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Living with Unauthorized Immigration in Iowa
Part Three of a series on labor and immigration in Iowa
“I remember looking at the driver’s license photo, looking at the
person and saying to him that the picture on the license looked
nothing like him. The applicant opened his briefcase and laid out half a
dozen different photos and said 'if you don’t like that one, which one do you
like.'”
The front edge of the
struggle for an employer to comply with the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Service rules is where I worked for many years. We had started an
owner operator division for our trucking company and we leased trucks and
drivers from owners to supplement our company employee driver fleet. During
this time, I met people of all backgrounds, and what I noticed was that many
applicants who were immigrants were much better capitalized than most of the
U.S. Citizens we interviewed. We often favored immigrant owner operators
because of their reputation for excellent service and fewer issues during the
conduct of our operations. They wanted to do their work and be left alone, and
for us, that was positive.
Part of our process was to
bring the trucks and drivers to Iowa for orientation. We inspected the trucks,
signed the lease agreement, trained people on our company policy and procedure
and verified their eligibility to work in the United States. During one such
session, I remember looking at the driver’s license photo, looking at the
person and saying to him that the picture on the license looked
nothing like him. The applicant opened his briefcase and laid out half a
dozen different photos and said “if you don’t like that one, which one do you
like.” The implication was that another fake identification card could be easily
obtained and that I would accept it. We sent this fellow and his co-driver back
to California without leasing them on. For us, verification of eligibility to
work in the United States was not some abstract technicality that could be
pencil whipped into compliance. Working with unauthorized immigrants like I did
was just another part of everyday life.
Immigration has already
become an issue in the 2nd Congressional district Republican primary
race. One of the candidates recently laid out his stance on illegal immigration
policy as follows, “No amnesty, our borders need to be
secured, enforce the laws, and throw the employers who hire the illegals in
jail. We have immigration laws for a reason.” While this almost fits on Twitter,
and is full of lightning rod language, it is a throwback to the corporate media
debate on immigration in 2007. It is an example of how some politicians do not
understand the realities of the United States economy or why we should just let
immigrants in. The laws that should be enforced are those like the ones my
company faced regarding verification of immigrant status. If the Rubashkin
family had been held to account on eligibility to work compliance from the
beginning, the word “Postville” would have a much different meaning than it does
today.
According to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), there were 31,220,000 foreign born immigrants in
the United States in January 2009. Of these, 20,470,000 people are legally
resident and the remainder is what DHS calls “unauthorized immigrants.”
According to DHS,
the unauthorized immigrant population living in the United States decreased to
10.8 million in January 2009 due to the downturn in the United States economy. Of
all unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2009, 63 percent
entered before 2000, and 62 percent were from Mexico. While the corporate media
shows us a constant stream of images of people crossing our border, the truth
is that the majority of unauthorized immigrants have been here for many years.
In being here they make important contributions to the United States economy.
As has been previously reported in Blog for Iowa, unauthorized immigrants
in Iowa pay federal and state taxes estimated between $40 million and $62
million per year. Because of their status, unauthorized immigrants receive
fewer services, being ineligible for Medicaid, Social Security and other social
programs. What this means is that unauthorized immigrants produce a net gain to
the economy by working and paying taxes. This runs contrary to the assertions
of conservative pundits that unauthorized immigrants are a drain on social
services. In fact, they help support it for the rest of us.
In a recently published article in Health
Affairs Jim P. Stimpson, et. al. concluded, “that
health care expenditures for the average immigrant have not been a
growing problem relative to expenditures among U.S. natives. The one
exception appears to be that non-citizens have a significantly
greater proportion of uncompensated and charity care than
naturalized citizens or U.S. natives. However, this finding likely
reflects non-citizens’ poor access to care and low socioeconomic
status.” In study
after study, the evidence supports the idea that unauthorized immigrants did
not create the drain on health care spending asserted in the corporate media. Ronald
Reagan and George W. Bush understood the benefits of unauthorized immigrants to
the U.S. economy. So does President Obama.
One
of the administration initiatives is to “bring people out of the shadows.”
supporting “a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in
good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for
the opportunity to become citizens.” This policy addresses the issue of long
standing residents who are unauthorized immigrants. We should support this policy,
even if some believe it does not go far enough.
Like with many things, the
solution to dealing with unauthorized immigrants for Iowans is personal. We
must acknowledge that unauthorized immigrants exist in the state and
demonstrate tolerance appropriate to their status as neighbors. We should follow the ideal that seeking the welfare of one is seeking the welfare of all.
Employers should be required to follow the law regarding verification of eligibility to work and government funded social service agencies should continue to comply with eligibility requirements. However; more than anything, we should just
let them in.
~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County. Check
out his blog, Big Grove Garden.
E-mail Paul Deaton
Blog For Iowa 