So, as usual, I am wondering, how inadequate is our immigration system? I find this very interesting summary, it clarifies, fairly succinctly, how incredibly broken our system is in America, especially for unskilled workers. I won’t spoil the ending, but remember this number, 147, it will astound you when you realize what it represents.

But even if Congress were willing to expend the necessary funds to upgrade systems and supply the manpower needed to expedite the millions of applications already in the queue and awaiting processing, the major flaws in immigration policy would still exist.

Flaws codified into law that almost ensure that for the vast majority of would-be immigrants there is simply no legal path to take.

Here is where that number – 147 – comes into play, and why I asked that it be kept in the back of the mind.

I few weeks ago the annual Yearbook of immigration statistics from the Department of Homeland security came out listing every green card, work visa, tourist visa etc. issued for the past year. It’s about as dry and boring a report as one could managed to muddle through …but it supplies invaluable insight into what is really going on with the dysfunctional immigration system.

In 2006 the government issued a little over 1.2 million green cards to new immigrants to live in the US legally. Additionally, 1.7 million more non-immigrant visas were issued to temporary workers and their family members to work in the US (1/2 million more than the number of green cards issued to new permanent residents, a troubling statistic unto itself).

So at face value it appears that there is amble opportunity for those wishing to enter the country permanently to do so legally. But as Mark Twain said there are three kinds of lies “lies, damn lies, and statistics” ..and in this case one must delve into the numbers to see what story they really tell.

Of the 1.2 million green cards issued last year, 581,106 of those went to wives, children and parents of current US citizens. And additional 222,225 went to various other family members of citizens and legal residents, for a total of 2/3 of all green cards going to someone who already had a US citizen or resident relative.

The next largest category of immigrants after the “family based” status were those who entered as “employment based immigrants”. 159,081 immigrants were awarded green cards last year to legally work in the US. ( 12.6% of all immigrants). The vast majority of them being immigrants with high skills, “specialty skills” “extraordinary skills” or “advanced degrees”.

This is codified into the system.

The yearly cap on unskilled workers is placed at a 5000 maximum. This despite the fact that according to the Dept. of Labor, the US economy produces between 400,000 and 500,000 new low-skilled jobs a year and the vast majority of the nearly ½ mil unauthorized workers who enter the country each year find work in these unskilled sectors.

But as unrealistic as the 5000 cap appears, the situation is actually far worse.

Last year the total number of unskilled workers allowed into the US legally was roughly half the official cap: 2513. Out of nearly 3 million people allowed to enter the country either as temporary workers or stay as legal residents, only 2513 were unskilled workers.

But here comes that number I asked you to keep in the back of your mind ….remember it 147?…

Of the 2513 unskilled workers allotted green cards last year, 2366 were already here living and working in the US. They simply “readjusted” their status to permanent residents (most likely from some temporary worker status) …that leaves 147

147 new un-skilled workers without US citizen or legal resident family already here were allowed to enter the US last year legally and receive green cards.

147 out of 1,266,264.

147 …so tell me again how there is a legal path for all who are willing to work and wait patiently.

How long is one expected to wait… because if the ½ a million who enter each year through improper channels were to go home and wait patiently for their turn, it would take over 3000 years before they would get that chance when only 147 are allowed in each a year.

But the rhetoric will most likely continue, despite all factual evidence to the contrary. Lou Dobbs will nightly inform his minion that only the shiftless and slovenly disregard the law. O’Rielly will bluster away how he “respects and supports” those who “do it the right way” and Rush will whine that reform isn’t fair to all those “waiting in line”…But disingenuous blowhards and misleading experts cannot change the truth, or hide the facts. The current immigration laws, and the systems in place to enforce them, are woefully inadequate and all the wall building, workplace raids, deporting and incarcerating will not change that fact…and until they are addressed rationally and reasonably the “immigration crisis” will never end.

141 Thoughts to “Seriously, this is our immigration quota system? OY VAY”

  1. Thanks for finding this Elena. I have been making this argument about labor shortages in the U.S. from the beginning. 147 per year is certainly not enough for an economy that we hope to grow in coming years. Will anything cause the anti-immigrant clones to give up on their self-delusion? Perhaps a dose of reality? One can only hope.

  2. I thought this article was spot on. Great find! The rest of the web site looks awesome as well.

  3. All,

    Check out this video about the massive mississippi ICE raid. One of the people interviewed claimed that the raid was motivated by the political objective to prevent bonding between african americans and latinos.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYQ7f468LME

  4. Apparently there was a lot of tension between African Americans and Latinos in the mississippi plant. When ICE went in, they seperated the whites, then the blacks, so that they could focus exclusively on the latinos.

