{"id":246243,"date":"2016-12-18T16:06:30","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T23:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=246243"},"modified":"2016-12-19T18:53:06","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T01:53:06","slug":"trumps-tough-talk-on-immigration-masks-a-complex-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/12\/trumps-tough-talk-on-immigration-masks-a-complex-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s tough talk on immigration masks a complex reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_72372\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/5440990018\/in\/photolist-9hNuLJ-9hKrun-9hHqDv-9hLwdw-9hNwso-9hHpJr-9hLx6s-9hLwSC-9hKpTt-9hKraP-9hNwi1-9hKp4g-9hNvWh-HkLZL-2oQiC-9KUYs-9hLxAs-9VjNra-9KD2oX-qu7Gu-9rmBGH-9VT6fh-uooUsi-5RhK99-9hNwCN-9hKpmZ-9hNvfQ-9hKrPH-9hNvzC-9hKoVK-9hKrkx-9u7qjZ-9rd77n-xRyc1-9rknN8-5KnqeT-9rphtQ-9wtCb2-9uayT3-9FTZtY-fNcrqH-vPTJzZ-6Rnrkd-5Dd1xc-bXt9R-4r8psj-vGv8u-uT5y6P-vMTbLN-9DncXb\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-72372 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-771x494.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump\" width=\"771\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-771x494.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-336x215.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-768x493.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-1170x750.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-780x500.jpg 780w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gage Skidmore \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">President-elect Donald Trump (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>During a Republican primary debate last February, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida seized a moment. He asserted that even though Donald Trump the candidate was attacking undocumented immigrants, Trump the businessman had used 200 undocumented Polish workers to build Trump Towers, the president-elect\u2019s gilded Gotham high-rise.<\/p>\n<p>This foreign-worker imbroglio involving Trump \u2014 there are more \u2014 led to a court ruling in 1991 that Trump associates were in on a plan to stiff a laborers\u2019 union out of pension benefits by underpaying the Poles. Trump professed not to know about the workers\u2019 status, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/statements\/2016\/feb\/25\/marco-rubio\/marco-rubio-says-donald-trump-had-pay-1-million-hi\/\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a>, and he appealed. Fifteen years later, though, after some of the Poles went public in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1998\/06\/14\/nyregion\/after-15-years-in-court-workers-lawsuit-against-trump-faces-yet-another-delay.html?pagewanted=all\" target=\"_blank\">news reports<\/a>\u00a0about wage and safety violations, Trump ended the protracted legal battle with a sealed settlement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe brings up something from 30 years ago,\u201d Trump said at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-fix\/wp\/2016\/02\/25\/the-cnntelemundo-republican-debate-transcript-annotated\/\" target=\"_blank\">the debate<\/a>, lashing back at Rubio. Trump said laws were different then. \u201cIt worked out very well,\u201d he said with a shrug. \u201cEverybody was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story comes from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/12\/12\/20515\/trump-and-immigration-tough-talk-masks-complex-reality\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But millions of Americans who are married or otherwise related to other undocumented people are not at all happy today \u2014 and they can\u2019t afford to shrug off the past like Trump. Employers who have stepped up over the years to admit that many employees are likely undocumented are also dismayed. They fear that Trump\u2019s election means the end of a long quest for immigration reform that recognizes that most undocumented workers are not the \u201ccriminals\u201d or \u201cbad hombres\u201d that Trump excoriated during the campaign. Instead, they\u2019re the spouses and parents of U.S. citizens, longtime co-workers and neighbors and home and business owners \u2014 and their issues, problems and challenges are far more complex than Trump\u2019s heated rhetoric would make it appear.<\/p>\n<h3>A chill in the air<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cOur members are\u00a0scared out of their wits,\u201d said Kim Anderson, a Minnesotan who leads <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanfamiliesunited.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">American Families United<\/a>. The group represents U.S. citizens with undocumented spouses who are unable to legalize those spouses under current immigration laws without great risks. Members are now coming to grips with the possibility that their circumstances are about to get even worse.