Why immigration relief matters

  Immigration relief is long overdue for the 10.4 million undocumented immigrants living and working across the United States. Over the past two years, undocumented immigrants have worked through a deadly pandemic to sustain the industries and services that the country relies on. They have risked their safety and the stability of their families as they faced substantial barriers to accessing health care and relief programs as front-line workers. It is therefore critical that the Biden administration and Congress work to create a pathway to citizenship and protections for these and other undocumented immigrants as they work to aid the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jake Desyllas: Immigration controls are socialist

  In the classical-liberal age of 19th-century Europe, there were no immigration controls. Here is how Gustav Stolper — a German economist, classical liberal, and an immigrant — described the world he had known:

       This economic and social system of Europe [before 1914] was predicated on a few axiomatic principles. These principles were considered safe and unshakable…. They were freedom of movement for men, for goods, and for money. Everyone could leave his country when he wanted and travel or migrate wherever he pleased without a passport. The only European country that demanded passports (not even visas!) was Russia, looked at askance for her backwardness with an almost contemptuous smile. Who wanted to travel to Russia, anyway?

Sam Fulwood III: An American Dreamer’s sad awakening

  Under a scorching Texas sun, Andrew Haryono proudly chanted “The Eyes of Texas.” It was 2001, and Haryono was graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, where he had earned postgraduate and bachelor’s degrees in accounting from one of the best finance programs in this country. And so, as Haryono thought at that moment, he stood on the portico of his American Dream.

Sheldon Richman: What the immigration bill overlooks

  In passing the monstrosity known as immigration “reform,” the Senate overlooked a few things of importance. This is unsurprising. A bill on immigration that is backed by leading Republicans and Democrats, big business, and government-co-opted unions is bound to have missed some things.

  The bill, whose fate in the House is uncertain, would appropriate $40 billion over the next decade to “secure the border.” This would entail hiring 20,000 more border patrol agents and building 700 more miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. The spending would include $4.5 billion on technology for surveillance. As the Washington Post reported, “The border security plan … includes unusual language mandating the purchase of specific models of helicopters and radar equipment for deployment along the U.S.-Mexican border, providing a potential windfall worth tens of millions of dollars to top defense contractors.”

Philip E. Wolgin: Top 10 reasons why it’s time for immigration reform

The momentum for reform

1. Congressional leaders from both parties agree on the principles for reform. Just this week the bipartisan “Gang of 8”—a coalition including Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), and Marco Rubio (R-FL)—in the Senate released strong principles for immigration reform, signaling broad agreement for a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. In the House, Rep. John Carter (R-TX) has been leading secret bipartisan negotiations to produce an immigration bill, while Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory that he was “cautiously optimistic” on the prospect of reform. Other signs that a bipartisan reform agreement is not far off: