Guest Column

Get real about migrant workers

By Kevin R. Johnson
Special to the Sacramento Bee
May 13, 2005

A few weeks ago, the Minutemen, whom President Bush has called "vigilantes," massed at the Mexican border in southern
Arizona with the support of, among others, arch-restrictionist Pat Buchanan. A California legislator has proposed an initiative that would create the California Border Police. Through the Real ID Act, Congress has tightened the vise on immigrants, mandating state driver's license requirements, making asylum claims tougher to prove and fortifying the border fence with Mexico.

Although immigration regulation is a federal, not a state, function, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has entered the immigration imbroglio. After backtracking on his statement last month about the need to "close the border" with Mexico, the governor recently endorsed the work of the Minutemen on Los Angeles talk show radio. In 2003, Schwarzenegger was catapulted into office by opposing the law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses passed by the Legislature. Following his election, the Legislature repealed the law.

Immigration deserves the nation's attention. It also warrants sober analysis, not sound bites that rile base instincts and insult and alienate members of our community. Despite much talk about reform, there has been no effort to address the most fundamental problem with U.S. laws: They are dramatically out of synch with the social, economic and political reality of immigration.

Using U.S. data, the Pew Hispanic Foundation estimates nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, with about 6 million of them Mexican. Most undocumented immigrants work in agriculture, hotels, restaurants and related service industries.

Following California's passage of Proposition 187 in 1994, which would have denied illegal immigrants public services, the U.S. government militarized the border with Mexico and engaged in a number of operations to fortify it at major cities. To avoid the Border Patrol, undocumented immigrants now travel through isolated and desolate deserts and mountains. By the U.S. Border Patrol's count, since mid-1998 until this week, 2,099 have died crossing the Southwest border.

Another collateral consequence is the booming industry in the trafficking of human beings. Criminal smugglers now charge undocumented immigrants thousands of dollars for passage to the land of freedom. Once here, many are forced to work as indentured servants to pay the debts.

Why are these people willing to risk their lives and pay thousands of dollars to come to the United States? It is for jobs and the American dream, as well as the desire to join family members in this country. Even though it is against the law, employers hire and employ undocumented immigrants, who have little difficulty finding work. Most employers pay the workers low wages and offer few, if any, benefits.

The economic incentives to employers are great. Employer sanctions under U.S. immigration law have not worked. Employers resist enforcement at every turn, as do immigrant rights advocates, who fear the civil rights impacts on their clients. Nor have the sanctions proven sufficient to deter employment of the undocumented.

Consumers, as well as employers, benefit. We all pay lower prices for fruit and vegetables, beef and poultry, restaurant meals, hotel rooms and much more. A few weeks ago, it was reported that the Social Security coffers benefited to the tune of billions of dollars in contributions made by undocumented immigrants to the system, but never collected by the contributors.

True, states and local governments pay some costs for undocumented immigrants such as for public schools and emergency health care. These costs - not any of the benefits - are what groups such as the Minutemen focus on in decrying illegal immigration and immigrants.

The truth is immigration law today is not all that different from the anti-alcohol laws during Prohibition. Nobody is complying with the laws because they fail to comport with social reality. Widespread unlawful conduct - as was the case during Prohibition - is the result. Serious reform must recognize there is a huge demand for immigration to the United States - by prospective immigrants, employers and consumers.

The European Union offers an example for responsible reform. The EU allows labor migration among its member nations. Perhaps the North American Free Trade zone would allow a more orderly system of migration between nations and would be more consistent with the economic interests of the United States; it also would avoid the tension, hate and deaths caused by current U.S. immigration law and policy.

Unless we address the fundamental reasons for immigration, we can expect to have a blow-up such as the current one every few years. Those who will suffer are the immigrants themselves.

(About the writer:
Kevin R. Johnson is a professor of law and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of "The 'Huddled Masses' Myth: Immigration and Civil Rights.")

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