So there was a good discussion in ethrosdemon's journal earlier today about Immigration laws in the US and I thought maybe I'd collect all of my various comments into one post over here because the topic interests me and the portrayal of the subject in the media has once again completely failed to discuss the reality of the situation.

What you've been seeing on tv: people ranting about illegal immigrant stealing jobs from the american worker and making our economy worse in an already depressed job market.
Lets be honest about this. Illegal immigrants aren't stealing jobs from the american worker. They're taking the shit jobs that no white person would ever deign to do because they're 'an american' and they deserve better than working in a field all day for $2.00/hour. And all of the work they're doing illegally? Is allowing you to go to the store and buy those discounted goods. Illegal workers working sub-minimum wage jobs enable middle class workers to live above their income level. We're all benefitting from illegal immigration.

And anyway. Mexican workers in the US sent $20 billion dollars back to Mexico last year. Holy shit! They can't possibly have sent back 100% of the money they've made. They've had to spend a lot of it too, just to live here. They're not devastating the national economy, they're fueling it. And this is fantastic for US politicians. They can say anything they want about illegal immigrants but they won't be able to stop it from happening because no one really expects them to, you know, solve the "problem" and the legal latino population in the US isn't nearly politically engaged enough to dent the average politician's voter block.

Another thing you've been hearing on tv: we have to punish them because they're breaking the law. It's ILLEGAL and we can't continue to allow it.
The reality? The real truth is that illegal immigrants are more desirable to the US economy than legal immigrants. First because undocumented workers will work for considerably less money than legal workers thus driving down the cost of good in the super market and allowing companies to widen their profit margins. And also because it's cheaper to be able to deny social services to illegal immigrants than it would be to pay for them with legal workers. Also, it should be noted that illegal workers in the US pay over $7 billion dollars into social security every year with no hope of ever getting social security benefits.

The fact that it's illegal has nothing to do with the debate. The fact that it's economically and politically convenient to have undocumented workers providing a dirt-cheap workforce has everything to do with it.

Another question a lot of people are asking is why all these workers don't just apply for visas and follow the legal channels. So, let's talk about that.
Immigrating to the US isn't just a matter of background checks and filling out forms at all. US Immigration law is incredibly convoluted and nearly impossible to navigate unless you have the money to hire a lawyer to do it for you. And unless you have money already, it's practically guaranteed that your application will be denied. After all, if it were an easily accessible resource don't you think more people would opt to come here legally?

After the Immigration Act of 1990, the US expanded it's immigration numbers to allow 700,000 new immigrants in each year. As part of that law, there is a diversity lottery for 50,000 visas meant to benefit people trying to immigrate from countries with low rates of immigration to the US. People coming from Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam are all ineligible for the diversity lottery.

So. Say you're from Mexico and you want to come to the US legally. You can't just go and fill out a bunch of forms and wait. You have to meet certain criteria to even be eligible to fill out the paperwork. Eligibility information according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services and from wikipedia. If you can't get through all of the legalese and limitations (and hell, who could blame you, it's meant to be confusing) here are some highlights:

If you have a close family member who is a US citizen you may be eligible to apply for permanent residency. If you want a work visa however, there are yet more qualifications. You have to have an employer vouch for you in a legal document attesting to the fact that they plan on employing you. You must also be able to prove that you have specialized skills or a college degree. If you don't meet that requirement, you can also, if you have enough money and can prove it, come to the US as an investor looking to start your own business. But what if you aren't educated or skilled or vouched for like most people trying to come to the US for a better oppportunity at life? Well, you're basically fucked.

The last step of the green card process, applying for permanent residency, is where the FBI background checks come in. To apply for permanent residency, you'll first have had to go through the process of applying to temporary worker status. And your application can be turned down for a number of reasons including:

1. The underlying immigrant petition is denied or withdrawn.
2. The applicant is found to have entered or resided in the United States illegally (although this is waived for one who originally entered with a valid visa and is an immediate relative of the US citizen-petitioner.)
3. The applicant is judged as undesirable on the grounds of prior criminal convictions, affiliation with unsuitable political parties or organizations (e.g. former members of the Communist Party), poor character or debilitating health problems, as well as other grounds.

And all this for only 700,000 people/year.

I understand the qualms people have with opening the borders completely to anyone who wants to come to the US (although I don't, necessarily, agree with them.) But the United States has been selling foreigners the American Dream for years now and we're not putting out. US immigration policy is fundamentally broken on a lot of levels. People aren't immigrating here illegally because they want to, they're doing it because there are no other options and the channels for legal immigration have been purposefully blocked to them.

Lastly, immigration laws are incredibly racist and always have been.
The system is set up to weed out anyone who doesn't already have money or connections in the US. Immigration laws exist to exclude undesirable people. It's the entire basis for their creation and always has been, regardless of the more recent jingoistic rhetoric about "protection" and "safety". The history of immigration laws alone should be enough for people to get that, but I'm thinking maybe my high school history class went into the background of the various blatantly racist immigration laws a little more than most.

( for reference )