<\/p>\n<p>On immigration, like on many other subjects, it\u2019s sometimes hard to figure where the president-elect\u2019s bluster ends and his actual position lies. Trump\u2019s stinging words about Mexicans and Muslims during the campaign are old news, but not forgotten as he prepares to take power. He initiated his campaign by fixating on Mexicans who cross the border, calling them \u201crapists\u201d before adding, after a pause, that &#8220;some, I assume, are good people.&#8221; He tried softening his rhetoric in an Arizona speech by referring to \u201cthe great contributions of Mexican-American citizens to our two countries \u2026 and the close friendship between our two nations.\u201d But Trump\u2019s appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief White House strategist has inflamed tensions further because of Bannon\u2019s talk-radio past and his Breitbart website, which features diatribes degrading immigrants and people of color.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>For members of American Families United, the prospects their concerns will be heard feel thin.<\/p>\n<p>A myth persists that if Americans marry undocumented people \u2014 who many have met at work \u2014 those spouses can easily transition to legal status. The reality is that Americans can no longer apply to get green cards for undocumented spouses without facing severe consequences if their husbands or wives originally entered the country illegally and were here for more than one year. Those spouses are automatically subject to being banished from the United States for 10 years, sometimes longer, even for life. This policy came about long before Trump; a Republican-controlled Congress tucked the punitive measures, known as bars, into the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Application of the bars was phased in, shocking a first wave of couples who were unaware of the changes.<\/p>\n<p>More than 9 million people appear to live in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewhispanic.org\/2011\/12\/01\/unauthorized-immigrants-length-of-residency-patterns-of-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cmixed status\u201d families<\/a> with an undocumented adult and at least one U.S.-born child, according to the Pew Research Center. As of 2014, Pew estimated, 66 percent of undocumented adults had been in the United States for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2016\/11\/03\/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s\/\" target=\"_blank\">more than 10 years<\/a> \u2014 enough time to form families.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the rules, some mixed-status families have already been forced into exile to stay intact. They\u2019ve suffered financial strain and emotional trauma. Others, to keep jobs here, have had to live separately from spouses and children who are stuck abroad, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2012\/10\/19\/11563\/separated-law-families-torn-apart-1996-immigration-measure\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a> reported in 2012. Still others have chosen not even to try for green cards, and instead live every day worrying that a spouse could get picked up in a workplace raid or due to a traffic stop.<\/p>\n<p>For years, these citizens have tried to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2013\/02\/15\/12213\/rep-gutierrez-meets-capitol-hill-families-torn-apart-1996-immigration-law\" target=\"_blank\">persuade Congress<\/a> unsuccessfully to reform these penalties \u2014 arguing that the bars have done nothing to deter illegal immigration and instead are a disproportionate punishment falling on Americans. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanfamiliesunited.org\/news\" target=\"_blank\">Multiple bills<\/a> with some bipartisan support have so far stalled in Congress.<\/p>\n<p>President Obama\u2019s administration did make a slight change that\u2019s aided some in this community; in 2013 he issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2013\/01\/03\/11997\/feds-announce-new-rules-legalizing-undocumented-spouses\" target=\"_blank\">regulatory tweak<\/a> allowing spouses seeking green cards to apply for waivers from banishment without having to leave the country, as had been required. However, since many spouses had already been advised they would not qualify for the narrow criteria for a waiver, they were unable to benefit from the regulatory change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur members have lived in this unknown fear for years that at any given moment their lives can be wrecked, irreversibly,\u201d Alexander said. With Trump\u2019s election, \u201cthat\u2019s been ratcheted up by 10 times.