The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act would increase penalties for violating immigration laws, make some civil violations of immigration law into criminal offenses, step up enforcement of immigration law and expand the list of violations that render a non-citizen deportable. Unauthorized entry and presence in the United States, currently civil violations, would become felony crimes, punishable by more than a year in jail. It would also become a felony for anyone to provide any type of assistance to an undocumented immigrant. The bill imposes mandatory minimum sentences for immigrants convicted of re-entering the country after deportation, requires mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants for an indefinite period of time, and increases the expedited removal of immigrants without judicial review. Mandatory employer verification of immigration status of every employee in the country – including U.S. citizens – would be required after six years. The bill also increases enforcement along the United States border and provides for increased use of military surveillance equipment.
The Middle-Class Position:
The Middle Class Opposes: The American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants. Yet this bill does nothing to acknowledge the contribution, instead endorsing a policy of imprisoning and deporting the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently helping to support the economy as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers, and consumers. Imprisonment and deportation is not only a bad policy for the middle class, but also a tremendously expensive and ultimately unworkable one: the Government Accountability Office reported that just implementing the workplace enforcement part of this legislation would cost the public and private sectors at least $11.7 billion annually. Many undocumented immigrants would still evade deportation while others would continue to enter the country illegally. Attempting to enforce such an unworkable policy would further drain scarce enforcement resources that could be used to strengthen border security.
An additional concern is the way this legislation would exacerbate the threat that undocumented workers pose to the wages and workplace conditions of aspiring middle-class Americans. Because unscrupulous employers can threaten to have their undocumented employees deported at any time, these immigrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace. This underground workforce competing in the labor market with American citizens perpetuates a race to the bottom in which employers, especially those in industries requiring unskilled labor, are driven to restrict wages and benefits and degrade employee working conditions in an effort to compete with companies that employ undocumented workers under substandard conditions. While this legislation seeks to drive undocumented immigrants out of the workplace completely, the more likely effect would be that they remain in the country but are driven further underground, increasing their vulnerability and further undermining middle-class wages and working conditions.
From the Experts:
“Our experiences with our current immigration system have proven that outdated or unrealistic laws will never be fully enforceable, regardless of every conceivable border security improvement we make… We have seen time and again that as long as there are jobs available in this country for people who live in poverty and hopelessness in other countries, those people will risk their lives to cross our borders - no matter how formidable the barriers - and most will be successful… [So we have] a permanent underclass of people live within our borders illegally, fearfully, subserviently, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Most of these people aren't going anywhere. No matter how much we improve border security. No matter the penalties we impose on their employers. No matter how seriously they are threatened with punishment.”–Senator John McCain, R-Arizona (March 30, 2006)
“America’s broken immigration system has allowed employers to create a low-wage labor pool of immigrant workers that is easily exploitable. Employers can pay these workers less, force them to work in intolerable conditions, block their right to union representation and threaten to turn them in to immigration officials if they complain… And when employers drive down wages and working conditions for one group of workers, they harm us all…The answer isn’t to make immigrant workers here now disappear, or turn them into felons, as [HR 4437] would do. The answer is to deprive employers of the means to exploit them and lower work quality for all of us.” –John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO (2006)
“[HR 4437] will require all personnel of Churches and of all non-profit organizations to verify the legal immigration status of every single person served through our various entities… The Catholic Church alone offers a vast spectrum of services for all in need, including education, health care, and social services. Our golden rule has always been to serve people in need-not to verify beforehand their immigration status. But the Bill imposes incredible penalties upon any person assisting others through a Church or a social service organization. Up to five years in prison and the seizure of assets would accompany serving the poor who later turns out to be here without proper legal documentation.” – Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles (December 30, 2005)
Beyond this Bill:
This bill is inimical to middle-class well-being and the Senate should not pass it. Instead, legislators in both houses who are concerned about the effects of immigration on their middle-class and aspiring middle-class constituents should work for legislation that bolsters the critical contribution immigrants make to the U.S. economy while also strengthening the rights of immigrants in the workplace so that middle-class wages and working conditions are not driven down.
Percentage of the U.S. civilian labor force that is undocumented, according to the Pew Hispanic Center: 4.9
Approximate proportion of U.S. farming workers who are undocumented: 1 in 4
Amount more the average immigrant and his or her immediate descendents pay in taxes over their lifetimes than they receive in public services, according to the National Academy of Sciences: $80,000
Percentage of workers in one study whose employers found out their immigration papers were falsified who were not fired until they complained about workplace conditions: 25
Percentage who were not fired until they tried to organize a union: 21
Estimated public and private sector cost per year of the workplace enforcement part of this legislation, according to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office: $11.7 billion
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