Lost On The Shore

Immigrant Workers

The Baltimore Sun and the Salisbury Daily Times both ran articles today on the crisis in the H2B (seasonal temporary worker) program, while the New York Times ran an article on problems caused by the limited number of H1B (professional or technical work) visas.

Many of the seasonal employees on the Eastern Shore have relied on the H2B visa program to fill their temporary jobs.  Crab picking houses, restaurants, landscaping and other seasonal employers have bought people in from other countries every year for a long time.  Unfortunately, due to the failure of Congress to extend a provision of the law that exempts returning workers from the 66,000 cap, many are unable to get the workers they need this year.

The impact of this is felt not only by the companies that are unable to get the workers they need, but also by the companies that supply them - the truckers, container manufacturers and haulers, etc.  A study by the University of Maryland of the crab industry indicated that each temporary crab picker here on a H2B visa created 2 and a half additional jobs. 

While there are those who say that these companies should just raise their wages and hire Americans, it's not clear how many Americans are willing to take these jobs which only run ten to twenty weeks.  With unemployment low in Maryland, where would the workers come from?  How much more would you be willing to pay for a restaurant meal or a pound of crabmeat to be sure that all the workers were American citizens? 

The problems cited by the New York Times are a bit different.  New York City is a world financial center, headquarters to many global firms and a major world banking center.  But many of the multi-national firms headquartered in NYC are reporting difficulty in getting the temporary visas they need for their exectives and top managers to work in their headquarters office.  Similarly, the big banks are reporting that they are unable to hire foreign graduates of American colleges and universities because of the shortage of H1B visas.

Alcoa, for example, has one of it's chief financial executives, Vannesa Lau, working in its Geneva offices because of the difficulty in getting a visa for her to work in New York.  There are plenty of similar stories.

This is important because New York doesn't compete with Cleveland or St. Louis or Phoenix, for the most part, it competes with London, Geneva, Frankfurt, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other global financial centers that have more liberal visa requirements.

Where am I going with all this?  Well, it's all a piece of our national schizophrenia about immigrants and immigration.  Almost all of us are descended from immigrants (like those in the photo above) who came to America looking for a brighter future for them and their children.  We want America to be strong and competitive in the global economy and we want our businesses to be succesful and grow our domestic economy.  But the restrictions we place on foreigners who want to legally come here and work make that difficult or impossible in some cases.

Of course, we want everyone to obey our immigration laws.  But building a system of laws that sharply restricts legal immigration while simultaneously creating an economy that demands millions more workers than we have is a recipe for failure.  It's futile to waste billions and billions of dollars on immigration enforcement while we have a system that basically requires employers and employees to circumvent the law.  The real victims when we do that are ourselves.

I find it ironic to stroll down the boardwalk in Ocean City and see shirts for sale that say "Welcome to America, now speak English" in shops that are staffed largely by students from Ukraine, Romania, Russia and even Nepal (They're here on J1 visas)and whose English perhaps is not that good.  Have we forgotten that, when our ancestors arrived here they may have not spoken any English.  There are still pockets in some big cities where Italian, Polish, German, Chinese or Russian can be heard. 

So let's support comprehensive immigration reform.  And sure, it should include strong enforcement of our immigration laws.  But it should also include a reasonable opportunity for those who want to immigrate to our country, to help build its future and to become American - the 'tired, the poor, the huddled masses learning to breathe free' - as the Emma Lazerus poem engraved within the statue states and as we all remember. 

Talking about this and that...

There are a lot of things going on here in the Free State, so let's get right to it!

Presidential Politics

A new poll of Maryland voters released by the Baltimore Sun shows Obama leading Clinton by 39% to 26% with Edwards trailing far behind at 12%.  On the Republican side, McCain holds the lead with 26% followed by Huckabee at 18%, Giuliani at 16% and Romney at 12%.  Fred Thomson trailed at 33%.

The poll also indicated the softness of support for the candidates.  a full 40% of those who indicated a preference for either Obama or Clinton indicated they could change their minds while, on the Republican side, the softness was even greater with almost 70% of McCain and Huckabee supporters indicating they could change their minds.  For Giuliani and Romney the figures were 58% and 55%.

I confess I'm a little surprised at the numbers.  On the Democratic side, Maryland has for years been an old-line traditional Democratic state so I would have expected more support for Clinton and maybe Edwards.  On the other hand, Maryland does have a high percentage of African-American voters and that may sway the totals.

