Amendment to Remove Legalization Provisions from the Immigration Bill of 2007

atraub — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:03:52 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Opposes

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Percentage of Americans who support the earned legalization provisions of the immigration bill, which this amendment would eliminate: 67

Amount undocumented immigrants are estimated to have contributed in federal taxes between 1996 and 2003: nearly $50 billion

Percentage of workers in one study whose employers found out their immigration papers were falsified yet who were not fired until they complained about workplace conditions: 25

Percentage who were not fired until they tried to organize a union: 21

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Opposes. The American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants. While the overall immigration bill this amendment is attached to recognizes these contributions and would allow them to continue under the Z visa program, this amendment eliminates that pathway to legalization. Instead, by taking out the bill’s only means for otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants to remain in the country legally, the amendment effectively endorses a policy of imprisoning and deporting the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants currently helping to support the economy as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers and consumers. This mass deportation is the explicit aim of many of the bill’s supporters. But imprisonment and deportation is not only a bad policy for the middle class but also a tremendously expensive and ultimately unworkable one. Many undocumented immigrants would still evade deportation, while others would continue to enter the country illegally. Attempting to enforce such an unworkable policy would further drain scarce enforcement resources.

Equally important is the way this legislation would exacerbate the threat that undocumented workers pose to the wages and workplace conditions of aspiring middle-class Americans. Because unscrupulous employers can threaten to have their undocumented employees deported at any time, these immigrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace. This underground workforce competing in the labor market with American citizens perpetuates a "race to the bottom" in which employers, especially those in industries requiring unskilled labor, are driven to reduce wages and benefits and degrade employee working conditions in an effort to compete with companies that employ undocumented workers under substandard conditions. While this legislation seeks to drive undocumented immigrants out of the workplace completely, the more likely effect would be that they remain in the country but are driven further underground, increasing their vulnerability and further undermining middle-class wages and working conditions.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Immigration and the Middle Class Toolkit” from the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

Comprehensive Immigration Reform update page from the National Immigration Law Center

“The Role of Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market,” from the Congressional Budget Office

Agricultural labor