Immigration Nation

It started with healthcare. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi skirted healthcare and eased into talk of immigration reform. In response to Rose’s queries on whether Democrats intend to pursue universal healthcare, Pelosi stated "access to quality healthcare" and registration of illegal immigrants with the government as the preliminary steps. Despite her unwillingness to discuss universal healthcare, Pelosi’s statements intimate a shift in Democrats’ attitude toward immigration policy.

Pelosi proposes that illegal immigrants register with the government or face deportation. While some believe her words ring blasphemously of partial amnesty, her latest position sparked a different sort of outrage among some in the U.S. Latino community. "Maybe there never is a path to citizenship if you came here illegally," Pelosi said in an interview with the AP. "I would hope that there could be, but maybe there isn't." Some Latinos fear that Pelosi intends to doom illegal immigrants to an inferior, second-class status.

However, this sounds more like a compromise between two radical positions on immigration policy. At one end of the spectrum are those clamoring for amnesty. At the other end are those pressing for the deportation of virtually all illegal immigrants. Given the failure of the latest bipartisan measure on immigration law reform, Pelosi and Congressional Democrats seem to be compromising their past priorities, such as facilitating the eventual naturalization of illegal immigrants, in the hopes of success this time around. Better the government reform immigration law than not at all.

Illegal immigration has long been vilified by a majority of Americans. The classic argument is that one, illegal immigrants pose an unnecessary burden on tax-paying members of society, and two, illegal immigrants “rob” Americans of jobs. However, Pelosi admitted that the estimated 12 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally "are part of the U.S. economy", many of them filling low-skill, low-pay jobs Americans do not want. In light of globalization and the infinitely more profitable outsourcing of low-skill jobs to developing countries, preserving low-skill American jobs is not a wise investment of human capital. Rather, Americans should look to the rapidly expanding service sector for high-paying, high-skill jobs.

Americans can gripe about working illegal immigrants all they want, but they should not forget that many illegal immigrants residing in the United States did and do not come of their own volition, but rather are brought over by or along with their family. Is it fair to uproot children and those who came to the U.S. as children from the life and living standards with which they have become so familiar? The opportunity cost to the U.S. and global economy of displacing them, depriving them access to adequate education and a safe home, is just as high, if not higher as sacrificing some low-skill American jobs. Then again, is it fair that they get to be naturalized for violating the law? “We cannot send them all home, and we cannot send them all to jail, so we have to address it," Pelosi said. She is right, but the question is, is this the best way? Or rather, is this the only way?