Washington can and should legalize all undocumented workers already here and offer more visas and Green Cards to those who have yet to come. In addition, Washington can and should make it easier for workers to come _and go_ freely. A lot of people would want to come here, work some, go home, come again, go home again, etc. -- if entry and reentry weren't so difficult.
"Although border militarization had little effect on the probability of Mexicans migrating illegally, it did reduce the likelihood that they would return to their homeland. America's tougher line roughly tripled the average cost of getting across the border illegally; thus Mexicans who had run the gantlet at the border were more likely to hunker down and stay in the United States. My study has shown that in the early 1980's, about half of all undocumented Mexicans returned home within 12 months of entry, but by 2000 the rate of return migration stood at just 25 percent" (Douglas S. Massey, "The Wall That Keeps Illegal Workers In," <http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA081EF938540C778CDDAD0894DE404482>).
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Like I said, I think the U.S. government has the immigration policy that its politicos and their minders want. If Mexicans or Guatemalans or anyone else wanted to come to the U.S. and work and if they had to have a passport to work, they'd be able to go move more freely between nation States. As you point out Yoshie, many of them feel stuck and (relative to the individual) afraid of the risk.
Right now, you've got this phoney I9 system for checking documents of "citizens" who wish to get a job. These docos can easily be forged and there's a flourishing underground business based on forging them. Penalties for violation by an employer (which do not include time in a Federal pen) can easily be dismissed..."I didn't know the docos were forged!" On the other hand, legal immigrants have to present their passports which have certain U.S. government issued immigration docos attached, stamped and so on or they have "Green Cards" to go with their passports to pass the I9 doco test. If U.S. citizens had to present their U.S. Passports to an employer and that employer faced a five year stretch in a nasty Federal pen for violating that passport check, well....
Regards, Mike B)
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