WP: 'Guest Workers' Won't Work

[primavera]

'Guest Workers' Won't Work
A Path to Permanent Citizenship Would Benefit Everyone

By Tamar Jacoby
Washington Post Sunday, March 26, 2006; B07


The conventional wisdom is all but unanimous, so much so that even those who hold the opposing view pay homage to it. Sure, some people dispute even the notion that we need foreign workers to keep the U.S. economy growing. But among those who recognize the necessity of a continued flow of immigrants to do dirty, unskilled jobs that educated Americans increasingly no longer want to do, the mantra goes unquestioned: What's needed is a guest worker program to deliver this labor in a timely, efficient way.

But the conventional wisdom is wrong, and as the Senate debates immigration in the weeks to come, members would do well to reexamine the assumption. The last thing the United States needs is an inflexible guest worker plan.

It isn't hard to understand where the idea came from or why it's popular in Washington. Policymakers from George W. Bush to Sens. John McCain, John Cornyn and Edward Kennedy grasp that the main problem with our immigration system is the lack of visas for foreign workers. International supply and demand -- demand created by U.S. labor needs -- generate a flow of roughly 1.5 million immigrants a year. But our annual immigration quotas accommodate less than two-thirds of that number, producing an annual spillover of about a half-million illegal workers that erodes the rule of law and undermines our security.

The logical remedy: to provide these additional workers with visas and allow them to enter the country in a lawful, dignified way. The only problem: Policymakers are afraid the public would reject such a large increase in permanent immigration. So even those who have been most courageous in promoting reform talk instead about temporary visas. Bush and Cornyn would require foreigners to go home at the end of their work stints. McCain and Kennedy would allow some workers to stay permanently, but they, too, call their proposal a temporary worker program, and many of those who support their package -- including myself -- have gone along in adopting the term.

The problem with the guest worker idea starts with practicality: Appealing as it sounds to some, a time-limited program will not work. The adage is true: There is nothing more permanent than a temporary worker. Many of those who come to the United States for short stints will want to stay on when their visas expire, perpetuating the underground economy that the program is supposed to eliminate.

[IsItJustMe]

1. We don't support the laws on the books now. It's totally unrealistic to

believe that they would enforce any future laws. As I look at it, this country is completely dysfunctional when it comes to any type of real enforcement, and the Senators are to spineless to take any real stands on much about anything, expect for taking away our civil liberties. This is political posturing, nothing more.

The RW gets to say, we opposed the president and we tried, and the liberals will say, we defeated it, and meanwhile, not a damn thing gets done and will still have the same problems. Nothing changes. And sometimes that might be the best thing, I don't pretend to know the answers.

Much to do about nothing. So if your holding your breath, breathe.

[primavera]

2. LOL! You must be a fellow Washingtonian!

That's pretty much the most succinct and accurate description I've heard yet of how Washington works!

[IsItJustMe]

3. No, I watch a lot of C_SPAN. Close enough though. LOL.