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Hard-line approach<\/h3>\n<p>Indeed, Trump\u2019s position sounds uncompromising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor those here today illegally who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and only one route: to return home and apply for re-entry,\u201d Trump said in his Arizona speech. \u201cOur message to the world will be this: You cannot obtain legal status, or become a citizen of the United States, by illegally entering our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another group whose future now appears in peril: more than 700,000 so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2012\/06\/29\/9251\/facts-american-adults-can-learn-undocumented-kids\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cDreamers,\u201d<\/a> young people whose parents brought them here as children and whom President Obama and a number of Republican leaders have defended as Americans in all but documents. So-called DREAM Act legislation that would have provided Dreamers an earned path to legal status has failed repeatedly. So in 2012, Obama issued an executive order granting some Dreamers who registered with the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2012\/08\/08\/10592\/most-eligible-obama-undocumented-program-already-working\" target=\"_blank\">temporary protection<\/a>\u00a0from deportation and two-year work permits that must be renewed.<\/p>\n<p>Obama has urged Trump to show compassion for Dreamers. \u201cIt is my strong belief that the majority of the American people would not want to see suddenly those kids have to start hiding again,\u201d Obama said. But Trump has said he\u2019ll \u201cimmediately terminate\u201d Obama executive orders like the Dreamer policy. He\u2019s also said that only after the border is controlled \u201cwill we be in a position to consider the appropriate disposition of those who remain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">TIME<\/a> magazine this month, Trump suggested \u201cwe\u2019re going to work something out\u201d for Dreamers. They \u201cgot brought here at a very young age, they\u2019ve worked here, they\u2019ve gone to school here,\u201d he said. \u201cSome were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they\u2019re in never-never land because they don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of Congress\u2019 hardliners, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, didn\u2019t sound happy with the softer tone. He told <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/12\/08\/politics\/steve-king-daca-repeal-dreamers-new-day\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">CNN<\/a> that \u201camong these Dreamers are some awfully bad people,\u201d and he added: \u201cWill those children point to their parents and tell us, \u2018You really need to enforce the law against my parents, because they knew what they were doing when they caused me to break the law?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>A circle of immigration-restriction activists who favor a tough line \u2014 and who say they\u2019ve advised the Trump campaign \u2014 have historically expressed little mercy for Dreamers.<\/p>\n<p>When a version of the DREAM Act failed to pass in 2007, Roy Beck, the executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.numbersusa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">NumbersUSA<\/a>, one of these groups, said he had no sympathy for the young people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no trouble looking at them in the eye, and saying, \u2018Too bad. Life is hard,\u2019\u201d Beck told <em>The<\/em> <em>Sacramento Bee<\/em>. Beck, whose group has mobilized voters to oppose Dream Act proposals, told Reuters this fall that he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-election-trump-immigration-idUSKCN1270Z3\" target=\"_blank\">met Trump in New York<\/a> during the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>NumbersUSA declares a policy of \u201cno to immigrant bashing&#8221; on its website and contends its concern is over-population. But the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/hatewatch\/2011\/05\/25\/numbersusa-denies-bigotry-promotes-holocaust-denier\" target=\"_blank\">Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> has labeled NumbersUSA a hate group \u2014 which Beck strongly protests \u2014 due to racially charged remarks expressed by a founder and Beck associate.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Kobach, the controversial Kansas secretary of state, has also been among those counseling Trump on immigration matters. Before he held elected office, Kobach pressed several lawsuits to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kansas.com\/news\/politics-government\/article30509874.html\" target=\"_blank\">deprive Dreamers<\/a> of the right to pay in-state tuition to attend public colleges where they grew up. His suits have failed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexisnexis.com\/legalnewsroom\/top-emerging-trends\/b\/emerging-trends-law-blog\/archive\/2010\/11\/15\/california-supreme-court-upholds-167-68130-5-s-resident-tuition-payment-for-illegal-aliens.aspx?Redirected=true\" target=\"_blank\">California<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.vcstar.com\/news\/neb-judge-tosses-illegal-immigrant-tuition-suit-ep-366376387-345276632.html\" target=\"_blank\">Nebraska<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/cjonline.com\/stories\/070208\/sta_298671333.shtml#.WD3YmbIrK70\" target=\"_blank\">Kansas.