• Background: Ambiguous federal immigration law, many problems with immigration
• Recent Legislation: 2006 Immigration reform, 2007 Comprehensive Immigration Reform
• Local Responses: Cities and states adopting different laws

Background

• Illegal immigration has been a leading issue in American politics within recent years as people become increasingly concerned with national security, local crime, and a perceived downturn in the economy. Many argue that illegal immigration costs Americans jobs and higher wages. Accordingly, undocumented immigrants leech off public services while avoiding taxes and contribute to crime. However, opponents of these claims counter by arguing immigrants make up a significant portion of the U.S. economy by filling the jobs Americans do not want at lower costs to employers. Illegal immigrants use minimal public services because they cannot qualify for the vast majority of services.

• The immigration system in the U.S. attracts low skilled workers and has largely failed to attract talented foreigners. Others argue that the ambiguous immigration laws allow employers to pay undocumented workers low wages and provide comfortable working conditions. Local authorities have not known how to pursue immigrants and their employers, leaving some localities to inflict harsher penalties than others.

Recent Legislation

• Congress attempted and failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform, resulting in massive protests in May 2006. Legislators who appears to be anti-immigrant during these reform attempts (mainly Republicans) were punished in the November elections. In May 2007 Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) unveiled a bill that would tighten border security, give immigrants a path to citizenship and eventually award citizenship to applicants with valued skills instead of those with kinship ties. The major criticism of this bill was that it ignored theefficiency with with illegal immigration operates.

• The bill offers special work permits to immigrants who already arrived and puts them on a path to residence. The bill strengthens borderpatrol and the fence. It also offers 200,000 temporary work visas each year, about half the current number of illegal immigrants that enter each year. The number of visas would not vary with economic conditions, unlike the number of migrants do who enter illegally. Background checks and medical exams for applicants are included. Employers are obligated to prove that they cannot find a willing American workers before they apply for visas.

• Despite the bipartisan support and the work of President Bush to secure Republican votes, the bill and was killed in the summer of 2007

Local Responses

• A number of states and cities have developed their own approach in dealing immigration after the failure of the federal government. ID cards, penalties for employers that hire illegals, and status checks for housing are among some local laws.