By William C. Shelton

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Virtually every major immigration policy adopted by the Unites States since 1965 has failed to accomplish its stated purposes. Virtually all legislation now under consideration would fail as well.

The problem is so complex, and immigration regulations are so arcane that most legislators don’t know what they are talking about. That doesn’t prevent them from talking, especially if there is an opportunity to grandstand.

In 2005, for example, the House of Representatives dismissed the need for comprehensive immigration reform in favor of “getting tough.” Those Congressmen with the least experience dealing with illegal immigrants were most likely to vote for the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act. From congressional districts with 75,000 or more undocumented immigrants, 4 percent of representatives voted “yes;” from districts with 5,000 or fewer, 74 percent voted “yes.”

Two previous “get tough” efforts had failed miserably. Between the 1986 passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and 2000, the border enforcement budget increased six fold, while the number of undocumented immigrants residing here doubled. This, despite the fact that IRCA had legalized 3 million immigrants.

Around 2000, the U.S. began dramatically increasing border enforcement efforts and restricting the eligibility of immigrants. This “prevention through deterrence” policy has been an embarrassing failure. More undocumented immigrants have entered the country each year.

Since 1993, the border enforcement budget has more than quintupled, from $740 million to $3.8 billion, and the number of agents nearly tripled, from 3,965 to 11,300.  During that period, illegal immigration increased from about 575,000 per year to about 900,000 per year. Undocumented residents now total 12 million.

The General Accounting Office has concluded that the “prevention through deterrence” approach has merely “moved migrant traffic from one place to another.” Its main accomplishments are to increase the profitability of those who smuggle humans, and increase the sophistication of smuggling networks through which foreign terrorists can enter the country.

Perhaps the stupidest of all immigration policies was the Secure Fence Act, passed by Republicans and signed by the President just before the 2006 election. It didn’t work as the wedge issue that is was intended to be in the election, and it won’t accomplish its stated purpose.

It is the offspring of a sixty-year-old military-industrial policy that enriches fat-cat cronies while making us less secure. We’re building a missile defense shield, for example, that will be the most expensive weapon system in world history and has never been successfully tested. Meanwhile, Americans are being killed and dismembered for the lack of much-less-costly (and less profitable) investments in Dragon Skin body armor, an assault rifle to replace the 47-year-old jam-prone M16/M4, and mass production of low-tech vehicle designs that deflect IED explosions.

Solidly in this tradition, the Congressional Research Service estimates that the ‚ÄúSecure Fence‚Äù will cost taxpayers $49 billion, while covering only one-third of the border.  It will prove to be as foolish and shameful as the Berlin and West Bank Walls, as ineffective as the Maginot Line, and more costly than all of them.

Militarily myopic management is only one of the self-imposed obstacles that have undermined immigration policy makers in the past.  Others include:

Creating unenforceable laws  IRCA contained loopholes that tacitly implied it would not be strictly enforced, and it provided no way for employers to legally meet their future labor needs.
Misdirecting enforcement  ICE squanders resources on apprehending the ‚Äúlittle guys‚Äù that sneak over the border instead of focusing them on smugglers of human beings and unscrupulous employers.

Misdirecting investment  ICE should spend some of the cash that it is now hemorrhaging on ineffective enforcement policies, on fixing a system so frustrating that it promotes illegal entry.  ICE frequently loses applications.  It staffs its telephone help line with contract workers who must memorize 1,800 pages of outdated guidelines.  They frequently give wrong advice.  Changes of address are often never entered into the database.

Legislating by crisis management  Legislators‚Äô past lack of courage has allowed matters to become so bad that extremist policies become attractive.

Substituting rhetoric and emotion for enlightened self-interest The U.S. economy is simultaneously producing increasingly higher skilled citizens and lower skilled jobs.  Demonizing immigrants won‚Äôt solve that problem.

Treating symptoms while ignoring causes Our economic policy should create higher skilled jobs.  Fair trade policies should address conditions that impel undocumented immigrants to come here.  Immigration policy should honestly deal with the shortage of citizens willing to take lower-skilled jobs.

Globalization has made the management of immigration policy increasingly challenging for all developed nations.  But the United States can do a lot better in crafting a policy that meets the needs of all its citizens and is enforceable.

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