DOCSLIB.ORG

Policybrief Nov. #9 V2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Policybrief Nov. #9 V2 November 2005 No. 9 SUMMARY For over twenty years now,Americans have understood that we are not going to get control An Idea Whose of illegal immigration unless and until we find a way to regulate US employers and their use of immigrant labor. The public understands this Time Has Finally and has continually called for workplace enforcement. Both independent commissions Come? The Case convened during this period to make recom- mendations on immigration policy – one led by for Employment Rev.Theodore Hesburgh, the other by former congresswoman Barbara Jordan – strongly Verification echoed the demand. And employer sanctions were at the heart of the landmark immigration Tamar Jacoby legislation, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, passed in 1986. But, despite this awareness Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute and effort, we have yet to gain control of unau- thorized immigrant employment. For over twenty years now, Americans have understood that we are not going to get control of illegal immigration unless The reason: although IRCA made it a crime to and until we find a way to regulate US employers and their hire unauthorized immigrants, it failed to give use of immigrant labor. This understanding began to dawn on employers the tools they need to determine who policymakers as early as the mid-1970s, even as the first is authorized to work and who isn’t – a reliable, automated employment verification system. waves of the current illegal influx reached our shores. Former What’s needed: a process not unlike credit-card Senator Alan Simpson later recalled the moment when it verification that allows employers to swipe a card penetrated for him: “Upon becoming chairman of the Senate at the point of hire and receive a response in real Immigration Subcommittee, I was astounded to learn that it time from the Social Security Administration, was illegal to be an illegal alien, but it was not illegal for a informing them – no more and no less – whether US employer to hire one.” And within a few years, an an employee is authorized to work in the United unusually united political establishment – Democrats, States. The system needn’t be Orwellian. It Republicans, the president, local legislatures, the blue-rib- needn’t lead to a national ID. And although, the past two decades make clear, the idea will surely bon bipartisan commission chaired by university president meet with some resistance, a variety of circum- Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, among others – was pushing hard stances – from technical advances to changes in to police business activity. Still, a generation later, we have public attitudes driven by the threat of terrorism yet to gain control of unauthorized employment – a spectacu- – may put the control that has so long eluded us lar failure to follow through on an obvious and uncontested within our reach today. There is no way around insight about national policy. it: as history shows, we cannot control immigra- tion without workplace enforcement, and we It has not been for lack of trying. The issue of workplace cannot control what happens in the workplace enforcement has been before the public all through these without reliable verification. decades. Laws have been passed, money has Meanwhile, despite the changes of the past been spent, American hiring practices have decades, we as a nation now make almost no been severely altered. When it became clear effort to police immigrant hiring. Frustrated by that the first legislative tightening, the 1986 the evident legal loopholes and the prolifera- Immigration Control and Reform Act (IRCA), tion of false documents, the federal bureau- had not succeeded in delivering control, there cracy has little will to pursue worksite was another blue-ribbon panel and eventually enforcement, and the resources devoted to it another landmark law. The regulatory bureau- have dwindled steadily since legislation was cracy proliferated; showy enforcement actions passed. Already in the 1990s, the branch of were tried, at least for a while. And today, the immigration service charged with interior according to one estimate, American business- controls was shifting its focus away from work- es spend more than 13 million hours a year ers to criminal aliens. Then, in the wake of handling employment-related paperwork 9/11, routine employers became still less required by law. Still, our economy is ever important as attention concentrated on “criti- more dependent on illegal labor, with some 8 cal infrastructure,” such as airports and million unauthorized workers employed in nuclear power plants – at the expense of sectors as diverse as agriculture, food process- farms, restaurants and construction sites. ing, hospitality, and construction. Today, the budget for worksite enforcement is less than 3 percent of the budget for patrolling The measure of our failure is all around us. the border. There are fewer than 200 agents Every worker hired at every US workplace – on the job nationwide, and the main branch of more than 50 million new hires a year, citi- government devoted to preventing the hire of zens and foreign-born alike – fills out a form unauthorized immigrants is a little known, intended to screen out unauthorized immi- five-person office with no appropriated budget grants. Virtually all businesses, big and small, that oversees the regulation of 3,625 employ- comply with this requirement: the drill is as ers – out of some 8.4 million in the United routine as a newspaper want ad. But because States. Though arguably the most important of a legal loophole – a glaring and long-recog- tool we have at our disposal to control illegal nized loophole – employers are not obliged to immigration, this program, known as the Basic verify that the information entered on the Pilot, is voluntary – no business is required to forms is correct. Those who wish to inquire participate. And when the officials manning it about its accuracy face a wall of red tape and come across evidence of infractions, they do legal deterrents: they can, for example, be not pass that information along to investigators sued for posing too many questions of a new who could crack down on the offending hire. Employees are asked to produce docu- employers for fear that taking action would ments substantiating the information they sub- drive businesses away. mit, but employers have no reliable way to vet this paperwork – in an age of instant electron- As the nation gears up yet again to reform our ic communication, they eyeball it. And coun- immigration laws, it is critical that we under- terfeit versions of all the required credentials, stand this failure: not just how it happened – from a US passport to a birth certificate, can how it unfolded historically – but why. be purchased for a few hundred dollars in any Conventional wisdom holds cynically that it city in America. was unavoidable: that greedy employers stran- 2 Policy Brief gled the legislative process and blocked mous ‘Texas Proviso.” Not until the late implementation, that both political parties 1970s, when the current illegal flow began in (each for its own reasons) have a stake in ille- earnest, did most Americans consider making gal immigration, even that controls of this kind it a crime to hire unauthorized workers. – both the intensive regulation of business and the monitoring of identity it requires – are out The Hesburgh Commission of keeping with the American character. The Select Commission on Immigration and Maybe so. But if we cannot overcome these Refugee Policy, headed by Notre Dame obstacles, we will never get control of immi- University president Theodore Hesburgh, was convened in 1978 to gration. And in fact, history shows, the reasons Not until the late 1970s, for our failure are more complicated than these respond to restrictionist when the current illegal clichés suggest. “We tried it, and it didn’t pressures being generat- flow began in earnest, did work,” the cynics say, urging that we give up ed by the new influx. on efforts to police the hiring of unauthorized Composed of sixteen most Americans consider immigrants. But in truth, for all the effort of members – cabinet making it a crime to hire the past decades, we have not really tried members, congressmen unauthorized workers. workplace enforcement. And a variety of cir- and prominent citizens cumstances – from technical advances to – the panel minced no words in its diagnosis or its recommended remedy. “The thrust of the changes in public attitudes driven by the [commission’s findings],” a top staff aide threat of terrorism – may put the control that noted, “is the need for enforcement.” has so long eluded us within our reach today. Members understood that the problem was not immigrants – net-net, they appeared to benefit The Lessons of the Past the nation, if not economically, then in other ways – but rather the illegality associated with The skeptics are partly right, of course: the growing flow. Accordingly, the panel sug- Americans have long been inclined to look the gested, the United States should “close the other way when it came to regulating the back door to undocumented and illegal migra- employment of unauthorized immigrants. As tion [in order to open] the front door a little early as the late 19th century when we first more to . legal migration.” Members sug- passed legislation to limit who entered the gested doing so with a multi-tiered system of country, these laws were laxly enforced pre- enforcement measures: on the border, at large cisely to provide employers – in those days, in the interior and, above all, in the work- mostly farmers – the labor they needed to keep place. Their chief recommendation – their their businesses running. These laborers, it legacy – was that the nation should make it a was lost on no one, who were here outside the crime for employers to knowingly hire unau- law and could be deported at any time if they thorized immigrants.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Importance of the Political in Immigration Federalism (2012), Available At
    Santa Clara Law Santa Clara Law Digital Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2012 The mpI ortance of the Political in Immigration Federalism Pratheepan Gulasekaram Santa Clara University School of Law, [email protected] S. Karthick Ramakrishnan Arizona State University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/facpubs Part of the Law Commons Automated Citation Pratheepan Gulasekaram and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, The Importance of the Political in Immigration Federalism (2012), Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/facpubs/602 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE POLITICAL IN IMMIGRATION FEDERALISM S. Karthick Ramakrishnan* ** Pratheepan Gulasekaram ABSTRACT This Article provides a systematic, empirical investigation of the genesis of state and local immigration regulations, discrediting the popular notion that they are caused by uneven demographic pressures across the country. It also proffers a novel theory to explain the proliferation of these policies and queries the implications of this new model for federalism analysis. The story we tell in this paper is both political and legal; understanding immigration politics uncovers vital truths about the recent rise of subnational involvement in a policy arena that courts and commentators have traditionally ascribed to the federal government. Thus, this article connects the proliferation of state and local regulation with the extra- constitutional political institutions and key policy actors who prominently influence both federal and subfederal immigration lawmaking but who remain obscured in traditional, apolitical accounts.
