty program that gave legal status to more than 2 million illegal aliens on the promise that we would have secure borders and interior law enforcement. That never happened, and the surge in illegal border traffic resumed in the 1990s.

This time we must insist that secure borders come first. When proponents get serious about secure borders, we can get serious about new guest-worker programs.