National Immigration Rallys

Today's national immigration rallies point out that we have a long way to go with this issue.

The U.S. has gone through wave after wave of immigrants pouring into our country over the course of our history. You would have thought we would have figured out a thing or two, but we have never seemed to understand that without secured borders there can never be any control.

I'm in favor of a comprehensive immigration solution, but as the the old management saying goes, "if you can't measure it, then you can't manage it."

Just like the reform/amnesty legislation passed in the 1980's, if we cannot secure the border with Mexico we will never be able to manage immigration reform.

That said - I would also point out that the U.S. policy over the past 25 years has been hypocritical as in let's hire cheap labor and not pay the payroll taxes and benefits where we can get away with it. No protections for labor that risk their lives in dangerous occupations, no health insurance, but then we complain when our public hospitals and emergency rooms are under sever pressure from the same people.

The U.S. policy as a practical matter is that high border fence now being built to try to calm the citizens that oppose the flood of immigrants from Mexico and to a lesser degree other Latin countries, but on that fence we have posted a huge "HELP WANTED" sign.

Some facts that you might not know - while there are approximately 40 million Hispanics in the U.S. only 12 million are undocumented so 70% are here legally working, contributing to the economy, paying taxes, etc.

Many of the undocumented also work regular jobs that require social security numbers. They are not just heavy labor that work for cash under the table so to speak, but they obtain false documents and pay taxes which they can never claim as refunds where they are due because they are false documents.

There are many sides to this complex issue and we would all do well to thoughtfully consider them before making up our minds that we know how to fix this problem.

Recently the following was published in the New York Times:

April 2, 2008
Editorial
How Immigrants Saved Social Security
Immigration is good for the financial health of Social Security because more workers mean more tax revenue. Illegal immigration, it turns out, is even better than legal immigration. In the fine print of the 2008 annual report on Social Security, released last week, the program’s trustees noted that growing numbers of “other than legal” workers are expected to bolster the program over the coming decades.
One reason is that many undocumented workers pay taxes during their work lives but don’t collect benefits later. Another is that undocumented workers are entering the United States at ever younger ages and are expected to have more children while they’re here than if they arrived at later ages. The result is a substantial increase in the number of working-age people paying taxes, but a relatively smaller increase in the number of retirees who receive benefits — a double boon to Social Security’s bottom line.
We’re not talking chump change. According to the report, the taxes paid by other-than-legal immigrants will close 15 percent of the system’s projected long-term deficit. That’s equivalent to raising the payroll tax by 0.3 percentage points, starting today.
That is not to suggest that illegal immigration is a legitimate fix to Social Security’s problems. It is another reminder, however, of the nation’s complex relationship with undocumented workers. Would the people who want to deport all undocumented workers be willing to make up the difference and pay the taxes that the undocumented are currently paying?
It is also a reminder of Social Security’s dynamism. As society and the economy evolve, so does the system, responding not only to changes in immigration and fertility, but also in wage growth and other variables. As such, it is adaptable to the 21st century, if only the political will can be found to champion the necessary changes. Those include modest tax increases and moderate benefit cuts that could be phased in over decades — provided the country gets started soon.