    [Show full text]
  • May 21, 2021 IMPLICATIONS FOR
    May 21, 2021 Technology-Enabled IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESS, LABOR MARKETS AND MONETARY POLICY Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas his conference is designed to provide a the muted wage gains and overall labor produc- T better understanding of the phenomenon tivity growth we have seen in the U.S. as well as of technology-enabled disruption and explore its in other advanced economies during much of implications for the broader economy—in par- the recovery from the global financial crisis. ticular, labor markets and the workforce. Technology-enabled disruption’s impact on Technology-enabled disruption means that the workforce is likely not susceptible to mone- workers are increasingly being replaced by tary policy—it requires structural reforms. The technology. It also means that existing business reforms could include improving early-child- models are being supplanted by new models, hood literacy and overall college readiness in often technology-enabled, that bring more effi- order to increase the percentage of students who ciency to the sale or distribution of goods and graduate from college in six years or less (a share services. As part of this phenomenon, consum- now estimated at 59 percent in the U.S.). The re- ers are increasingly able to use technology to forms could also include stepped-up efforts to shop for goods and services at lower prices with increase middle-skills training in cities across greater convenience—which has the impact of the U.S. in order to increase employment, close reducing the pricing power of businesses. This the skills gap (not enough workers to fill skilled reduced pricing power, in turn, causes business- jobs) and raise worker productivity.
    [Show full text]
  • The New CTE March 2016 REPORT
    | New York City as Laboratory for America The New CTE March 2016 REPORT THE NEW CTE NEW YORK CITY AS LABORATORY FOR AMERICA Tamar Jacoby Opportunity America Shaun M. Dougherty University of Connecticut Contents Executive Summary............................................................. 5 I. Introduction.......................................................................... 9 II. Background.......................................................................... 11 III. Schools, Students, Outcomes............................................. 13 IV. Implementing the Essentials............................................... 16 V. Policy Recommendations.................................................... 24 VI. Conclusion............................................................................ 27 Endnotes.............................................................................. 28 3 The New CTE | New York City as Laboratory for America About the Authors Tamar Jacoby is president of Opportunity America, a Washington-based nonprofit working to promote economic mobility. A former journalist and author, she was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute from 1989 to 2007. Before that, she was a senior writer and justice editor at Newsweek and, before that, the deputy editor of the New York Times op-ed page. Jacoby’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, and Foreign Affairs, among other publications. She is the author of Someone Else’s House: America’s Unfinished Struggle
    [Show full text]
  • Lorem Ipsum Main Title Statement
    MEDIA-2008/09/25 1 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF NEW MEDIA: A REPORT ON THE MEDIA AND THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE Washington, D.C. Thursday, September 25, 2008 ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 MEDIA-2008/09/25 2 PARTICIPANTS: Introduction DARRELL WEST Vice President and Director of Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution Featured Speakers BANU AKDENIZLI Index Methodologist, Project for Excellence in Journalism MARTIN KAPLAN Director, Norman Lear Center, USC Annenberg E.J. DIONNE JR. Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution ROBERTO SURO Professor, USC Annenberg Moderator MARVIN KALB Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus, Harvard University Panelists T. ALEXANDER ALEINIKOFF Dean, Georgetown University Law Center STEVEN LIVINGSTON Professor of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington University JAMES CARAFANO Senior Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 MEDIA-2008/09/25 3 TAMARA JACOBY President, ImmigrationWorks USA DORIS MEISSNER Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute ANGELA KELLEY Director, Immigration Policy Center AUDREY SINGER Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution MARK KRIKORIAN Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies PETER SKERRY Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution * * * * * ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 MEDIA-2008/09/25 4 P R O C E E D I N G S MR. WEST: Okay, why don’t we get started. I’m Darrell West; I’m Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution.
