Streamlining immigration

I’ve said it before in this space, but I think it bears repeating: If you want to know what makes the United States of America unique, just look in your telephone book.

Almost all of the people in a Parisian phone book will be French; in Beijing, they’ll be Chinese. Only in America can you run your finger down a line of surnames and find echoes of Ireland, England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan and virtually every other nation in the world.

How would you draw a picture of the “typical American”? Can you name 10 “American foods”? The official American religion?

Here in the 21st century, our professional sports leagues are full of foreigners. Our palates have grown accustomed to food from Mexico, Thailand, Ethiopia and India. In a movie I watched recently, the actress who played a small-town Texas girl was actually from Australia. In case you haven’t noticed, a guy with a Kenyan father is the Democratic candidate for president.

In other words, as singer/poet Leonard Cohen once wrote: “The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold.” Which brings me to a subject that Lila Rosenthal covered so eloquently Sunday —

immigration.

A lot of Americans, in Central Virginia as well as elsewhere, are currently both irritated and concerned by the rising tide of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

This is nothing new. The immigrant English didn’t want the Irish to follow them, the Irish mistrusted the Germans, the Germans wanted to ban the Eastern Europeans, and on and on. That, too, is America.

Nevertheless, this seems to me one of these issues that requires compromise instead of soundbites. Let’s look at the pros and cons.

On the upside ...

1. Immigration is, and always has been, what America is all about.

2. It provides a constant, bracing influx of new energy and new ideas.

3. It is a humanitarian policy that provides refuge for people fleeing violence, poverty or instability in their own countries.

4. It provides a valuable pool of people who will take on jobs most other Americans won’t.

On the downside ...

1. Immigration is messy. It’s hard to tell who is supposed to be here, and who isn’t.

2. Illegal immigrants can create a drain on our social services and health care system.

3. By compensating these newcomers under the table, unscrupulous employers are able to avoid paying benefits and taxes.

4. If too many people from one country come to America at the same time, they tend to form enclaves of people who have no need to learn the English language.

So how do we reconcile the upside and downside? Well, maybe we should start spending more money toward streamlining the system of handling new immigrants and less toward keeping people out. Just based on common sense, a few suggestions come to mind ...

1. If Mexican citizens could enter the U.S. legally, it seems obvious that fewer would take the chance of entering illegally. So perhaps a better system could be developed to issue work permit cards. Employers in the U.S. could make requests for labor through a central office, and they would be matched with qualified (i.e., no criminal record, reasonably good health) Mexican job-seekers. This would help take this function out of the hands of the often shady private middlemen.

2. Stop making a game out of illegal immigration. Most of those who slip across the Rio Grande are seeking jobs that they can use to send money back to their families. Keeping those who are caught in detention for six months to a year (instead of simply tossing them back) would make illegal entry extremely counterproductive. Get caught twice and you are forever banned from American citizenship.

3. Put immigrants on the track toward citizenship. Let them know that they’re welcome, but also let them know that they will be watched carefully while they’re here as long as they’re guests rather than residents.

4. Revamp and reform the INS. Then give it whatever it needs to do its job.

5. People learning a new language have to be treated with understanding and patience. Still, if the Germans, Eastern Europeans, Vietnamese and others had to learn English, why should we create a bi-lingual society for one group?

Just a few thoughts for a Monday. What do you think?