Cool Talk on Hot Topics: Immigration Issues

1. Cool Talk on Hot Topics:Immigration Issues Professor Virgil Wiebe University of St. Thomas Murphy Institute March 2, 2012

2. Mark 4: Credit: Coralie Mercier

3. Credit: Jay Pastore Ezekial 17

4. Immigration Issues in Light of Catholic Social Teaching • Refugees • Unauthorized Economic Migrants • Authorized Economic Migrants – “Brain Drain?” • Subsidiarity, Solidarity, and State Action

5. Catholic Social Teaching • Common Good • Human Dignity • Solidarity • Subsidiarity • Option for the Poor Resource: http://www.osjspm.org/

6. Conclusions

7. Refugees • CST recognizes right to emigrate, calls for welcome and hospitality by receiving states, and a sharing of responsibilities among states • US policy over the past decade has resulted in admitting fewer refugees and granting asylum to fewer people • Compared to almost all other developed countries, the US takes fewer refugees and asylees per capita

8. Unauthorized Economic Migration • “Every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.” Benedict XVI (2011) • Regulating migration to further the common good of the receiving community is recognized • But only “grave requirements of the common good, considered objectively” should lead to restrictions. • US Bishops, Instruction on Pastoral Care of People Who Migrate (1969)

9. Unauthorized Economic Migration • 11,000,000 unauthorized live in the US (60% of them Mexicans) • Nearly 7,000,000 have been here for more than 10 years • And by the way . . . 500,000 unauthorized Americans live in Mexico • The causes of migration are largely economic (and not the result of individual moral failure) • The unauthorized population in the US is decreasing in numbers for a variety of reasons

10. Unauthorized Economic Migration • Current Federal Policy Reactions can be questioned • Massive Expenditures on Border Enforcement • Record Setting (and Costly) Deportations • New Prosecutorial Discretion directive holds some promise

11. Subsidiarity, Solidarity, and State Action

12. Solidarity We are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences. We are called to work globally for justice. Authentic development must be full human development. It must respect and promote personal, social, economic, and political rights, including the rights of nations and of peoples It must avoid the extremists of underdevelopment on the one hand, and "superdevelopment" on the other. Accumulating material goods, and technical resources will be unsatisfactory and debasing if there is no respect for the moral, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of the person. Source: http://www.osjspm.org/

13. Role of Government and Subsidiarity The state has a positive moral function. It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights, and build the common good. All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions so that government can achieve its proper goals. 

The principle of subsidiarity holds that the functions of government should be performed at the lowest level possible, as long as they can be performed adequately. When the needs in question cannot adequately be met at the lower level, then it is not only necessary, but imperative that higher levels of government intervene. Source: http://www.osjspm.org/

14. “Attrition Through Enforcement” • “This law attacks our very understanding of what it means to be a Christian.”* • Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile, August 2011 • Restrictive state laws push the notion of subsidiarity to the breaking point *Source: http://www.mobilearchdiocese.org/templates/readtjrarticles.cfm?Article=RodiArticle74.htm

15. Authorized Economic Immigrants “Even though they have a right of emigrating, citizens are held to ‘remember that they have the right and the duty… to contribute according to their ability to the true progress of their own community. Especially in underdeveloped areas where all resources must be put to urgent use, those men gravely endanger the public good,’ who, particularly possessing mental powers of wealth, are enticed by greed and temptation to emigration. They ‘deprive their community of the material and spiritual aid it needs.’” • Sacred Congregation for Bishops, Instruction on the Pastoral Care of Immigrants, para. 8 (1969)

16. Skilled & Educated Migrants • Pistone and Hoeffner argue for a CST paradigm shift on this issue: • Migration is often temporary • “Brain Drain” exaggerated • International Transfers of Knowledge • Money Transfers – Direct Investment and Remittances • Technology Development and Transfer Source: Pistone & Hoeffner, Stepping Out of the Brain Drain (2007)

17. “With what can we compare the kingdom of God?”

18. The long version follows. . . The notes prior to this page are the basis of the presentation on March 2, 2012. In that talk, I references additional slides that would be available on the Murphy Institute website.

19. Refugees and Asylum “The refugee’s rights include his right to enter a country in which he hopes to be able to provide more fittingly for himself and his dependents. It is therefore the duty of the State Officials to accept such immigrants – and – so far as the good of their own community, rightly understood, permits – to further the aims od those who wish to become members of a new society” Pacem in Terris, para. 106 (1963)

20. Refugees and Asylum “Asylum seekers, who fled from persecution, violence and situations that put their life at risk, stand in need of our understanding and welcome, of respect for their human dignity and rights, as well as awareness of their duties. Their suffering pleads with individual states and the international community to adopt attitudes of reciprocal acceptance, overcoming fears and avoiding forms of discrimination, and to make provisions for concrete solidarity also through appropriate structures for hospitality and resettlement programmes. All this entails mutual help between the suffering regions and those which, already for years, have accepted a large number of fleeing people, as well as a greater sharing of responsibilities among States.” Benedict XVI, Migration and the New Evangelization (Sept. 21, 2011)

21. Refugees & Asylees • Conflicts around the world – estimate of 10,000,000 to 20,000,0000 refugees • The US in recent years has capped refugee admission annually at 80,000 • Asylum grants within the US have been falling in recent years

