Risky Business?

Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writes an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times entitled California without a Mexican. It's a bit of a scare piece about the crackdown on illegal immigration that is being rolled out by the administration.

The 2004 film "A Day Without a Mexican" was a political satire: an exaggerated fantasy about what would happen in California if all the immigrant workers suddenly disappeared. But now it seems that life may imitate art. Federal immigration authorities are readying a new enforcement tool that could indeed, if applied effectively, all but cripple the California economy.

A new fence? A massive influx of Border Patrol agents? A fleet of airborne drones? No. The new weapon is a simple two-page letter that will go out next month to companies whose employees' names and Social Security numbers do not match those on record at the Social Security Administration.

What makes these letters so potent? The SSA has been sending similar notices for years, but in the past, as long as a company had asked to see a worker's papers and filled out the proper forms, it was off the hook. Now the government is demanding that unauthorized employees be fired and threatening legal action if they aren't. This is expected to trigger widespread layoffs — self-policing by millions of small and medium-sized businesses in California and other states.

The new measure is popular with the public — a recent Rasmussen poll found eight in 10 Americans support it — and understandably so. Voters want to get control of immigration. They're particularly keen to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants. And after years of lax enforcement, they're pleasantly surprised to see the authorities getting tough.

The only problem: Much as we need better enforcement, on the border and in the workplace, that's only half the answer. And without the other half — better, more realistic immigration laws — it will wreak havoc.

Jacoby points out that this could cripple some industries. True enough. But she also admits this may focus the public on the need for a real fix to this mess we have on our hands.

This economic crunch could have a silver lining — it might grab the public's attention and generate an outcry for better laws. Millions of Americans who think we don't need immigrant workers might wise up. Politicians who opposed immigration reform this year or last might have a change of heart. And Congress might overhaul the system in 2009, if not before, combining enhanced enforcement with legal ways for U.S. employers to hire foreign workers. That's the other half of the combination we need. And if a no-match crackdown goads us in that direction, the short-term economic pain might be worth it.

As I have tried to point out many times, there is no reason - at all - why the border cannot be secured and legal immigration expanded simultaneously. There is also no reason that Americans should not have a secure border. I do not believe that the worst case scenario Jacoby predicts - an expanded underground economy - is likely. But if this crackdown finally gets Washington off of top dead center and gets the wheels of legislation turning, it will be worth it.

The first politician who can get it across that we need strong borders, lenient legal immigration policy and that both of those things will help all American citizens - including recent legal immigrants - wins. In a way, Bush almost had it right but he could not make the sale because the priorities were bass ackwards. Get that border fixed and everything else can be worked out by reasonable people.