On the Republican side, I'm surprised to see McCain leading the pack.  With the vocal support people like Andy Harris are receiving, I would have thought that a moderate like McCain would be anathema to Maryland Republicans.  On the other hand, it might be indicative of the struggle among Maryland Republicans to decide who is a 'true Republican' and a 'true conservative.

O'Malley's March

Our Governor's popularity is marching downhill.  The same Baltimore Sun poll revealed the extent to which the results of the special session have affected the popularity of our Governor.  The poll showed that 45% of voters disapprove of the way O'Malley is handling his job vs. 35% that approve.  The fiscal package that the General Assembly approved is even less popular with 51% saying it's unfair to Marylanders vs. 33% who say it's fair. 

When asked what was the most pressing issue facing the Governor and the General Assembly, 28% pointed to high taxes with 15% pointing to education, 9% to crime and 8% to jobs.  Immigration, which seems to be such a hot election issue, was near the bottom with 2%.

Clearly the Governor is going to have to work hard over the next couple of years to show the benefits Marylanders are getting for the taxes they are paying.  Fortunately, the evidence is rolling in.

Education

A huge chunk - more than $1.2 billion - of the increase in Maryland government spending over the past few years has gone to education.  A recent report by the independent and widely-respected Editorial Projects in Education rated Maryland schools third-best in the nation.  The report, Quality Counts, is widely cosidered to be one of the most thorough evalutions of school performance; it uses more than 150 data elements in its evaluation. 

Education is particularly important in Maryland.  Despite the high cost of doing business here, corporations locate in Maryland due to the high level of educational attainment and high productivity of its workers.  This is why Maryland leads the nation in per-capita income.  If we want more high-paying jobs with companies like Medimmune, Ciena, Lockheed-Martin, Qbit, Regenerix and Human Genome Sciences, then we need to keep investing in education.  If we'd prefer to have our children working for Wal-mart, McDonalds or in a local chicken plant, then we can cut education spending and taxes right now.

Poverty

Another recent bright spot is the report by the US Census Bureau that Maryland had the lowest percentage of children under the age of 5 living in poverty of any state.  Maryland also has the second-lowest overall poverty rate.  This, of course, is partly attributable to the relatively low unemployment rate here as well as state programs.  Particularly important, I suspect is the emphasis on providing continuing support to those moving off of welfare and into employment.  It's not always an easy transition and continuing support can make a big difference.

I'll have some more tomorrow.

[Note: the illustration is of a poster for The Wolf published in 1908 by the Cincinnati Litho. Co.]

What Should We Do With All These People?

While blatant anti-immigrant sentiment appears to be low on the Eastern Shore, it's still likely to be a divisive wedge issue locally, state-wide and nationally in this election.  I want to take a quick look at some of the elements that make this such an important and divisive issue.

Anti-immigrant fervor has been around for a while, as can be seen from the above illustration.  It tends to be stronger when the pace of immigration picks up and particularly when the immigrants come from countries and cultures that are perceived as different from the 'american' culture. 

Right now the number of foreign-born people living in the U.S. is at the highest level ever (37 million) and comprises 12.4% of the population - the highest since the early 20th century.  According to the Congressional Research Service, about one-third of the foreign-born are naturalized citizens, one-third legal residents and one-third unauthorized (illegal) residents.

Of course, the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States is impossible to determine for sure.  As of 2003, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services put the number at 7 million.  Since then, US immigration officials say the number has increased by as much as 500,000 a year.  The Pew Hispanic Center estimates 11.5 to 12 million 'unauthorized migrants' live in the US today.  It based its numbers on the 'Current Population Survey' conducted on a monthly basis by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.  Finally, researchers at Bear, Stearns estimated there may be as many as 20 million illegal immigrants in the US today.  They based their research on border crossings, remittances, housing permits and use of services, such as school enrollments.

Despite evidence that the number of illegal immigrants is growing rapidly and the increasing concern on the part of Americans about the issue, the US Government has done very little.  The Administration has not proposed any comprehensive immigration reform legislation although the President did support eh comprehensive immigration reform that failed in June of 2007.  Congress has passed several pieces of legislation providing additional resources for border security, but the administration has not requested, and congress has not provided, the level of resources that appear to be necessary to stop or sharply diminish illegal immigration.

