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President Obama’s supporters and opponents are likely to be disappointed by his executive action on immigration, albeit for different reasons. His supporters may be disappointed that the action does not cover more unauthorized immigrants and falls far short of a pathway to citizenship. Meanwhile, his opponents may be disappointed—or more accurately outraged—by a blatant sidestepping of congressional authority and disregard of most voters’ expressed desire that he not take such action. Both of these disappointments miss the bigger picture.
The real disappointment is that this executive action distracts Congress and the American public from the far more important issue of the need to reform the entire US immigration system. Instead of focusing on unauthorized immigrants, who are less than 30% of all immigrants in the US, the US should rethink how it admits legal immigrants. The US needs to change its legal immigrant system to increase the number of visas available to workers and to reduce chain migration based on family ties.
Only 14% of permanent resident visas, or green cards, are awarded on the basis of employment, and half of those are to accompanying dependents of workers. Two-thirds of green cards are awarded on the basis of family ties. We limit every country to at most 25,620 green cards a year across numerically limited categories, resulting in some skilled immigrants from India and China waiting years for a green card. Many give up or never even apply. The number of H-1B visas for skilled specialty workers is capped at 85,000 per year, and so the US ran out of them within a week after they became available in the last two years. The number of H-2B visas for temporary non-agricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year, also less than the number desired by employers and potential workers. And the H-2A visa system for temporary agricultural workers remains filled with bureaucratic red tape that leads farmers to turn to unauthorized workers. The system discourages high-skilled workers from trying to enter or remain in the US while encouraging low-skilled workers to enter illegally or overstay visas.
This executive action, as well as the earlier Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, does nothing to address these fundamental flaws in our immigration system. The few changes that the executive action makes regarding legal immigration, such as increasing some temporary visa holders’ ability to switch employers, are steps in the right direction, but they are only baby steps. Worse yet, the outrage over the action makes it even less likely that bigger steps will occur in the next Congress, which seems likely to instead spend its time arguing about whether to block funding for carrying out the executive action. Congress and the White House would better serve the American public by adopting changes that would boost immigration’s economic contribution. Such changes would include increasing the number of green cards available to workers, particularly the high-skilled, and streamlining and expanding temporary worker programs.
Dealing with the large number of unauthorized immigrants in the US is a challenge. The unauthorized population has grown so large—and, in the case of the Dreamers, so vocal—that some action may be required. And a population that has worked so hard in the US for so long may have morally earned the right to stay here. But surely any action should consider the incentives it creates. The executive action creates an incentive for more people to come here illegally and have children here. Coupling legal status for some 5 million people with increased border enforcement is not enough. If the US wants to get serious about reducing future illegal immigration, it needs to require all employers to participate in E-Verify while also providing a legal way for more temporary workers to enter the US. The executive action does neither of those. Instead, it seems doomed to just worsen the problems created by current policy by delaying true reform for even longer.
I sometimes remind my children, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. President Obama would have been wise to follow such advice.
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The real disappointment of President Obama’s executive action on immigration is that it distracts Congress and the American public from the far more important issue of the need to reform the entire US immigration system.
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