Observing the immigration reform debate, one might get the idea that the biggest problem with our current immigration system is that there are not enough lines for people to queue up in.
The president and the Senate Gang of Eight want illegal aliens to go to “the back of the line” as they embark on their “pathway to citizenship.” Not the back of the line that people who obey our immigration laws wait in. Amnesty proponents want to create a new line here in this country for illegal aliens to go to the back of.
Business interests also want more lines. They want additional lines for guest workers of just about every conceivable skill level. The problem is that another core constituency in the amnesty camp is organized labor. Organized labor hates guest worker programs. Guest workers’ (ostensibly) temporary status presents obstacles to unionizing them.
So business and labor leaders put their heads together and came up with a solution. Yes, you guessed it, another new line!
Under an agreement in principle, business would get new, or at least bigger, lines of guest workers. Except that these “guest workers” would eventually morph into immigrants – kind of like caterpillars turning into butterflies.
Business interests would get to bring in more foreign workers. After a few years the guest workers could become permanent immigrants (who could then get in line to join a union) and get on the pathway (or perhaps a newly created pathway) to citizenship. Business interests would then get to bring in more foreign workers to replace the ones who moved on to the citizenship pathway.
Of course, with all the new lines and pathways, we’ll probably need a new line for foreign workers with special skills in “line and pathway development,” and traffic cops to direct everyone to the right line or pathway.