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kobach was also the architect of an Arizona law that required police there to demand proof of legal status for people suspected of being undocumented. The U.S. Supreme Court reviewed that law and upheld the power of police to investigate a person\u2019s status under certain conditions. But as part of a civil-rights lawsuit settlement Arizona stopped requiring police to demand evidence of legal status or hold people for prolonged periods solely for that purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2012, while advising GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Kobach argued that within four years, if \u201cattrition through enforcement were made the centerpiece of national immigration policy, you could see the illegal alien population cut in half.\u201d The battle of Dreamers could shift to Congress again soon: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/11\/lindsey-graham-dreamers-bill-immigration-232017\" target=\"_blank\">GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> of South Carolina, a longtime supporter of legal status for Dreamers, plans to introduce another version of the Dream Act next year.<\/p>\n<h3>Unforeseen consequences<\/h3>\n<p>Regardless of what actually happens on the policy front, though, what Anderson of American Families United fears is more collateral damage.<\/p>\n<p>She worries additional Americans will be driven into exile \u2014 like Margot Bruemmer. Originally from New Jersey, Bruemmer was a college English professor when she moved with her young children and undocumented husband in 2005 to Veracruz, Mexico. Bruemmer\u2019s spouse learned at a green-card interview in Mexico that he was barred from entering the United State for at least 10 years. After 10 years, the couple re-applied for the green card. But he was rejected again. A devastated Bruemmer is facing a lifetime outside the United States to keep her family together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBegging and pleading by phone, email, and in person with senators and congressmen was in vain,\u201d the mother of three children said in a message to friends.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson questions what benefit there is for Americans \u201cto deny life in the United States to Margot\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Anderson conceded that mustering support for undocumented immigrants isn\u2019t easy. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gallup.com\/poll\/193817\/republicans-favor-path-citizenship-wall.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Gallup poll<\/a> last July actually found that 84 percent of U.S. adults \u2014 including\u00a076 percent of Republicans \u2014 favored allowing undocumented immigrants to earn legal status over time if they met certain requirements. Yet Anderson acknowledged the battle cry often rising above that sentiment: that the undocumented should \u201cdo it the right way,\u201d and \u201cget in line,\u201d and shouldn\u2019t be rewarded with legal status.<\/p>\n<p>That rhetoric bumps up against a cold reality; the current immigration system doesn\u2019t actually provide a way for most undocumented people to correct their status by getting in a line. Without a change in policy, many spouses of Americans or legal residents face the punitive bars blocking them from re-entering the United States. For many others, there is no line at all: Most visas for legal residency are based on marriage or other immediate family ties. Work visa categories and opportunities for employer sponsorship for green cards are extremely narrow \u2014 benefiting mostly people with so-called \u201cextraordinary\u201d skills, including professional athletes and models, which is what facilitated Trump\u2019s wife Melania\u2019s transition to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Even if a U.S. employer is eager to sponsor and \u201clegalize\u201d undocumented workers who\u2019ve become trusted workers \u2014 in farming, for example, or elder care \u2014 it\u2019s all but impossible because \u201cunskilled\u201d job visas are few and requests are backlogged for years. On top of that, at present, any history of crossing the border illegally or undocumented status can be disqualifying.<\/p>\n<p>Americans frustrated by these barriers contrast their experiences with what they\u2019ve heard about the future First Lady.<\/p>\n<p>Melania Trump has said that she followed all visa rules when she arrived here about 20 years ago. But according to an <a href=\"http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/article\/37dc7aef0ce44077930b7436be7bfd0d\/trumps-wife-modeled-us-prior-getting-work-visa\" target=\"_blank\">Associated Press investigation<\/a>, documents showed that Melania performed 10 modeling jobs valued at more than $20,000 while she was still on a visitor\u2019s visa in 1996 that did not permit her to work. The jobs were performed, the AP reported, weeks before she was issued an H-1B non-immigrant temporary work visa in October 1996. Violating terms of a visa or presenting a misleading history involving a visa can result in denial of re-entry to the United States and denial of a permanent residency application. Melania obtained permanent residency in 2001, but hasn\u2019t elaborated on how she made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/report-melania-trump-worked-in-us-without-proper-permit\/2016\/11\/05\/3ddc5a8a-a302-11e6-a44d-cc2898cfab06_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">that transition<\/a>. She became a U.S. citizen in 2006, a year after she and Trump married.