{"id":433,"date":"2014-06-15T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html"},"modified":"2014-06-15T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T21:59:00","slug":"what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html","title":{"rendered":"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)<\/p>\n

Is legalization of illegal immigrants \u201camnesty\u201d or a \u201cpath to citizenship\u201d or something else?<\/p>\n

Think of \u201camnesty\u201d in any other context: \u00a0it doesn\u2019t mean extra privileges to violators, but simply removing penalties. <\/p>\n

A \u201clibrary amnesty\u201d like this one in Chicago<\/a> (the first hit in my google search) means that fines are erased for individuals who return books, regardless of how overdue they are. \u00a0But \u2014 they don\u2019t get to keep the books.<\/p>\n

A parking-fine amnesty like this one in Arlington Heights<\/a> doesn\u2019t clear one\u2019s record of parking fines; it simply makes it possible to pay the fine at the original amount, not the increased late-pay amount.<\/p>\n

The Carter amnesty of draft-dodgers<\/a>? \u00a0Yes, it waived penalties completely \u2014 but didn\u2019t provide any extra benefits to the dodgers. <\/p>\n

Which means that, in the case of illegal immigration, a \u201ctrue\u201d amnesty would be a limited action: \u00a0remove the penalties associated with overstaying visas\/entering illegally\/reentering after deportation, which stand at 3 years\u2019 or 10 years\u2019 ban from entering the country, depending on the length of the illegal stay. \u00a0This would enable people who are, but for this penalty, eligible to apply for some form of legal stay, to do so: \u00a0those married to American citizens, students eligible for a Student Visa, and the so-called \u201cbest and brightest\u201d DREAMers that the media likes to portray as ready to cure cancer could apply for H1-B visas. <\/p>\n

What about individuals eligible to apply for residency under some other category, but one with waiting lists \u2014 that is, family reunification visas for extended family rather than spouses and children? \u00a0Personally, I think it\u2019d be do-able to persuade even hard-liners to agree to provide residency permits which are exclusively limited to residency, not work eligibility. <\/p>\n

And I\u2019d really like to see enforcement-first and enforcement-only proponents, as a sign of good faith, support such a \u201ctrue amnesty.\u201d \u00a0They can even say, \u201cI support a real amnesty. \u00a0Our opponents support mass legalization.\u201d \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Of course, this isn\u2019t the complete answer. \u00a0Like the majority of Americans, I\u2019d be fine with a legalization program only as the final component of a program of real, meaningful border security, workplace enforcement, and actions against identity theft\/false IDs and under-the-table work. \u00a0And, separate from this, we need better decisions about the number and type of immigrants we admit each year \u2014 both with a eye to the question of how immigration fits into the overall rate of population growth, and what sort of balance between highly- and poorly-educated immigrants is best for our country in the long run.<\/p>\n

Having said this, is a \u201ctrue amnesty\u201d politically feasible?<\/p>\n

According to this Daily Caller article <\/a>from back in March,<\/p>\n

Representatives Steve Pearce (R-NM) and David Valadao (R-CA) have introduced a bill with Representative Beto O\u2019Rourke (D-TX) and five other Democrats that would exempt immediate family members of U.S. citizens from the bars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And according to this Cato piece from April<\/a>, even Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, would support removing these 3\/10 year bans. <\/p>\n

What happened to this bill? \u00a0I can\u2019t figure this out, actually. \u00a0Presumably Democrats aren\u2019t pursuing it because they want the whole, mass legalization, not a partial one. \u00a0What about the GOP? \u00a0Don\u2019t know. \u00a0Are there political\/procedural risks, ways in which this bill could be a fist step towards machinations that can\u2019t be allowed to happen?<\/p>\n

(Note: \u00a0this is, partly, a repeat and rephrasing of something I wrote back in the fall<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.) Is legalization of illegal immigrants \u201camnesty\u201d or a \u201cpath to citizenship\u201d or something else? Think of \u201camnesty\u201d in any other context: \u00a0it doesn\u2019t mean extra privileges to violators, but simply removing penalties. A \u201clibrary amnesty\u201d like this one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants "amnesty" or a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants "amnesty" or a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html\",\"name\":\"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants \\\"amnesty\\\" or a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like","description":"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants \"amnesty\" or a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like","og_description":"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants \"amnesty\" or a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html","name":"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-15T21:59:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"(This comes out of comments to another post, but I wanted to separate this into another discussion.)Is legalization of illegal immigrants \"amnesty\" or a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/06\/what-a-true-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants-would-look-like.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What a true amnesty for illegal immigrants would look like"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}