Besides border security, there are a number of other contentious issues around immigration:

• Workplace Enforcement  For at least twenty years it has been illegal to knowingly hire, employ, recruit or refer for a fee an alien who is not authorized to be employed. Of course, the primary reason people immigrate illegally into the United States is to obtain employment.  Many believe that, if this prohibition were effectively enforced, illegal immigration would end.  Employers object, however, that it is difficult to determine who is a legal resident and, in any case, there are not enough legal residents to fill the existing jobs.  Employers also worry about more bureaucratic burdens and many are concerned that more stringent enforcement will promote discrimination against legal residents who appear to be foreign.  An attempt by the Administration to require employers to dismiss employees whose social security numbers did not 'match' was shot down by the courts due to the many problems with the social security database.
• Enforcement Funding  It seems almost certain that funding for interior enforcement is inadequate to deal with the number of illegal immigrants already here.  While there have been increases in border enforcement resources, interior enforcement resources have not grown so much. 
• State/Local Enforcement  As a result of the failure of the Federal Government to deal with the issue and in light of inadequate interior enforcement and growing citizen concern, many state and local jurisdictions have attempted to enforce immigration laws.  This has proven controversial and the question of resources applies to state and local entities also.

   There are many other issues, including the appropriate level of legal immigration, temporary 'guest worker' programs, asylum and humanitarian issues, alien rights and responsibilities and, most importantly, legalization. 

These issues are highly emotional and divisive.  The deep division between those who believe the immigrants strengthen America and who want to continue high levels of immigration and legalize those already here and those who see a threat to America's culture, way of life and economy in the current high levels and oppose legalization of those who 'broke the law' by coming here illegally.

The issue has become the new 'third rail' of politics and essentially paralyzed Congress.  Legislation - the so-called DREAM Act, which would have provided a path to legalization for those who were illegally bought here as children, who have lived here continuously, who join the military or attend college and who are under age 30 was rejected by the Senate in October.  The pending Farm Bill is imperilled because of legislation that has been added to it (The AgJobs bill) to provide a path to citizenship for some illegal agricultural workers.

So where is this all going?  It seems to me that there is strong sentiment for additional border and interior enforcement.  While many Americans would like to send home the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants living in the United States now, I can't see how that is feasible, given the economic role they already play in this country and the incredible logistic nightmare of trying to send them home.  But I don't see any political solution on the horizon unless the industries and companies that employ them step forward and lobby for a comprehensive immigration solution - support which was lacking during the last attempt at a comprehensive solution.  I'm sure we can look forward to a lot of bitter words on the issue over the issue in the next year.

[the illustration above is from an advertisement announcing publication of the 'American Patriot', a short-lived nativist newspaper in 1852.  It's worth noting that the strong anti-Irish sentiment reflected here was diminshed during the Civil War when Irish-Americans formed a significant part of the Union Army]

Those Pesky Immigrants

Outside of the usual offensive T-shirts on the Ocean City Boardwalk, I haven't seen or heard a lot of complaining about illegal immigration here on the Eastern Shore.  I'm not sure why.  It may be that people recognize that recent immigrants are critical to the functioning of the poultry industry here.  It may be that we are so accustomed to the presence of the ubiquitous foreign student workers that flood Ocean City every year.  It may be that immigrants are less visible than they are in some other places or it may be that I just frequent the wrong places.

A recent article in the Washington Post reported that, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, there are 268,000 illegal immigrants in Maryland - about 5% of the population.  The same study indicated that the average household income for illegal immigrants in Maryland was $58,061 - substantially higher than the nationwide average for illegal immigrants of $45,748.   By comparison, the average household income for native residents in Maryland is $83,964 per year.  The author of the report suggests that a greater share of illegal immigrants in Maryland are people who overstayed their visa rather than people who sneaked across the border.  Such immigrants, usually students or guest workers, are likely to have more education and skills than those that cross the border illegally.

I'm curious about this issue because every candidate, with the notable exception of Christopher Robinson, seems to feel obligated to trumpet their anti-immigrant positions.  Even Wayne Gilchrest, who supported the immigration compromise that failed so spectacularly in the Senate, has come out in support of a new bill that would strengthen border security, penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants and provide more resources for the apprehension and deportation of illegal immigrants.

So I guess every politician now views immigration as a hot button issue.  Certainly it's an issue that provokes an intense emotional reaction in many people.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in next year's elections.  More on this tomorrow.

[The photo shows immigrants coming ashore at Ellis Island in 1902.  They're coming ashore from the barge that takes them from the steamship company docks to Ellis Island.  The big building in the background is the new hospital which had just opened.  The photo is from the Library of Congress]