    Apparently when the immigrants were taken into custody, some of the other workers clapped. Very interesting and very cunning on the part of the Bush Administration.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080827/ap_on_re_us/immigration_raid

  5. SecondAlamo

    Of course they clapped, now maybe the pay will be increased to what it should have been before the undercutting labor force arrived.

  6. Segundo Alamo,

    Their wages would go up as well if the immigrants were given legal status.

  7. SecondAlamo

    Oh, so being legal would then require higher wages? Why is that? Don’t the illegals pay taxes like the rest of us, so I’ve heard?

  8. One of Duke’s best pieces, Elena,

    I hope others thinks so too.

    Re: the Mississippi raid.

    The way workers are being divided against each other is exactly what elites want. If migrants were given the same rights as U.S. citizens everyone would be able to organize together, side by side.

  9. “Oh, so being legal would then require higher wages? Why is that? Don’t the illegals pay taxes like the rest of us, so I’ve heard?”

    Huh?

    Non sequitur.

  10. Lucky Duck

    Migrants are not U.S. Citizens and should not be given all of the rights accorded to citizens, that is the difference between being a citizen and not being one. If we give those rights to everyone else in the world, what’s the point of being a U S citizen?

  11. “The way workers are being divided against each other is exactly what elites want.”

    Yep. Divide and conquer.

  12. “Migrants are not U.S. Citizens and should not be given all of the rights accorded to citizens”

    No but if they work here, they shold be given basic work rights, legal protections, and safety.

  13. Lucky Duck

    Kgotthardt, I agree they should be treated in a humane manner and court decisions have granted them some legal protections (safety, pay etc.). So they are treated as you write.

  14. Marie

    Elena,
    Thanks for the information. I know families who have been here for more than 10 years waiting on their papers to be processed. I just talked with a family who finally got papers after 20 years. Can anyone believe that? We can invest billions in a war but can not invest the money to update our immigration process or hire staff to take care of the backlog of applications.

    The raid in Mississippi-I can not even comment on it! I am astounded. Talk about racial profiling. Yep, divide and conquer-the way of the elite.

  15. Rick Bentley

    Well, the number would be much more than 147 if the system were not totally broken and corrupt. Part of fixing the system is providing disincentive for ignoring our rules and laws.

  16. Rick Bentley

    “We can invest billions in a war but can not invest the money to update our immigration process or hire staff to take care of the backlog of applications. ”

    Because it’s a political football. Because whores like Obama and McCain spend more time pandering to Hispanic voting blocs than they do honestly addressing the issue.

  17. Wow, Rick. You might actually be more cynical than I am about politicians. But maybe not.

    Politicians seem to pander most to banks, big business and large lobbyists. They don’t have time to truly pander to particular ethnic groups to get what they want.

  18. Rick Bentley

    I agree that the banks and big lobbyists’ clients get precedence over ethnic groups. We the People settle for less every time. The real joke is the illusion that we have a choice with these two parties. Again, please reflect on the fact that in 2004 we had a choice between two Yale students one of whom had watched the other one masturbate.

    “Their wages would go up as well if the immigrants were given legal status.” No, not at all. All empirical evidence (to include polls of Mexican citizens) indicates that any type of Amnesty will results in an inflow of tens of millions MORE illegal immigrants. resulting in lower wages.

  19. NotGregLetiecq

    Rick, there is nothing whorish about upholding our nation’s founding principles of equality, justice, and opportunity. Nothing whorish about putting the best interest of the majority of Americans ahead of the bigotry and hysteria of a vocal but ignorant few.

    Pander to Hispanic voters?

    Why pander to ANY voters when you can pander to Oil Barons and War Profiteers who can in turn BANK ROLL entire Republican party campaigns? The War Industry. Right Wing Ideological Tycoons hope to continue corporate wellfare, War For Profit, and our addiction to oil, if only their campaign contributions can help buy the votes.

    McCain is neither decieved nor bigoted when it comes to the immigration issue. How pathetic and desperate, though, to call him a whore for THAT when his campaign is financed by War Profiteers and the Oil Baron Elite, and his top advisors are all slaves to War Profiteers and the Oil Baron Elite?

    Why call McCain a whore for not being decieved or bigoted when it comes to immigration when his top economic advisor is a banking industry lobbyist who engineered the home foreclosure crisis by deregulating the industry to maximize corporate profits at the expense of home owners and our national economy (and then calls us “whiners” for not being happy about it)?

