Featured Find: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas drops a bomb in the New York Times: he's an undocumented immigrant.  Immigration reform is near and dear to me: there is no reason why people like Vargas shouldn't be entitled to U.S. citizenship.  Immigrants are the engine of American progress.  Here is an excerpt from the Vargas article:

It’s been almost 18 years since I’ve seen my mother. Early on, I was mad at her for putting me in this position, and then mad at myself for being angry and ungrateful. By the time I got to college, we rarely spoke by phone. It became too painful; after a while it was easier to just send money to help support her and my two half-siblings. My sister, almost 2 years old when I left, is almost 20 now. I’ve never met my 14-year-old brother. I would love to see them.

Vargas writes:

I’ve decided to come forward, own up to what I’ve done, and tell my story to the best of my recollection. I’ve reached out to former bosses­ and employers and apologized for misleading them — a mix of humiliation and liberation coming with each disclosure. All the people mentioned in this article gave me permission to use their names. I’ve also talked to family and friends about my situation and am working with legal counsel to review my options. I don’t know what the consequences will be of telling my story.

Indeed, if the law is upheld, ten or fifteen prominent journalists could face criminal charges, and one of America's best reporters could be sent back to the Phillipines.  For what?

UPDATE: Chris Suellentrop has the story behind the story.

Nowehere to Call Home

<This guest post is contributed by Alisa Gilbert, who writes on the topics of bachelors degree.  She welcomes your comments at her email ID: alisagilbert599 at gmail dot com.>

Shanghai developmentI grew up next door to some of the most inviting and charming neighbors any young child could ask for. They were a couple - Henry and Mei - who had immigrated to the United States in the 1980s from the bustling city of Shanghai in China. Having become fast friends with their daughter, I was often over in their home and learned much about the culture and history of the country they had left behind decades before. 

As the years rolled on, the formerly jovial couple became more and more restless. After a trip to China to revisit where they had spent their formative years, the couple returned to America feeling rootless. Numerous expatriates are like Henry and Mei, who feel as if they have nowhere to call home. 

At a time when money was tight and the chances of finding great financial success in Shanghai were slim, Henry and Mei grew restless.They had heard rumors about the positive prospects available overseas in America, the Land of Opportunity, so they jumped to take advantage of them. Over the next decade, Henry and Mei scrounged and saved all that they could before they finally had enough to pick up their things and move to the United States with their respective parents, siblings, and cousins. A new beginning was waiting for them there, and Henry and Mei were determined to start a new, prosperous life in a new, prosperous nation.

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Baby Step To Better Immigration Policy

A Coyote Crossing the Line, by emdot in flickr.com/creativecommonsPresently, substantial improvement on the dismal status quo of immigration in the United States is effectively impossible.  There is too much vitriol to allow comprehensive reform legislative action. Absent real overhaul, we should look for changes at the margin that might improve the welfare of that vulnerable population, especially if targeted policies can also disadvantage the organized criminal organizations that profit from illegal immigration.  A small policy tweak that could have big advantages is offering temporary amnesty to illegal immigrants that contact law enforcement about abusive coyotes.

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The Zero-Sum Economics of Immigration

A Protest against AZ Immigration Law - by nflravensDavid Frum ended his week hanging around Andrew Sullivan's the Daily Dish by reminding me why even the most even keeled of Conservatives harbor a few indefensible positions.  David's unorthodox solution for curbing unemployment is immigration reform- but wait, not the kind you are thinking of that would make it easier for hard working immigrants to move here and grow the economy- as in, kick em out and don't let them in.  From the horse's mouth:

But here's a crucial fact that Brookings omits: that 125,000 per month increase in the US labor force is not a law of nature. In fact, during the Bush years, more than half the growth in the US labor force was due to the arrival of immigrant labor. 

Immigrants now make up some 15% of the US labor force. They are concentrated in the less skilled portion of the labor force and in industries hardest hit, especially construction.

 If immigration levels were curtailed, the job gap would be a lot smaller. And if illegal immigrants returned home, rather than being put on a "path to citizenship," the problem of putting the unemployed back to work would be smaller and easier. 

 For someone who considers themself a champion of the free market this demonstrates an almost willful naivity about how free markets actually work.  Free markets are decided not "zero-sum"; when an unemployed worker reads that the unemployment is going down they shouldn't be upset that all of those jobs available have been filled by other people.

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Give Me Your Tired, Give Me Your Poor

We have an immigration system that is expensive and Byzantine, ineffective and rewarding of criminality, and immoral and shameful given the nature and purpose of the American Republic.  The Wall Street Journal Reports:

The nation's immigration chief is proposing several fee increases for green cards and visas in an effort to plug a revenue shortfall at his agency, caused in part by a decline in applications.

The fee increases—proposed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and likely to go into effect this summer after a public comment period—would be the first since 2007. They would raise by an average of 10% the cost of filing petitions for permanent legal residency and temporary residency for foreign skilled workers and foreign entrepreneurs.

The move could cause applications to rise as people rush to get their paperwork in ahead of the increase. Applications surged in 2007, although that fee increase was much sharper.

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Arizona Deserves Better

A border fence from the Mexican side - by Omar OmarImmigration burst into the national conversation with the recent passage of Arizona's stringent immigration law.  In reality, the topic's relevance was a long time coming as the harrowing violence of Mexico's drug war had increasingly spooked border state communities.  This growing unease triggered an immediate backlash when Rob Krenz, an Arizona rancher on the border, was murdered, presumably by an illegal immigrant.  For American citizens living near the border the status quo had become untenable and the federal response was timid.  Thus, Arizona moved swiftly and forcefully on the issue, and generally to the acclaim of its constituents.  The problem with this legislation, beyond any concerns of racial bias, is that it does absolutely nothing to deal with the problem of border safety.  Instead it is punitive approach to the cheaper and more symbolic problem of illegal immigration.

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Lessons from Chicago's Loss: Reevaluating America's Tourism Policy

I. A Gentle Pugilist

Joseph Louis Barrow was born in 1914 in rural Alabama, the seventh of eight children.  His parents were share-croppers and the children of former slaves.  When Joseph was two, his father was confined to a mental institution, and Joseph would never see him again; for the rest of his childhood he was told his father had died.  Joseph spoke very little until age six, and suffered from a speech impediment.  His mother eventually remarried to a local contractor, but in 1926, when the Barrows were threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, they relocated to Detroit, where Joseph's brother worked at the Ford factory to support the family.  Joseph was enrolled in a vocational school where he was to learn cabinet-making.

When the Great Depression hit, cabinet-making work became few and far between, and Joseph started spending time at the local gym.  He practiced boxing and changed his ring name to Joe Louis so his mother wouldn't find out.  For two years Louis mounted an impressive amateur record of 50 wins and 4 losses, with 43 knockouts.  When it came time to try a career as a professional boxer, he signed a restrictive long-term contract, forfeiting half of his winnings to management and agreeing to live a "clean" lifestyle, which included never having his picture taken with a white woman.

In 1935, Joe Louis became a national hero when he knocked out Italian former heavyweight champion Primo Carnera.  Tension had been mounting between the forces of freedom and the forces of authoritarianism in the world, and Louis's victory over Carnera was seen as a symbolic victory for America and her allies over Mussolini and fascism.  However, at the time, White America was still largely repulsed by the prospect of a black heavyweight champion.  The recent experience with Jack Johnson's "reign of terror" created a boxing culture that conspired to keep blacks out of contention.

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