CIRA 2007 provided two classes of visas. One would grant illegal immigrants a “Z” visa, allowing them to remain in the U.S. with access to social security. After eight years, they would become eligible for full citizenship but would have to return to their homeland before applying.
The “Y” visa would allow guest workers into the U.S. for a period of up to two years. They would be required to return to their homeland for one year before requesting a visa extension.
Most Republicans called these proposed visas amnesty for those living in the U.S. illegally, while the majority of Democrats and Hispanic organizations attacked the guest workers program, claiming that it would create a group of underclass workers with no benefits.
But many from both sides of the aisle also criticized the bill because it required each guest worker to return home before renewing a visa. These workers would instead overstay their visas, only to become illegal immigrants.
Many immigration practitioners, while supporting aspects of the proposal, criticized the bill as unworkable.
While every Presidential candidate agrees that the U.S. needs to adopt some form of comprehensive immigration reform, each favors different provisions based on his or her respective political beliefs. Here are some of the main issues on how the U.S. deals with illegal immigration:
°Amnesty: The word “amnesty” has been an issue for decades, tossed around by politicians jockeying for a position on the matter. Generally, conservatives don’t favor amnesty in any form, focusing on border security, limited access to services, and making each immigrant learn English before taking steps toward citizenship.
Conversely, liberals would impose few restrictions on immigrants to promote diversity because they feel that we are a country of immigrants and that they deserve the same rights as the average citizen.
° Secure borders: An almost universally held position is that the nation lags in border security. “We need security at the border, but the fence in and of itself is not going to be a solution. It’s a component to an overall solution,” Mehlman says.
“If you really want to deal with illegal immigration, you have to give people a reason not to come here in the first place,” he adds. “We’re saying to people that if they come here illegally, they will benefit from it.”
° Social services: The rapid increase in immigration is placing enormous pressure on social services like social security, which Camarota believes is largely due to the way in which they’re allocated.
“The way we generally levy taxes and allocate social services is by household,” he says. “When we look at the median income of immigrant households, it’s about 11% less than native households, but immigrant households are 29% larger.”
Moreover, the March 2007 Current Population Survey found that 33% of immigrant-headed households have at least one person using a major welfare program. According to Camarota, the data include illegal immigrants.