Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, has a strong op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on the positive impact of a small change to the legal immigration laws: removing per-country caps for permanent resident visas (green cards). Jacoby is right about the good the bill will do for those coming to this country as high-skilled workers and for those who have been granted green cards through their spouses. Jacoby is especially effective when she explains why such a small change could have an even bigger impact on the overall discussion of immigration reform:
“As the country-cap bill shows, the key to the new model will be to start small. Reforms should focus on the legal immigration system. Both Democrats and Republicans should initiate bills. Lawmakers will have to relearn the lost art of horse-trading. Over time, small steps will build trust and confidence. And who knows — perhaps, someday, they will build momentum for bigger steps,” writes Jacoby.
Little steps for little feet, you might say.
A new poll of conservative Republicans in Iowa reinforces this idea, as well.
The Partnership for a new American Economy (Mayor Bloomberg’s immigration effort) got together with some Republican leaders in Iowa to find out if conservative Republicans, those likely to participate in the Iowa caucuses, would look favorably or unfavorably on questions of legal immigration reform. Turns out, that contrary to the popular perception, GOPer can distinguish between illegal and legal immigration do recognize and support the link between job creators (in this case immigrants) and job creation. According to the poll results:
* 72 percent [of respondents] are open to allowing foreign-born students educated in the U.S. to enter the workforce after graduation
* 64 percent are open to streamlining the process for employers to hire the seasonal and permanent employees they need when Americans are not filling vacant jobs
* 66 percent are open to increasing opportunities for high-skilled legal immigrants to enter the U.S. workforce
John Stineman, a Republican political consultant in Iowa (who is unaligned this year) says the poll shows that even among the most conservative caucus-goer “many could distinguish legal and illegal immigration . . and were open minded about [policy proposals to expand legal immigration],” Stineman explained.
Beyond changing perceptions of what conservatives believe about immigration the poll could have an impact on Republican candidates running for president. “What’s been overlooked,” Stineman points out, is that so many of the GOP presidential hopefuls have said “really good things about visa reform,” and STEM visas — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Mayor Bloomberg’s strategic policy advisor John Feinblatt agrees.
“Both sides of the aisle are much happier debating this at the extremes,” explains Feinblatt. “[The] point of the partnership and poll is to demonstrate that Americans want jobs, job creators and entrepreneurs.”
Will the change that Jacoby, Stineman and Feinblatt are describing happen overnight? Hopefully not, they all would agree. Past attempts at a hollistic, kitchen-sink, comprehensive reform have failed miserably and only polarized the immigration debate. Small changes, one at a time, incrementally are much less sexy but might actually get us toward a rational legal immigration system and then to a place where tackling illegal immigration is finally manageable.