Journal Entry #6

Exploratory Journal #6

Lydia Birt

Krikorian, Mark. "Amnesty and Guest Worker Programs Would Not Solve the Illegal Immigration Problem." Illegal Immigration. Ed. Sheri Metzger Karmiol. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven, 2007. 81-87. Print.

            My last source is a book that contains several articles discussing varying viewpoints on illegal immigration. The article I chose was written by Mark Kikorian and is the opposing viewpoint to my argument of legalizing immigration. He claims that efforts like amnesty or a guest worker program would be futile in ending all illegal immigration. His first point is that the government’s organizations for immigration control, such as Homeland Security, do not have the capability of keeping track of existing illegal aliens, let alone hundreds of thousands of new legal and foreign employees. Kikorian states that huge numbers of processing efforts are made within the government daily, but there are still millions of undocumented immigrants. Then, he points out that while immigration flow does not end, our labor market is ever changing and at some points cannot withstand a heavy influx of immigrants. He asserts that legalizing immigration would only create more immigration, as legalization would increase family and prospects for others in a new country. Lastly, Kikorian deduces that to solve the problem of illegal immigration, a commitment to enforcing current laws must be made. He assumes this would make sure terrorists do not get comfortable with a slack border security, and would ultimately protect our nation while keeping immigration controlled.

            Although Kikorian argues that enforcing current policies would be the most productive action in dealing with immigration, he also comments that there has not been a sustained commitment to enforcing the law in the past. He gives the blame to political pressure, revealing that action towards enforcing laws is often met with controversy in our government. This somewhat agrees with my other sources; Kikorian believes that the current policies are adequate but admits they are not carried out, while my other sources recognize the lack of government effort but are discontent with current policies. Alden, my fourth source, argued that a guest worker program would relive economic strain from our market and would reduce illegal immigration by offering legal routes. Kikorian disagrees, saying the labor market would not sustain a fixed rate of immigration, and legalizing or increasing immigration would increase economic strain and job losses. He also argues that even before 9/11 and the media hype about immigration, the old system of immigration reform, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was overwhelmed by the amount of immigration it faced. This contradicts my fifth source, Dunaway, Branton and Abrajano, who argue that the media and government were the cause of an increase in the amount of immigration and public concern for immigration, and therefore the enforcement of current policies.

            This opposing opinion was helpful in clarifying the government’s policies. Before, I was wondering why the government would want to spend so much money on enforcing policies that seem to do more bad than good. This showed me that keeping a tight and secure border will discourage terrorism attacks, and also the entry of those who intend to either traffic drugs or break other laws in America. I find it interesting that even the opposing opinion admits to a lack of effort in the government, which completely solidifies my argument of the importance of solidarity of goals in both the government and the public. However, I am not entirely convinced that enforcing current policies is the answer- I really liked the idea of programs like guest workers or amnesty. I definitely recognize issues with the guest worker program like the fluctuations of our labor market, but I still see more benefits from cheap labor than costs of too much cheap labor. I think what is needed is first an effort made by the government to unbiasedly inform America’s citizens of its goals and budget for immigration, followed by the formation of new policies that not only benefit the U.S. economically, but also socially. I feel like completely legalizing immigration is more constitutional than illegalizing it, but it would be impossible for our resources, space, and economy to support unlimited immigration.

            Because this is the last exploratory journal, my next step will be to finish the rough draft- although I may want to use more sources that I find, because this book has many helpful articles.