Dennis Nixon and Rafael Anchia: Take the Chance to Align Immigration Policy with Economic Needs
Date: July 1, 2012
The Dallas Morning News
July 1, 2012
In delivering the decision on United States vs. Arizona, the Supreme Court has opened the door of opportunity to fixing our broken federal immigration system. The ruling also proved that state-based reforms might make people feel better, but they won’t solve the problem and they will continue to invite more litigation, further polarizing the country.
Recent history has shown that local and state-based anti-immigrant actions leave bad economic outcomes in their wake. Ask the people of Riverside, N.J.; Manassas, Va.; and the states of Alabama, Georgia and Arizona, who did not take into account the economic consequences of their actions before passing anti-immigrant ordinances and laws.
While enforcement is a major component of immigration and border security, we can never enforce our way out of this problem. The reality is that our legal immigration system is broken, and we cannot truly reduce illegal entries into the U.S. until we repair that pipeline.