    Why call McCain a whore for not being decieved or bigoted when it comes to immigration when his top foreign policy advisor is a BOUGHT-AND-PAID-FOR lobbyist working for the embattled nation of Georgia, putting Georgian interists ahead of America’s interests? No we are NOT all Georgians when it comes to America’s national interests.

    Why imply John McCain is “selling” policy favors in exchange for ethnic votes? How absurd! The past eight years have shown it’s so much easier to dupe the electorate using a small portion of the billions of dollars syphoned off the American worker and into tax free corporate pig troughs, if and only if the American people are apathetic and ill-informed to allow another four years of it.

  20. “Their wages would go up as well if the immigrants were given legal status.”

    Wages would go up if they were allowed to work here through employment agencies which are competitive. Illegal immigrants would have more choices about whom they work for. They aren’t so likely to work for the lowest bidders.

  21. Rick Bentley

    NGL – yes McCain is corrupt in that way as well.

  22. Rick Bentley

    NGL – yes McCain is corrupt in that way as well.

  23. Rick Bentley

    When McCain was one of the “Keating 5” scrapping to keep his Senate seat after documented corruption, and Obama was a young man doing hard drugs on the streets of NYC, who would have thought our choice in 2008 would be between these 2 clowns …

  24. info

    3 suspects in May shooting are illegal immigrants, feds say
    By Freeman Klopott
    Examiner Staff Writer 8/19/08

    Sebastian Cortes-Hernandez, Santos Ontiveros, and Jose Antonio Ontiveros are being held on an ICE detainer after they allegedly killed a man in Manassas . WASHINGTON – Federal officials have determined the three men accused of shooting and killing a Manassas man in May are illegal immigrants.
    One of those three, Sebastian Cortes-Hernandez, 24, also known as “Onion” and “Cebolla,” returned to the United States after being deported to Mexico in 2003.

    On May 31, Omar Florencio-Vazquez, 24, was at the Grant Avenue Shopping Center in Manassas with two of his brothers and a cousin when they spotted a group of 12 men they had been in a fight with two weeks earlier, court records show.

    Ruben Florencio-Vazquez testified during a preliminary hearing last week that the brothers were leaving to avoid a confrontation, but as they exited, Santos Ontiveros, 24, and Jose Antonio Ontiveros, 27, broke off from the group and attacked Omar. Santos allegedly punched him in the face, and Jose allegedly threatened him with a knife.

    Ruben said he used a stick to defend his brother, but that Cortes-Hernandez pulled out a handgun, fired four shots, and hit Omar in the back, chest and thigh. Omar died at the scene.

    All three men, Cortes-Hernandez and the two Ontiveroses, have been charged with first-degree murder, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer has been placed on each.

    Following the shooting, the three illegal immigrants disappeared and became the subjects of a national manhunt that led U.S. Marshals to Meriden , Conn. , where they were arrested.

    According to the Federation for Immigration Reform, a group that favors tight border control to stop illegal immigration, Meriden and the New Haven , Conn. , area have experienced a population boom fueled by immigrants flooding into the area. Since 2000 the population has climbed by 14,000, even as domestic-born residents have moved out. More than 90 percent of the growth has been fueled by immigrants, census records reviewed by FAIR show.

    The charges pending against the three illegals have been sent to a grand jury for review, and an indictment is expected in September, Prince William officials said.

  25. Rick Bentley

    Fry them, use their charred remains to fill potholes, send Mexico the bill for their apprehension and incarceration, and then figure out whether the other 9 involved in the fight are here legally or not. If there is any chance any are here legally but can have their status revoked, revoke it.

  26. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Wow Marie,

    Race had NOTHING to do with the raid in MS. The sooner that kind of excuse is removed from your vernacular the sooner some will take your comments seriously.

    Race has NOTHING to do with ANY ILLEGAL alien issue. I can not understand why the hispanics seem to think they have the market cornered on the ILLEGAL alien issue.

  27. Alanna

    Rick,
    We did a whole thread on the Immigration Gumball/Dumb Balls, which can be found here – http://www.antibvbl.net/index.php/2008/03/05/immigration-dumballs-for-immigration-gumballs/

    one of the bigger problems is their arbitrary start date for the red line in the immigration chart, if they moved it back to the end of WWII then the line would be even more dramatic and people like Anke, my grandparents, Corey’s wife etc… are all in the red portion. Are they the problem too?

