President Addresses Border Control

Immigration Policy the Subject of Address to the Nation

Roberto Suro , director of the Pew Hispanic Center , was online Tuesday, May 16, at noon ET to discuss President Bush 's new proposal on border control, the debate over immigration and its social, economic and political impact within the U.S.

Rove Praises Bush's Border Control , ( May 15, 2006 )

The transcript follows.

____________________

Washington, D.C.: Have you polled permanent resident aliens and US citizens of Hispanic descent to gage their thoughts on this issue? I am Puerto Rican (a U.S. citizen by birth) and a professional. What I have found amazing about this Latino mobilization is how so many people like me saw the House bill as a personal affront, like we're not welcomed in this country, even though the bill doesn't affect us personally.

Roberto Suro: We've conducted several polls over the years that find some differences between native born Latinos and immigrants on immigration issues. Put simply, the polls indicate that there is a significant minority--between a quarter and a third roughly--of the native born who are anxious or worried about levels of immigration in general and the effects of illegal immigration specifically. Meanwhile, the foreign born take overwhelmingly positive views.

_______________________

Sterling, Va.: What drives people to come into the country "illegally" by crossing the border on foot and avoiding being documented? Please help me understand why they now want to become U.S. citizens now, and what they say to those who did the right thing and filed a petition to become an immigrant.

Roberto Suro: The motives that bring people to this country illegally are pretty much the same as those that bring people here legally: better jobs, better pay, all of the benefits of living in our society, a brighter future for children and the chance to be reunified with family members who are already here. I would guess that almost all the people who come here illegally would come on a legal path if one was available. But for certain types of persons from certain parts of the world--in particular people with low skills from Latin America-- it can be very very difficult, if not impossible to migrate here legally. Current laws effectively limit the number of people in those categories who can come legally.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Does Bush still have enough political points to unite the divergent House and Senate interests and get this multifaceted and comprehensive immigration bill through committee?

Roberto Suro: That is the political question of the hour. We'll find out in the next week or so as the Senate debates immigration.

_______________________

Annandale, Va.: The Senate Plan will allow for the deportation of millions of illegals who have not been here for at least two years. How will this occur? Will there really be a search for the millions of illegal immigrants who have not qualified as a Guest Worker?

Roberto Suro: It is not clear what will happen to people who are still out of status under this proposal or any of the others. There is no legislation that envisions mass roundups or mass deportations. The prevailing theory among the proponents of tough enforcement measures is that "attrition" will eventually reduce the illegal population. In other words, if you make life difficult for people who are here illegally in various ways, they will eventually go home--that is the theory.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Have you done any research that suggests that the increase of enforcement on the border - including overhauling the current "catch and release" policy - will actually decrease the flow of illegal immigration?

Roberto Suro: There is no easy answer to that. "Catch and release" only applies to people from countries other than Mexico who now account for about 15% of the apprehensions on the border, if I remember the figure correctly. As to the great majority who do come from Mexico, we do know that enforcement on the border has been steadily increased since 1993 and that is now much more difficult to enter the country across the border than it used to be. Nonetheless, the number of illegal migrants from Mexico has steadily increased.

_______________________

Oxen Hill, Md.: Mr. Suro, thanks for the chat. My impression is that many Hispanic immigrants come to the U.S. with the intention of working here for a few years, sending money home but also accumulating enough money to return to their home countries and live a higher standard of life than was previously possible. Do you have any statistics as to how many actually do this? My impression, again, is that it's relatively small.

Roberto Suro: There are only very rough estimates. About 800,000 people enter the country to reside here on a more or less permanent basis every year, and about 200,000 leave. Again these are very rough numbers. Another large number of people which is very difficult to even guess at come here for a few months at a time and go back.

_______________________

Anonymous: Do your polls differentiate between the public's view on immigration, in general, versus its view on illegal immigration, i.e. respect for the rule of law? It seems that many want to frame the debate as simply one of pro- or anti-immigration.

Roberto Suro: The polls definitely show that the public's concern is focused on illegal immigration and the rule of law, security concerns in general as well as the economic effects are the major sources of those anxieties. Some of the concern does seem to be spilling over to legal immigration however. The country is split now on whether immigration in general helps or hurts the country and a significant minority favors reducing the flow of legal immigrants.

_______________________

Dale City, Va.: We often hear about the illegal immigrants paying taxes. Is this a reference to sales taxes or what? Does what they pay in sales tax cover what they use is services, such as health care and schools? Why does this even count as "paying taxes" since even tourists who purchase products in America have to pay sales tax?