<\/p>\n<p>The contrast with businesses like agriculture appear stark to many \u2014 including Barry Bedwell, president of the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation. Agribusiness leans heavily Republican, but Bedwell counts himself among those dispirited by Trump\u2019s rhetoric and worried about what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>The long partnership between employers and the undocumented has been \u201callowed \u2026 to develop because it\u2019s been mutually beneficial,\u201d admitted Bedwell. Like many in agribusiness, he\u2019s frustrated that conservatives in other parts of the country aren\u2019t open to his point of view. But \u201cnow that we\u2019ve moved past the campaign,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m hoping cooler heads will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bedwell is based in the Salinas Valley, and before that he was based in Fresno \u2014 two of the most productive agribusiness regions in the world. Tending and harvesting crops must be done at precise moments in time, so workers need to be available. California has much at stake in whatever the Trump Administration does here \u2014 and so do American consumers, given that the Golden State produces the majority of America\u2019s fruits and vegetables and is the leading producer of milk \u2014 and relies heavily on undocumented laborers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat the agricultural community needs to do now,\u201d Bedwell said, \u201cis understand its vulnerabilities and play extreme defense.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Troubling stalemate<\/h3>\n<p>For many, both recent history and the current situation seem counterproductive. President Bill Clinton\u2019s administration began investing billions on fortifying the border in the mid-1990s, and President George W. Bush invested billions more. Smugglers\u2019 fees began escalating and trips became more dangerous, so more and more workers stayed put.<\/p>\n<p>Trump argues that \u201clower-skilled\u201d immigrants \u201ccompete directly against vulnerable American workers, and \u2026 draw much more out of the system than they will ever pay in.\u201d But agribusiness companies have complained at times about worker shortages in the wake of extra border security, such as occasional deployments of the National Guard, and most economists argue that American consumers have benefited overall from immigrant labor, documented or not.<\/p>\n<p>Stretching back to the 1990s, a coalition of business, labor and civil rights groups have unsuccessfully pursued reform. They didn\u2019t always agree on everything. But versions of bills they generally backed would have legalized some of the current workforce for the sake of preventing disruption in the national food supply and other industries, and to promote community and family stability. Proposals would have also overhauled the system for vetting claims of worker shortages and then admitting workers to fill jobs that aren\u2019t necessarily considered \u201cextraordinary\u201d \u2014 like modeling \u2014 but essential to the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Proposals included trade-offs that were uncomfortable for some. Versions of farmworker-specific legislation would have phased-in a legalization of current workers, on condition they stayed in the fields for a period before leaving for other jobs. Farmers would be expected to increase use of a guest worker program whose inefficiencies they could help reform. For some labor advocates, these provisions were a bitter pill because unions fought to end the exploitative Bracero program in 1964 that had imported Mexican farmworkers without equal rights. But labor activists were also concerned that workers were dying crossing deserts for jobs, or were undocumented and less able to fight for better treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Provisions in these failed immigration bills would have also poured billions of dollars more into additional border security. And in an unprecedented step, all versions of these bills would have also phased in mandatory employer use of the E-Verify system, an online system for authenticating ID documents.<\/p>\n<p>To understand why employers \u2014 and labor activists \u2014 support such broad-based reforms, Bedwell and others say, Americans need a better understanding of what\u2019s happened in the past.<\/p>\n<p>E-Verify didn\u2019t exist when Congress and President Ronald Reagan approved the last major immigration legislation 30 years ago \u2014 a bitterly contested measure known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act. Before the 1986 reform, it wasn\u2019t even illegal to hire undocumented workers. Into the 1970s, employers could sponsor undocumented immigrants for green cards with greater ease. Immigration judges, too, had greater latitude to review individual cases and grant legal status.