    [Show full text]
  • LINO A. GRAGLIA A. W. Walker Centennial Chair in Law University
    LINO A. GRAGLIA A. W. Walker Centennial Chair in Law University of Texas School of Law 727 East Dean Keeton Street Austin, Texas 78705 (512) 232-1363 [email protected] Personal Data Born in Brooklyn, New York. Married. Three children. Education Columbia University School of Law, 1951-54, LL.B. 1954. Editor of the Columbia Law Review. Twice received Harlan Fiske Stone Scholarship award. City College of New York, 1948-51, B.S. 1952. Majored in economics and political science. Employment 1954-57, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 1957-66, Private practice, Washington, D.C., and New York City. 1966-Present, University of Texas School of Law. A. W. Walker Centennial Chair in Law Visiting Professor of Law, University of Utah School of Law, Summer 1972. Visiting Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, 1978-79. Subjects: Constitutional Law, Antitrust, Civil Rights. Special Master, Davis v. Board of School Comm'ns. of Mobile County, (U.S. Dist. Ct. So. Dist. of Ala.), 1984-86. Instructor, Bicentennial Seminar for Law Professors, National Endowment for the Humanities, Claremont, California, Summer 1986. PUBLICATIONS Books • COURTING DISASTER: THE SUPREME COURT AND THE DEMISE OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT (London: University of London, Institute of United States Studies, 1997). • THE SUPREME COURT'S BUSING DECISIONS: A STUDY IN GOVERNMENT BY THE JUDICIARY (Los Angeles: International Institute for Economic Research, 1978). • DISASTER BY DECREE: THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION ON RACE AND THE SCHOOLS (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1976). Articles • A Restrained Plea for Judicial Restraint 29 CONST. COMM. 211–227 (2014).
    [Show full text]
  • Immigration & Assimilation
    An Annotated Bibliography of Supplementary Readings for Instructors of English at El Camino College: English 1C Immigration and Assimilation Ciongoli A. Kenneth. “More Against Assimilation.” Italian Voice 10 May 1990; Ethnic News Watch (ENW). ProQuest. Web. 3 Jan. 2012. Ciongoli concerns himself with the abandonment of traditional Italian cultural values in the area of child rearing, in favor of the so-called “Spock era” method of child rearing as it has been embraced by contemporary Italian-Americans, particularly those who are highly educated. The old values of responsibility to family, independence, and personal fulfillment have been cast aside and replaced by oftentimes contrary values reflected in the so-called “Anglo-Saxon” American population. Woeful to him as well is the rate of intermarriage between Italians and other ethnic groups. Italian-Americans, he maintains, now marry outside of their group eighty-five per cent of the time. Cook-Martin, David and David FitzGerald. “Liberalism And The Limits Of Inclusion: Race And Immigration Law In The Americas, 1850-2000.” Journal Of Interdisciplinary History 41.1 (2010): 7-25. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. Web. 2 Jan. 2012. In a highly academic social-science article from the American-historical perspective, the writers reexamine the surprising phenomenon (at least for many traditional observers) of the highly racist elements embodied in legal measures affecting immigrants in traditionally viewed “liberal” countries, particularly the country of the United States. Turning to the concept of liberalism, the authors fashion a useful—albeit narrow— definition of both “liberalism” and “Illiberalism.” For example, fears concerning “Mexicans” in America combined with those reflected toward “Muslims” in European countries have resulted in punitive measures which shape—so they argue--distinctly racist immigration policies and laws.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 Year-End Update
    2013 PRESIDENT’S YEAR-END UPDATE MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH MANHATTAN INSTITUTE TRUSTEES Chairman of the Board Maurice R. Greenberg Paul E. Singer C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. Elliott Management Corp. Fleur Harlan Vice Chairman Michael J. Fedak Roger Kimball The New Criterion Chairman Emeriti Charles H. Brunie William Kristol Brunie Associates The Weekly Standard Daniel Loeb Richard Gilder* Third Point, LLC Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. Rebekah Mercer Roger Hertog* Hertog Foundation Brian Miller North Sound Partners Dietrich Weismann Weismann Associates Jay Newman Elliott Management Corp. President Lawrence J. Mone Rodney W. Nichols Trustees Nick Ohnell Clifford S. Asness Ohnell Family Foundation AQR Capital Management Robert Rosenkranz Andrew Cader Delphi Financial Group, Inc. Ann J. Charters Nathan E. Saint-Amand, MD Ravenel Boykin Curry, III Thomas W. Smith Eagle Capital Management Prescott Investors Timothy G. Dalton, Jr. Donald G. Tober Dalton, Greiner, Hartman, Maher & Co. Sugar Foods Corporation Sean M. Fieler Bruce G. Wilcox Equinox Management Partners Cumberland Associates Kenneth M. Garschina Kathryn S. Wylde Mason Capital Management Partnership for New York City Kenneth B. Gilman *Former Trustee CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 4 ALL POLICY IS LOCAL Save Our Cities Save Our Streets Save Our Schools Creative Ideas, Hard Truths New York’s Uncertain Future 16 A STRONG VOICE IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL The Marketplace of Ideas Powering Prosperity The Future Is Now for Precision Medicine The High Cost of Obamacare Know Your Rates Proxy Fights and Patent Trolls Philanthropy Under Fire Capitalism on Campus 34 PUBLICATIONS 2013 36 BOOKS 2013 37 SOCIAL MEDIA 38 WEBSITES 39 VIDEO 40 BANNER EVENTS 2013 42 EXPERTS 43 THE INSTITUTE EXPANDS *Former Trustee INTRODUCTION 2 DEAR MI FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS, ith our economic future in doubt and political paralysis in Washington, there is ample reason for concern about the country’s future.
