‘Conditional’ legalization: A way out of the current impasse?

Democrats and Republicans continue to be at loggerheads over immigration policy. The central bone of contention is the insistence by Senate Democrats that the estimated 12 million illegal aliens currently residing in the U.S. be granted a path to citizenship. House Republicans decry the Democrats’ legalization plan as an “amnesty,” and want to see border and workplace enforcement systems strengthened. They don’t come right out and say that they want to see all illegal aliens deported en masse. It’s not politically popular and the government lacks the means to do it. But the idea is, once an effective workplace verification system is in place, those without legal papers would be identified quickly, fired, and then reported to immigration. Lacking access to work, and under threat of deportation, most would have no choice but to “voluntarily” return to their native land.

Democrats, of course, are appalled by this “enforcement only” or “enforcement first” approach. They rightly note that many illegal aliens are hard-working taxpayers with families and mortgages who add value to our economy by taking jobs that most native-born workers no longer want to do—at least not for such meager pay. In fact, even if you could raise wages or provide other incentives, it’s not clear how many native-born workers would accept the dirty and dangerous jobs that many illegal workers do. Most companies simply can’t afford to raise wages for these jobs—at least not by much—and still be competitive in a sector of the economy where profit margins are razor-thin.