The mess called illegal immigration

The past few weeks have opened up a new pandora's box. The issue here is what to do about illegal immigration, people who cross the border illegally and those who overstay their visa. While the Republican dominated House of Representatives passed a strict enforcement only bill which would instantly criminalize all illegal aliens present in the U.S., the U.S Senate members seem more divided on the issue, sometimes even across party lines. While the illegal immigrants are being called criminals by one side the people who oppose illegal immigration are being called bigots and racists by the other side. This debate for most parts has exposed the ugly underbelly of otherwise rational people.

I am reposting this from HousingPanic where a bunch of folks who otherwise would have been debating about the housing bubble started discussing about illegal immigration. Seeing their sometimes nasty and clueless posts made me write this in reply. Surprisingly no one could come up with a counter argument.

Let me bring a side of economics into this. Being rich and being poor are relative terms. You're only rich when you have more money compared to the poor. These illegals are actually making you richer since you can get the work done at a much lower cost. The average wages for Americans have actually increased because of them. So, there is some benefit to having it the way things have been for so long. However, since everyone is so interested in punishing the illegals, let's look at things that will automatically reduce illegal inflow.

1. Eliminate government healthcare and education for illegals. Make it more expensive for them to stay. Let's see what they do when they have to pay for their healthcare and education.

2. Impose penalties on employers who hire them. Come on they wouldn't be here if they're not able to find work. U.S. has one of the highest cost of living. They need money to survive here. Next time you go to eat at a fancy restaurant ask the Manager if the food was prepared by an illegal or ask your Condo/Co-op to only hire Americans to take out the trash.

3. Increase legal immigration numbers so that they can come in legally. Do you know what's the wait period for let's say a mexican to get an immigrant visa? It's anywhere from 5 years for skill-based to 13 years for family-based. That's because the U.S. only allows about 1 million immigrants per year which is divided equally between all countries. Check it here http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_2868.html
But the demand to migrate is far greater in some countries compared to others. What would you do if you were in their shoes? Wait for 13 years or sneak in through the border and get a job and free healthcare, education?

4. Create a border, enforce laws that protect the border and yes, deport law-breakers.

5. And last but not the least, ask your Senators or Representatives to increase the minimum-wage. It seems Republicans are the first to trash any bill that increase minimum wages. (Walmart link here?). I'm an independent, so I really don't care if you start trashing Dems because of this sentence.

All these things are tied and if you believe you can have one thing without the other you are grossly mistaken and you are being reined in by hate-radio rhetoric so that they can pull in the listeners and make money off the ads. Have you noticed how talk-radio hosts also do their own ads. What's up with that? It reminds you that they're only doing business.

The current U.S. immigration system is broken, the 11-20 million illegal aliens here are proof of that. The entire blame for that cannot rest solely on the illegals themselves and they should not be the only ones punished either.