<\/p>\n<p>In 1986, in addition to an amnesty, Congress mandated that employers ask to see a prospective employee\u2019s documents indicating legal status \u2014 and then record and keep that information on file. Not complying can result in a fine. But employers aren\u2019t expected to be experts in detecting fake documents. And with rare exception, most escape responsibility for hiring undocumented workers because the legal burden of proving they \u201cknowingly\u201d hired workers is difficult to meet. So the employer sanctions that were part of the legislation proved largely ineffective. And even though border control spending exploded in the mid-1990s, workers willing to risk more perilous crossings kept coming, and employers kept hiring them to fill jobs \u2014 not just on farms, but in construction and services.<\/p>\n<p>Now, though, mandating E-Verify would be a potential game changer for businesses \u2014 assuming the system\u2019s not insignificant operational problems can be smoothed out. Trump has said his administration \u201cwill ensure that E-Verify is used to the fullest extent possible under existing law, and will work with Congress to strengthen and expand its use across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which led the comprehensive-immigration-reform charge for years in Washington, has produced reams of documents featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/report\/immigration-myths-and-facts-0\" target=\"_blank\">economists\u2019 positive take<\/a> on immigration. The group points to longitudinal studies finding that immigrants boost economic growth, tax revenues and on balance push up wages for the native-born, who assume more management roles.<\/p>\n<p>But since Trump\u2019s victory, the chamber has gone silent, and is regrouping for a new era. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to speculate on anything related to the Trump administration\u2019s policies at this time,\u201d a spokeswoman said in an email. \u201cWe look forward to working with the new administration and the new Congress on issues of importance to the business community, which includes immigration reform.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Swimming upstream<\/h3>\n<p>Even before Trump, reform advocates like the Chamber were up against a rising tide of skepticism regarding reform.<\/p>\n<p>Congress grew cold after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, and conservative talk radio and TV programs began a drumbeat of attacks against legalizing immigrants; TV personalities such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/hatewatch\/2008\/07\/31\/lou-dobbs-citing-extremists-again\" target=\"_blank\">Lou Dobbs<\/a> spread outlandish claims about Mexican plots to \u201ctake over\u201d the American Southwest. Ironically, Mexican President Vicente Fox \u2014 the most pro-U.S. Mexican president in modern times \u2014 was increasingly excoriated by Dobbs and others. As wars in Afghanistan and Iraq tarnished President Bush\u2019s popularity, he lost his ability to muster GOP support for a reform he had pushed. An influx of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2014\/07\/18\/15120\/trains-amputations-and-roots-why-kids-are-run\" target=\"_blank\">Central Americans<\/a> fleeing violent gangs also brought a backlash.<\/p>\n<p>Immigrant advocates aren\u2019t convinced that Trump\u2019s pledges to get tough will result in a mass exodus of people, but they do think workers will feel pain far more than employers. Bruce Goldstein, president of the nonprofit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmworkerjustice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Farmworker Justice<\/a> in Washington, D.C, said, \u201cI\u2019m worried that the current undocumented workers will be pushed further into the margins of society where they will suffer more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usfca.edu\/law\/faculty\/bill-hing\" target=\"_blank\">Bill Hing<\/a>, a veteran immigration attorney and professor at the University of San Francisco, said his phone is \u201cringing off the hook now\u201d as clients seek \u201can educated guess\u201d on what Trump might do. More workplace raids might occur to \u201cmake a splash,\u201d Hing also predicted. But employers, especially agribusiness, he said, are sure to try to enlist GOP leaders like House Majority Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.majorityleader.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kevin McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0of Bakersfield, California, to try to fend off what they view as disruptive enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmericans,\u201d Hing added, \u201cforget that there is truth to the argument that undocumented immigrants do take jobs Americans don\u2019t want to do.\u201d The undocumented are also consumers; local economies would suffer if the population vanished suddenly.