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The Spectacle Blog
Immigration is heating up again as a political issue with the second term president and others discussing possible answers to the low level chaos which currently characterizes the movement of workers between Mexico and the United States. The basic outlines of plans to address the problem shift to fit familiar lines of argument. I would like to suggest a novel approach.
To state the matter very succinctly, we should deal with immigration in the context of the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA provided for the free movement of goods across the border. The best way to handle the immigration problem is to provide for the free movement of workers across the border, as well. We could accomplish this goal by negotiating a worker addendum to the agreement in existence.
How would it operate? Citizens from the countries involved in the agreement would be free to enter the member states to work. All they would need to do is to register as a foreign worker, obtain a proxy for a social security number which would allow for simple payment of taxes, and find employment.
This solution would simplify matters significantly. Workers would not need amnesty as they would not be in the country illegally. They would not need to fear reporting crimes or traffic accidents because they need not fear deportation. American states could provide things like driver’s licenses without fear of creating some presumption of citizenship.
There would still be the matter of children of registered workers being born in the United States with birthright citizenship. However, those children would no longer be tied to parents living in the United States in a quasi-criminal, illegitimate way.
Rather than giving amnesty to the many illegals in the United States today and setting yet another bad precedent to encourage future law breaking, we can offer current illegals a simple path to living legitimately in the U.S. as a NAFTA registered worker. Capital moves freely. Goods move freely. Why not let the workers move freely? We can protect the value of American citizenship, while simultaneously ending the problem of having a large population of illegals within our borders.
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More Blog Posts by Hunter Baker
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/01/30/novel-immigration
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Bob K| 1.30.13 @ 12:51PM
Mr. Baker,
How does this make sense with the January 3rd, 2013 post in your personal blog "Reflections on the Spirit of the Age" which was titled: "A Competitive Market In Government?"
http://hunterbaker.wordpress.com/
How will this "hold states up to the competitive test?" Maybe they will compete for cheap labor but is that your objective? If the immigrant doesn't like the social welfare policies of Texas or Oklahoma can he then head for Illinois or New Jersey or the suburbs of Washington DC?
And the illegal immigration of Asians through Canada isn't addressed here either.
"How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"
hunterbaker@gmail.com| 1.30.13 @ 1:51PM
I think this post is in the same spirit as the one about a competitive market in government. The more we ease movement between sovereignties, the more we will put pressure on bad governments to improve.
Bob K| 1.30.13 @ 5:07PM
I don't see how this would do anything to alleviate the pressures they put on Municipal and State Governments to give them access to Welfare and Health agencies and this is a chronic problem between States and the Federal government.
What will happen to them if they decide not to work or are laid off because of economic conditions and run out of Unemployment Compensation, which we hope their employers have been funding? Do we round them up and send them back to Mexico?
Even now, legal immigrants from south asia who come here to operate small private businesses like variety stores, donut shops, gas stations and dry cleaning businesses also bring in their extended families and have them apply for SSI which is a federal welfare program. You can find this out by visiting any county welfare office in counties which have populations of these people. They, along with illegal aliens, can go to any hospital emergency room for "free" medical treatment when it is needed and those costs are factored into the charges made for patients who have insurance.
Bob K| 1.30.13 @ 6:03PM
And if you think this is worth writing about in one of you blog posts you should also be aware that the Federal Medicaid program is also heavily affected by this largely uncontrolled immigration and much of it is ADMINISTERED BY STATES WHICH ALSO COMPETE WITH OTHER STATES FOR THESE FEDERAL MONIES. Much as they do for Highway funds.
Thucydides| 1.30.13 @ 12:56PM
The approach is not novel.
NAFTA already has an immigration / visa aspect to it - the TN Visa. It is geared towards professionals.
Also, the General Agreement on Trade in Services under the WTO includes Mode 4 which is intended to facilitate the movement of people to provide a service.
Expansion of these provisions or crafting other free market type approaches have strong appeal to free market conservatives. However the challenge is not in figuring out the best system for regulating the flow of people here, but rather what to do with the millions who are already here. While few can rationally argue for deportation, the fact is millions are here illegally and regardless of how much they are contributing towards society, the debate comes down to how do you punish them for breaking the law? A fine? A ban on permanent residency? Returning to one's home country for a period of time before permitted to adjust status?
The truth is there is no difference in the debate now as there was in the years following the 1996 amendments.
hunterbaker@gmail.com| 1.30.13 @ 1:52PM
Thucydides, I would simply have the people who are here go register as a NAFTA worker. They would immediately gain documentation. We would gain some control. No amnesty needed. No citizenship needed.
btims86| 1.30.13 @ 4:02PM
Because Hunter baby, human beings are not "goods and services". Human beings have historied, families, culture, language, religion, traditions, etc.
Duh........
I have a better solution for immigration problems: deport illegal immigrants AND reduce legal immigration. That's what the majority of the public wants. The American public that is.
Thucydides| 1.30.13 @ 4:11PM
While I respect your efforts to try and think of this in trade terms, by granting them a legal status as "NAFTA Workers" who now have documentation, you are granting them amnesty.
Stan Redmond| 1.30.13 @ 6:13PM
Obama, the democrats, liberal republicans, and the FED Reserve just might solve illegal immigration by the end of Obama's second term.
The economy will be so crappy that people will flee back to their home countries. Who's rushing to immigrate to Argentina and Greece? No one that I know of.
Dai Alanye | 1.30.13 @ 7:44PM
I have an idea similar to Hunter Baker's that would, I imagine, take care of a serious criminal problem.
Allow prospective murderers to take out a hunting license before killing anyone. By one simple stroke the number of murders would plummet, gradually approaching zero as the (present) criminal element began to realize the advantages to gaining a human-hunting license.
The basic problem--loss of productive lives--would continue, but we would offer a path to legitimacy for those inclined toward violence, and an immediate improvement in the rate of violent crime.