Lawrence Lindsey has a good immigration piece , pointing up how insincere and ill-thought-out is the “guest worker” policy:
“At present, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are waiting to immigrate legally to America. They have already waited in line to get their first appointment, then to submit the paperwork, then been called back to answer more questions. And still, they wait. In places like Hong Kong, the waiting time may be as long as 15 years. Most of these people have relatives–cousins or grandchildren, for example–who live and work and pay taxes in America and even have become American citizens.
“While the process isn’t pretty, there is no good alternative. Permission to reside in America is very valuable. Even permission to visit is, for many people, the opportunity of a lifetime. Unlike some nations–Canada, for example–we do not ‘sell’ residency to people who promise to bring in investment money and create jobs. As economists would say, if you’re not going to ration by price, you’re going to ration by queue.
“Comprehensive immigration reform promises that people already in the United States illegally can apply for citizenship, but requires them to ‘go to the back of the line.’ But a key question is, the back of which line? The reform bill before the Senate doesn’t require illegal immigrants to go back home–to, say, Hong Kong, to the end of the 10-to-15-year line there–to get a green card. Instead, it allows the current illegals to receive their green card immediately–having, in effect, jumped the line at the U.S. consulate abroad. Then, like other green card holders, they will be able to work here, collect government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, and travel as freely as if they had a U.S. passport.
“The line the current illegals will go to the back of is the citizenship line….”
[Derb] Again, unfortunately, even Lindsey misses the point. The great prize for foreigners is not citizenship, it is residence — basically, the Green Card. A foreigner who can get a Green Card has everything he wants, except the right to vote. He can travel freely (on his native passport — there are actually some minor restrictions, but they can easily be lawyered away). He can change jobs or residence, start a business, … do anything, except vote. His children, under current interpretation of the 14th Amendment, are citizens. For foreigners seeking to live in the U.S.A., citizenship, under the present rules, is an irrelevance. Once he’s got that Green Card, he’s jumped the only queue that really matters to him.