    [Show full text]
  • Work in Progress: Migration, Integration and the European Labour Market
    Work in Progress: Migration, Integration and the European Labour Market Work in Progress: Migration, Integration and the European Labour Market Mikel Azurmendi David Coleman Tamar Jacoby Robert Rowthorn Juan José Toribio Editor: Helen Disney Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society London First published May 2003 © The Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2003 The Mezzanine, Elizabeth House 39 York Road, London SE1 7NQ email: [email protected] All rights reserved ISBN 1-903 386-28 4 Typeset by Civitas in New Century Schoolbook Printed in Great Britain by Hartington Fine Arts Lancing, Sussex Contents Page Acknowledgement vi Authors vii Introduction Helen Disney x Is multi-culturalism helping or hindering integration in Spain? Mikel Azurmendi 1 Demographic, economic and social consequences of UK migration David Coleman 9 Immigrant integration— the American experience Tamar Jacoby 41 Immigration and the labour market: a Spanish perspective Juan José Toribio 53 Numbers and national identity Robert Rowthorn 61 Notes 85 v Acknowledgement Work in Progress is based on a seminar organised by the Stockholm Network and the Circulo de Empresarios (Ma- drid’s Business Round Table) in Summer 2002. The Stock- holm Network and Civitas would like to thank the Circulo for all their help in making the seminar and the book possible. The Stockholm Network is a dedicated network of European market-oriented think tanks based at Civitas in London. Its members include Timbro in Stockholm, the Centre for the New Europe in Brussels and the Edmund Burke Founda- tion in The Hague. vi Authors Mikel Azurmendi chairs Spain’s Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants, which was convened in 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report
    MEXICO INSTITUTE ANNU A L R E P O RT 2005 2006 C ONTENTS Message from the President of 0 Transparency and Access to Information the Wilson Center 0 Justice and Rule of Law Message from the Co-Chairs of Public Policy Scholars the Advisory Board Partner Organizations Message from the Director Woodrow Wilson Award Leadership 3 Award Sponsors 3 Advisory Board Publications and Events Major Initiatives 4 New Publications 4 Mexico’s 006 Elections 4 Previous Publications 6 Setting the Agenda: U.S.- 6 Events Mexico Policy 8 Migrant Civic and Political Participation Finances 9 Journalism across the Border Principal Donors Message from the President of the Wilson Center Lee H. Hamilton Woodrow Wilson was a man of unceasing skill, intellect and curiosity. The Woodrow Wilson Center honors his memory by bridging his two passions—scholarship and policy. At the Woodrow Wilson Center, we bring together the thinkers and the doers—policymakers, scholars and business leaders—in the hope that a frank and open dialogue will lead to better understanding, cooperation and public policy. The Woodrow Wilson Center launched the Mexico Institute in 2003 in recognition of the important relationship between our countries. Few countries have as significant and dynamic a relationship with each other as the United States and Mexico. The Center is committed to bringing together policymakers, schol- ars, journalists, businesspeople, and civic leaders across our shared border in order to encourage open dialogue and build effective policies for the bilateral relationship. A Message from the Co-Chairs of the Mexico Institute’s Advisory Board José Antonio Fernández Carbajal and Roger W.
