Rethinking United States Immigration Policy: A Bottom-Up Approach Using Community Based Visas

Abstract

How could it be that the United States, the “Nation of Immigrants,” has failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform for nearly 35 years while many communities across the country face labor shortages, population stagnation, and demographic aging? This paper proceeds to answer this question through a mixed methods analysis on the case study of Iowa, a state that is experiencing labor shortages and growing demographic challenges, especially in its non-metropolitan areas. Despite facing widespread labor shortages in industries such as meat packing and processing, facing a rapidly aging demographic, and experiencing an overall decline in its rural areas, Iowa has also experienced significant Latino immigration starting in the 1990s in response to labor opportunities. Chapter One provides an overview of the development of modern US immigration policy with a particular focus on the implications of the termination of the Bracero Program, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. These landmark US immigration developments all form part of the historical process that created the “illegal” immigrant. While Congress became transfixed with enforcement against these individuals, policymakers loss sight of the fact that given the need for labor in the US and the desire among immigrants to pursue these opportunities that migration would to take place regardless of the roadblocks that US immigration policy established. This paper argues that policymakers should acknowledge these realities fueled by economic incentives and create policies that leverage the benefits of immigration to address state and local needs. Chapter Two examines the economic impacts of immigration. Specifically, the chapter looks at the debate in the literature regarding the impact of the Mariel Boatlift on economic conditions in Miami. A core takeaway from these studies is that the marielitos had little to no impact on the wages and unemployment of longtime Miami residents. This insight is crucial given that it undermines the claim that immigration adversely impacts non-advanced trained longtime American workers. To the contrary, the economic perspective demonstrates that immigrants bring benefits to the US especially when analyzing benefit through an intergenerational perspective. Chapter Three explores the impacts of immigration on non-metropolitan areas in the US. In the 1990s new immigrant gateways emerged in areas such as the Midwest in response to labor needs. Immigrants have helped rural communities address labor shortages and demographic challenges. Nonetheless, challenges such as rural ghettos are crucial issues to address. Chapter Four presents the case study on Iowa that employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the impact of immigration in the state. Through a difference-and-difference regression analysis, I found that immigration did not have a statistically significant impact on white economic performance but that it did help address demographic challenges by increasing the percent of minors and decreasing the percent of seniors in the population. The qualitative analysis focused on 7 cities in Iowa where I interviewed the mayors of these cities. These case studies ranged from large metropolitan cities to small rural towns, heterogeneous to homogeneous demographics, and different political inclinations. Chapter Five presents the Community Based Visa Program policy recommendations I developed which creates a local avenue to visa allocations in order to frame US immigration in a way that can help states and local communities address their economic and demographic challenges.