  28. Mando

    Mackie said:

    “Apparently when the immigrants were taken into custody, some of the other workers clapped. Very interesting and very cunning on the part of the Bush Administration.”

    LOL! They were union employees. The bread and butter of the democrat party.

  29. Mando

    On the race issue, guess some of you didn’t read the article very well. Not all the illegal aliens were latino.

    You guys are priceless.

  30. Dime

    This artical makes it sound like people wishing to move in the US have a right that we must let them in, We don’t !!!

    Dime

  31. Mando

    From an article:

    “Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.”

    This is a great irony and presents a quandry for the democrats. Unions vs. “undocumented immigrants”. I guess they could unionize all the illegal aliens and send our economy further into a downward spiral.

    Our economy would be better off without either of them.

    Instead of importing the labor ship the jobs south. Problem fixed.

  32. Rick Bentley

    Thanks Alanna.

    The video gets at the core question, can we realistically do anything about world poverty through immigration? I submit to you that for every illegal alien who has a better life here, it’s at the cost of some American citizen.

    It’s one thing to let some people in, and accept them as countrymen. When the numbers are into tens of millions, my charitable impulses are off. Yes, everybody is somebody’s child or parent or future grandparent. That doesn’t mean we can naively make the world better by letting people migrate from continent to continent instead of working to build more progressive societies where they are.

  33. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Rick,

    I would venture to say more than one US citizens is affected by one ILLEGAL alien. Many are.

    Charity has to start at home. Once our house is taken care of, then we can worry about others. Enforce the law, fix the 14th and remove the job incentives.

  34. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Dime,

    That is the thought process of the ILLEGAL aliens. We made it here, now we DESERVE to be here. It is almost like, we paid our dues (coyote payments, traveling in terrible conditions and starting over), now we deserve to be here. Waving the Mexican flag and talking about taking over the southwest, doesn’t sound like they want to assimilate into their new country. It sounds to me like they want to bring it down to the level they left.

  35. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Mando,

    I am still trying to figure out how the hispanics think they have the market cornered on the ILLEGAL alien issue. Just as I can not figure out how the blacks think they have the market cornered on racism and discrimination.

    Targeting ILLEGAL aliens in raids is not racist, bigoted or any other word of the day. It is law enforcement officials doing a job they have sworn to do which is protect and serve.

  36. Mando

    Medic –

    It’s simply a fact that the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants come from Latin America. If we had a land border with China instead of Mexico I’m certain we’d have +20 million Chinese illegal aliens.

    Some people just like to muddy the water to avoid real solutions. It’s an effective tactic.

  37. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Alana,

    Did the people you mentioned in your post assimilate and become citizens? If so, then no they are not part of the problem. If not, then yes they are. The problem here is the ILLEGAL aliens are not wanting to assimilate, they want to make things as they are in the country from which they came. I have said it before, if the ILLEGAL aliens had just come across the border, assimilated and went on about their business, they probably wouldn’t have been noticed. However, they have brought attention to themselves with the reconquer the southwest mantra. This is the equivalent to kicking a dog lying on the porch. He is now pi$$ed and ready to bite (ICE raids). However, if they had not kicked the dog, he would be no wiser to what they were doing.

  38. /\/\3|)iç 64

    I agree Mando, but because those from Europe and the Pacific region have to fly, it makes it harder for them to get here. People can walk or float from Central America or Canada.

  39. /\/\3|)iç 64

    Mando,

    What did you think about the solution I put forth earlier?

  40. Moon-howler

    There is still that question about who is going to do the low skilled jobs when the standard for young people is a high school diploma. We have to have a way to legalize those workers who are going to do stoop work and other kinds of jobs Americans do not want to do.

    As for the 14th amendment, most amendments have unintended consequences. Look at the 26th amendment, for example. Who would have ever thought that giving 18 year olds the right to vote would have opened up so many cans of worms.

    I hope you all realize how difficult it is to ‘tweak’ an amendment. You need to repeal it or pass another amendment. There are only 27 of those bad boys now and we started out with 10, so in over 200 years we have only added 17. Good luck. I am still waiting for the ERA to pass. Glad I am not holding my breath.