    [Show full text]
  • COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAREER EDUCATION: SCALING a NEW APPROACH by Tamar Jacoby
    LUMINA ISSUE PAPER COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAREER EDUCATION: SCALING A NEW APPROACH by Tamar Jacoby July 2019 Foreword Our postsecondary education policies, institutions, and practices were developed for an economy that is many decades behind us. While we often talk about the “future of work,” we need to recognize that our economy has already been transformed, and our problem is that we haven’t put enough attention toward developing new approaches to learning. Too much of what we offer students once they leave high school is truly “the past of education and training.” One dimension of this problem is simply numbers. In an era of increasing skill demands for even entry-level work, we have failed to increase the number of seats at the postsecondary table. Highly selective colleges and universities educate the same number of students they did 40 years ago. State universities and community colleges have shouldered the burden of expanding to keep up with population growth but with budgets that are equivalent of one hand tied behind their backs. Of course, expanding access to outdated learning opportunities is no solution. The good news is that, in addition to expanding to meet the growing demand for postsecondary education, community colleges are also innovating new models that are more affordable, flexible, and occupationally focused. These programs hold the promise of creating opportunities for students of any age seeking high-quality, in-demand credentials. They also are the answer to employers looking for workers with the skills needed for today’s economy. To better understand this emerging new model of career preparation, Lumina Foundation convened a group of community college leaders and education reformers on the front lines of this changing landscape.
    [Show full text]
  • Debating Immigration by John Derbyshire
    CULTURAL CAVIAR Debating Immigration by John Derbyshire May 05, 2011 There was a good crowd at New York University Tuesday evening for the Intelligence Squared debate. These are full-dress formal disputations on topics of public interest, held roughly once a month through the season, very professionally organized and broadcast on Bloomberg TV and NPR. Tuesday’s topic was “Don’t give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” the reference being to Emma Lazarus’s poem on the Statue of Liberty. Some immigration-restrictionist friends invited me along and I wangled a press pass. (Regular tickets are $40—this is high-quality debating.) Arguing for the motion—i.e., that we don’t want any more tired, poor, etc.—were ex-Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and coauthor of Arizona’s famous SB 1070 law aimed at illegal immigrants. On the other side were Tamar Jacoby, a veteran campaigner for liberal immigration laws, and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro. The audience’s temper made itself known right away as the moderator was introducing Kris. When he mentioned SB 1070, several people hissed. That’s New York for you: Liberalism Central. Kris took it in good humor; he’s fielded much worse. “A sensible immigration policy would favor high-human-capital populations as being more likely to enrich the USA.” Once underway, the debate worked over some well-trodden ground. None of us who are engaged with the issue heard anything new. Studies were quoted, numbers tossed back and forth: 25 percent of patent applications come from foreign-born persons (Jacoby); immigrant welfare usage is $140 billion net of taxes paid (Kobach).
    [Show full text]
  • Says Intelligence Squared US Immigration Debate Audience
    “Don’t Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses” Says Intelligence Squared US Immigration Debate Audience Kris Kobach , Arizona Immigration Law Co-Author, & Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, Defeats Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio & Tamar Jacoby of ImmigrationWorks USA Debate to be broadcast on NPR stations nationwide and to be telecast on Bloomberg TV globally beginning Monday, May 9 at 9:00 PM EST NEW YORK – May 4, 2011 – With the first anniversary of Arizona’s illegal immigrant law just behind us, last night’s debate at Intelligence Squared US, “Don’t give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses”, was a rousing, heated exchange on the nation’s hottest issue. According to live audience voting, the Kobach/Tancredo team made the more convincing argument by moving the most audience votes to their side at the end of the evening although the Castro/Jacoby team carried 52% of the final vote. This latest intellectual matchup was IQ2US’s penultimate debate in its themed season, “America’s House Divided”, moderated by ABC News Nightline’s John Donvan. The executive producer is Dana Wolfe. Key Excerpts for the Motion: KRIS KOBACH “Look at the jobs. There are 14 million Americans out of work. A vast majority of the 11.3 million illegal aliens have those jobs, about seven million are in the workforce. Many states are realizing the simple truth, if you want to create a real job for a U.S. citizen tomorrow, deport an illegal alien today. It actually works.” TOM TANCREDO “What happened in the past is that the numbers allowed for, and also the timeouts that I mentioned earlier, allowed for an assimilation process.
    [Show full text]