22. Refugee Arrivals Graphic: Migration Policy Institute

23. Asylum Grants in US Graphic: Migration Policy Institute

24. Asylum Data 1994-2022 UNHCR data cited in EikoR. Thielemann, Burden Sharing: The International Politics of Refugee Protection (2006)

25. Unauthorized Economic Migrants “The phenomenon [of migration], as everyone knows, is difficult to manage; but there is no doubt that foreign workers, despite any difficulties concerning integration, make a significant contribution to the economic development of the host country through their labor, besides that which they make to their country of origin through the money they send home. Obviously, these laborers cannot be considered as a commodity or a mere workforce. They must not, therefore, be treated like any other factor of production. Every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.” CARITAS IN VERITATE (2009), para. 63

26. Unauthorized Economic Migrants • Migration linked to the right to subsistence and the duty to sustain one’s family • John Paul II referred to the “Migration of the Desperate” • John Paul II, World Migration Day Address 2000 • “Man has the right to leave his native land for various motives – and also the right to return – in order to seek better conditions of life in another country” • John Paul II, LaboremExercens (1981), sec. 23

27. Unauthorized Economic Migrants • Regulating migration to further the common good of the receiving community is recognized • But only “grave requirements of the common good, considered objectively” should lead to restrictions. • US Bishops, Instruction on Pastoral Care of People Who Migrate (1969) • The standard is not met when restrictions are “merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth” • US & Mexican Bishops, Strangers No Longer (2003)

28. How many unauthorized migrants are there in the US?

29. The US Population 2010 Sources: US Census Data, US Dep’t of Homeland Security, Pew Research

30. Who are they? Source: US Dep’t of Homeland Security

31. How Long Have They Been Here? 1.6 million 3.8 million 2.4 million 3 million Dep’t of Homeland Security

32. Why have they come?

33. Source: Lessons From Mexico Under NAFTA, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dec. 2009

34. Source: Lessons From Mexico Under NAFTA, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dec. 2009

35. NAFTA? “Overall, limited employment gains in manufacturing and services have been offset by large employment losses in agriculture. With roughly one million Mexicans entering the labor force each year, the NAFTA model has failed to deliver what Mexico needs the most.” - “Rethinking Trade Policy for Development: Lessons From Mexico Under NAFTA” 2009 Carnegie Endowment report

37. Washington Post, 12/31/2011, US Border Patrol data http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/new-fencing-doesnt-stop-illegal-crossings/2011/11/28/gIQAbLdBQP_story.html

38. Why are the numbers flattening out? • It’s the economy, ________. • Increasing economic opportunities in Mexico • Increased border violence by drug cartels • NAFTA’s most disruptive effects have worked their way through the system • Increased border enforcement – but the fence not only keeps people out, it keeps them in • Cyclical migration

39. Who gets deported? Source: US Dep’t of Homeland Security

40. Source: US Dep’t of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement

41. St. Paul Immigration District Source: US Immigration & Customs Enforcement

43. Border Enforcement • Increased Enforcement Spending Border Patrol 2004 ($6 billion); 2009 ($10.6 billion); gone from 3,000 to 21,000 agents • Harder then ever to cross illegally • Demand to enter still outstrips supply of visas - must match labor market demands and visas • Discouraging illegal entrance also discourages legal entrance. Source: Edward Alden, Immigration & Border Control, Cato Journal (Winter 2012)

44. Enforcement Alternatives • Use Cheaper Alternatives to Immigration Detention • End policy of criminally prosecuting every single unlawful border crosser • Focus more on ports of entry than between ports of entry Source: National Immigration Forum, Nov. 2011

45. Prosecutorial Discretion • Policy Shift in 2011 by Obama Administration • Called upon its immigration prosecutors to exercise greater discretion in what deportation cases to push forward • The number of deportation proceedings initiated in last quarter of 2012 fell sharply to only 39,331 — down 33%ffrom the previous quarter. Even adjusting for seasonal drop-off and for late reporting, there appear to have been over 10,000 fewer deportation filings than would have been expected last quarter. Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University, February 2012

46. Authorized Economic Immigrants

47. Authorized Economic Immigrants “Even though they have a right of emigrating, citizens are held to ‘remember that they have the right and the duty… to contribute according to their ability to the true progress of their own community. Especially in underdeveloped areas where all resources must be put to urgent use, those men gravely endanger the public good,’ who, particularly possessing mental powers of wealth, are enticed by greed and temptation to emigration. They ‘deprive their community of the material and spiritual aid it needs.’” • Sacred Congregation for Bishops, Instruction on the Pastoral Care of Immigrants, para. 8 (1969)

48. Skilled & Educated Migrants • Pistone and Hoeffner argue for a CST paradigm shift on this issue: • Migration is often temporary • “Brain Drain” exaggerated • International Transfers of Knowledge • Money Transfers – Direct Investment and Remittances • Technology Development and Transfer Source: Pistone & Hoeffner, Stepping Out of the Brain Drain (2007)

49. BRAIN STEM Proposals • Science, Technology, Engineering, Math • Bringing and Retaining Accomplished Innovators for the Nation • “Proposal to help immigrants with advanced degrees in math and science secure the right to live and work permanently in the US” • Had thought of calling it the New Employees for Research & Development and STEM (NERDS Act)

50. State immigration laws: THE alabama EXAMPLE and Attrition through enforcement