<\/p>\n<p>Among Trump\u2019s favorite campaign stump lines was his vow to build \u201ca great and beautiful wall\u201d that Mexico would be forced to pay for \u2014 a vow he\u2019s waffled on at times. He also railed against Mexico for \u201cstealing\u201d American jobs because U.S. corporations have factories there.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite his \u201cAmerica first\u201d rhetoric, Trump himself used Mexican and Asian factories to produce his clothing line. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/they-say-they-arrived-in-the-us-illegally-now-theyre-working-on-trumps-dc-hotel\/2015\/07\/06\/9a785116-20ec-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html?tid=a_inl\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> reported that construction workers on Trump\u2019s new hotel in Washington, D.C., admitted just last year that they were undocumented. Trump <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/donald-trump-denies-using-undocumented-workers-to-build-trump-international-hotel\/\" target=\"_blank\">denied hiring<\/a>\u00a0undocumented workers and said the company used E-Verify to conduct screening.<\/p>\n<p>In Florida, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/02\/26\/us\/politics\/donald-trump-taps-foreign-work-force-for-his-florida-club.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The New York Times<\/em><\/a> reported that nearly 300 U.S. citizens have applied since 2010 to work as cooks, housekeepers and wait staff at Trump\u2019s luxury Mar-a-Lago Club \u2014 but that only 17 were hired. The U.S. Labor Department, which reviews whether a business has met requirements to try to hire Americans first, certified <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/florida\/statements\/2016\/jul\/27\/michael-bloomberg\/michael-bloomberg-donald-trump-visa-sys\/\" target=\"_blank\">685 H-2B guest worker visas<\/a> for Mar-a-Lago between 2008 and 2015. <a href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2016\/07\/28\/news\/donald-trump-foreign-workers\/\" target=\"_blank\">CNN reported<\/a> that over 15 years, Trump\u2019s businesses have filed for more than 1,250 foreign workers for various positions. Trump seemed to prefer young, attractive Eastern European or South African people, former workers told CNN.<\/p>\n<p>Trump batted away these findings during the campaign, claiming there were \u201cvery few qualified\u201d workers during the \u201chigh season\u201d in the Mar-a-Lago area \u2014 a claim disputed by services that match employees in the area. Some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/florida\/statements\/2016\/jul\/27\/michael-bloomberg\/michael-bloomberg-donald-trump-visa-sys\/\" target=\"_blank\">news reports<\/a> found that the business did little to meet requirements to advertise for workers. Mar-a-Lago justified its requests for foreign workers by saying that not enough American applicants were willing to work split shifts or part time.<\/p>\n<p>Trump began suggesting in the final days of his campaign he\u2019d go after \u201ccriminal\u201d undocumented people first, which is already an Obama administration policy. In a transition video he released to the public on Nov. 21, Trump announced that he plans to direct the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate \u201call abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker\u201d\u2014 exactly how some in Florida reportedly felt about Trump\u2019s recruitment of European guest workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe contradictions with him are enormous,\u201d said Muzaffar Chishti, who researches migration and is the director of Migration Policy Institute\u2019s office at the New York University School of Law. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.migrationpolicy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Migration Policy Institute<\/a> is a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to immigration and accountability, Chishti said, \u201cemployers have been able to shift the burden downstream for years now,\u201d to subcontractors and workers. Based on Trump\u2019s harsh but mercurial rhetoric, Chishti added, it\u2019s hard to imagine how Trump\u2019s vows to police practices he has reportedly engaged in will eventually play out.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout history, Chishti noted, Americans have employed foreign-born workers, and turned against them in fits of xenophobia that include labeling newcomers as \u201ccriminal\u201d or unable to assimilate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica\u2019s always been ambivalent about immigration,\u201d he said, \u201cfor a nation of immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Critics say President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s heated rhetoric sows fear and confusion while risking \u2018collateral damage.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,140,3307,116],"class_list":["post-246243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-donald-trump","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}