FINANCE

Illegal Immigration Another Symptom of Our Failed Policies

For the last two decades we have seen millions of immigrants come to our nation, our solution has been to deport them to other countries. Since President Obama was elected he has deported more illegal immigrants than any previous president. Last year alone, our government deported over 400,000 immigrants back to their home countries, often back to lives of poverty or homelessness. Most people in the U.S. know that immigration is a problem in the U.S. and Congress has sworn to act on it.
Washington however, has largely been at a standstill for years. Our current Congress is the least productive in history, with a record low approval rating. It is difficult to see this changing anytime soon, but there are signs that Congressional leadership may be ready to move on immigration reform soon. Immigration reform is crucial, but it addresses only the problem and not the cause. Why are so many immigrants coming to this country when our economic prospects are dismal?
While the quest to pass immigration reform is noble, it does not address the original cause of our problem. Rates of illegal immigration were relatively small until after the passage of NAFTA, which decimated family farming in Mexico and sent millions of individuals desperate for employment into the United States. Fixing our immigration policy may help those already here, and address some of the systemic problems in dealing with immigrants, but it is not a comprehensive enough solution to truly fix the problem.
Our government is myopic on the immigration issue, much as they are on other issues. So many problems in our country can be traced back to the economy, and so many problems in our economy can be traced back to our failed trade policies.
Our so-called “free trade” agreements have caused issues that have rippled through all segments of our society, yet our politicians refuse to address them. Instead they focus on spending and the debt, while most of our economic problems stem back from an unstable economy which has been devastated by failed “free trade” policies.
There are many problems in our country that are difficult to solve, but trade policy is not one of them. We must remove ourselves from these binding, failed agreements and go back to how we used to operate. When we worried about American industry more than building good will through a global economy, we and many other countries were much better off. Immigration reform is great, but it is only a small piece of the puzzle.
VIMAL SINGH
PGDM 1ST