re: "Rationalizing Immigration Policy"

Dave Schuler at The Glittering Eye has some thoughts about immigration reform.

Money quote(s):

"(O)ur policy on immigration could learn something from Canada’s"

Last time I looked at Canada's immigration policy, what struck me were two things:

First, that it used a "point system" for each potential immigrant which added up to determine who qualified and who didn't. Things like fluency in English and French were given weight, as well as other language skills.

Second, they were rather more up-front (at the time) about their "investor" categories of immigrants. If you had the money (and were not otherwise unqualified to be admitted), you could get a visa.

(This may have changed.)

"What would a rational immigration policy for the U. S. be? First, we need to abandon the priority of family reunification that has guided U. S. policy for nearly the last half century. We could use youngish immigrants with college degrees or better, too—I have some sympathy with the suggestion that every PhD or professional degree awarded in the United States to a foreign national should come with a green card stapled to it.

I think that we should increase the number of work visas available to Mexican nationals substantially on the one hand while enforcing our laws both in the workplace and at the border on the other. However, this shouldn’t be a long-term policy. The stagnant income levels and high unemployment rates of unskilled workers in the U. S. tell the story: we don’t need more unskilled workers in the U. S. and we shouldn’t subsidize business models that depend on a continuous new supply. I don’t find the prospect of a future U. S. that competes with China or Vietnam for who can pay the least to unskilled workers particularly appealing."

I'd be a little less generous about granting permanent residency to any foreigner who earns a professional degree in the U.S. We already have too many lawyers, for instance.

Also, DHS (and its predecessor organization, INS) haven't exactly covered themselves in glory and distinction regarding their policing and screening of educational institutions eligible to participate in the issuance of student visas.

If something more nuanced than a purely blanket approach is used, however, this idea nonetheless has considerable merit.

As for work visas for Mexicans: sadly I haven't got all that much confidence in Mexican travel documents to the point where I'd believe that every participant in this sort of program was actually Mexican. That being said, a big part of the problem with our "undocumented" Mexican illegal population is that they are, for all practical purposes, undocumented and unpoliced. Issue them a tamper-proof ID card similiar to the BCC with their photo, collect biometrics (including DNA) at the time of application, grant a temporary (one year?) work permit along with each (adult's) card. And then take it from there. If they get into sufficient trouble, then the card and status are terminated.

The application fee for the card should be designed to include one-way travel to the applicant's home town. So if they get bounced, they've already paid for the ticket in advance.