Roberto Suro: It is almost impossible not to pay some taxes. Sales taxes as you mention. Property taxes as well, even if you are renting. In addition, many illegal workers, it is hard to say definitively what share, have federal income and social security taxes taken out of their paychecks. The Social Security Administration actually has a specific fund of money that comes from people who have paid in but will never collect.

Drawing a balance sheet for anyone in terms of taxes paid and the costs of services received is also very difficult. Just thinking about the native born, how do you do you figure the elderly who require a great deal of health care or children who get public schooling?

_______________________

San Francisco, Calif.: If we take 12 million illegals this year, how many people will come next year?

Roberto Suro: 12 million is the estimate of the total number of unauthorized migrants now resident in the country on a more or less permanent basis. They arrived over many years. The net number added to the US population each year has been running about 500,000 in recent years.

_______________________

Woodbridge Va.: Has Pew or anyone else done a longitudinal study of the 3.5 million immigrants given amnesty in 1986? How many are still here? How many are productive citizens? How many are on TANF? etc. I would think understanding the answers to these questions would be critical to anyone trying to decide about the current amnesty proposal. And no matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, it is still amnesty.

Roberto Suro: It would be a great research project but very difficult to pull off. Studies done in the years immediately after the 86 amnesty showed that they experienced significant increases in earnings. Recent studies of TANF (the main federal welfare program) tend to show that, aside from refugees, immigrants are not more likely to qualify for the program than other people in the same income levels, and indeed, federal law limits access to TANF for recently arrived immigrants.

_______________________

Springfield, Va.: Isn't it true that if all the illegals in this country were sent back home many American businesses would be severely hurt?

Roberto Suro: Illegal workers are a substantial part of the workforce in a few industries: home construction, restaurants and hotels, some kinds of agriculture. If they suddenly disappeared--not something that is likely--those industries would be seriously affected in the short run. What is much hard to project is how those industries would adapt over time if the supply of cheap labor dried up gradually.

_______________________

Luray, Va.: Two quick questions if I may. First; It is commonly believed that children born of an immigrant, legal or not, automatically become American citizens. Is that true? Is that a constitutionally assured right or a legislatively conferred status? Second; are the parents of such a child then assured of being granted citizenship?

Roberto Suro: Under the 14th amendment anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a U.S. citizen. A native-born citizen has to be 21 years old before he or she can petition to get their parents permanent legal immigrant status.

_______________________

Orono, Maine: It's very easy to say that immigrants should learn English. But what resources are available to allow that to happen? President Bush should put some teeth in his policy and require that company's that hire immigrant workers provide English-language training for them.

What do you think?

Roberto Suro: Generally, the best available research, and it is not very complete, shows that there is a shortage of English instruction. Certainly there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence and data from local studies that show that there is much more demand than there is supply. Any legislation that required applicants for a legalization program to learn English would obviously increase that demand tremendously.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Can we expect the meat-packing, farming, and construction industry employers to comply with a new "legal" ID card? Bush says that most employers don't know for sure about their employees' documentation status, but isn't there research that shows that many are fully aware that their businesses would not run without this supply of cheap illegal labor?

Roberto Suro: There are very few details about what the president proposed last night. It was a novel idea: an id card only for legal immigrant workers. In the past, id card proposals have generally covered all workers, both immigrant and native born. He said the goal was to discourage document fraud. It's not clear what would discourage immigrants from seeking false documents that show they are natives. Current law does not require employers to check the validity of documents. None of the proposals before Congress would change that in the short term. The bill passed by the House would create a database of eligible workers in two years but give employers six years before they had to check current employees. The Senate bill as it stands would not create a database for five years.

_______________________

Madison, Wis.: I find it interesting that so much of our collective disapproval is directed to the illegal immigrants, and not to the employers who invite them to come work here. Efforts to enforce already existing laws (requiring employers to prove that their workers have documentation) are met with protests from employers who bemoan the obdurate burden of complying with the law. But they're a major source of the problem. What gives?

Roberto Suro: I am afraid this is the last question I'll be able to take.

I was on the Charlie Rose Show recently with Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, one of the chief supporters of tough enforcement policies, and I asked him a similar question. He said that the only way to get more border enforcement was with a political tradeoff that essentially gave employers several years to start obeying the 1986 law that bars the employment of illegal immigrants. It is no secret that many businesses and whole industries lobbied very hard to secure this "grace period."

Several of the proposals under consideration would increase penalties against employers, but as per my response to the last question, the enforcement mechanisms would only come on line gradually over several years. It has been a part of the conventional wisdom on immigration policy that people will keep coming as long as they can get jobs. But, the border has gotten much more attention in the current debate that work site enforcement.

That wraps it up for me. Thanks to all for joining this forum.

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.