  41. /\/\3|)iç 64

    In case you missed it:

    I have a plan:

    1) Close the borders
    2) Stop all immigration for 10 years (allow those already in the pipeline to continue the process)
    3) Give all those here ILLEGALLY 90 days to get their affairs in order and leave voluntarily. (NO AMNESTY IN ANY REGARD) No one is rewarded for jumping the fence or overstaying a visa.
    3a) If they do not decide to leave on their own and they are encountered, they are deported immediately with ALL family members. Property seized and auctioned off to help pay for the enforcement of the law.
    4) FIX the 14th amendment. It was not designed to give babies born here to ILLEGAL parents automatic citizenship.
    5) Fix the immigration laws (this is the reason to put a 10 year hold on immigration)
    6) Set a reasonable quota for ALL skill levels of workers
    7) Thoroughly test the e-verify system
    8) Develop a tracking program for guest workers that uses a credit card type of swiping mechanism. If they swipe in at work, we know where they are working. If they have overstayed their time, the employer is notified and ICE is called to deal with the worker.

    If this takes less than 10 years, then so be it. This will ensure we get a comprehensive immigration reform solution to the problems the country faces today. We have to make sure that all portions are enforced or this will not work.

  42. Mando

    @ Medic

    I like your proposal, but there’s a much simpler approach. Make it easier for companies that have a demand for cheap unskilled labor to go to the source of the supply. Otherwise, we the average American citizen are subsidizing the inevitable – SUPPLY WILL MEET DEMAND. And vice versa.

    There’s a stigma about “shipping jobs overseas” that politicians are cashing in on in spades. It’s a farce. Sure… we can keep those jobs here but we’re going to be importing the labor.

    Moon Howler said:

    “There is still that question about who is going to do the low skilled jobs when the standard for young people is a high school diploma. We have to have a way to legalize those workers who are going to do stoop work and other kinds of jobs Americans do not want to do.”

    The invisible hand of a free market will take care of this without any intervension. When politicians pretend to be economists we all suffer. If we can get their fingers out of the pie then we’ll all be better off.

  43. Moon-howler

    Medic,

    The 14th amendment cannot be fixed. That isn’t how it works. It says what is says. It either needs to be repealed or another amendment needs to be passed if you don’t like the current one. Easier said than done.

    Who does the work in the meantime, while we have the 10 year moritorium?

    As for credit cards–remember what happened to credit cards issued to some Katrina victims?

    What do you feel will be accomplished by giving everyone a 90 day get out of dodge order? I am not sure much of anything will be solved doing it that way.

  44. Mando

    Move the plants, factories, processing, etc. that require the cheap unskilled labor to Latin America, fix immigration quotas to fill the need of businesses that can’t or won’t relocate, and I think we’ll all be happy… Well most of us… some people you just can’t make happy…

    China is CASHING in on their supply of labor and are witnessing a miracle. There’s absolutely no reason Latin America couldn’t do the same.

  45. Mando

    “and other kinds of jobs Americans do not want to do.””

    This is another thing that gets me. It’s not about jobs Americans do not want to do, it’s jobs Americans SHOULDN’T be doing. Not in a elitist sense, but our economy and society has evolved from this. We’re better educated and equiped and are thus fortunate enough to fill the needs of more demanding enterprise.

    The factory lines and button pushing of yesteryear are a dying breed in the US and can be gobbled up by countries that REQUIRE that kind of business to fill the needs of it’s labor supply and thus get a toe-hold in the global economy.

  46. “Move the plants, factories, processing, etc. that require the cheap unskilled labor to Latin America,”

    Then we will be back to the fear that many already hold: America cannot support itself because we rely on other countries to produce FOR us (for example, China). We don’t want to be any more production dependent than we already are. We need to make our own things!

    If we want labor, then we need to do it correctly. Let people work but let’s know who they are, how much they are making, and how many taxes they are paying.

  47. Mando

    @ gkotthardt

    Bologney. If the world order totally collapsed and we had to turn back to an agrarian society we would do just that in quick order.

    If China decides they’re not going to sell us their rice, India is standing right behind them glad and ready to fill the need.

    It would be INSANE to refuse the consumer power weilded by the US.

  48. Mando

    @kgotthardt

    The corporate farmers which we HEAVILY subsidize appreciate your sentiment. But Asia and India are laughing at us as they educate themselves and pass us up in the global economy while we get swindled by fallacies fed to us by our politicians (bankrolled by those same corporate farmers) that tell us we’re all going to starve to death if we don’t keep these corporate farmers affloat. Oh yeah, and stop shipping American Jobs overseas!

  49. Mando,

    Your posts are taking on a shrill and desperately irrational tone.

    Here’s what to do. Run to the bathroom. Fill the bathtub with water and ice.

    Jump in.

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