After Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, proposing the ways to legalize an estimated 12 million illegal US residents, in June, the Bush administration is all set for a crackdown on illegal immigration even without the support of the Senate. The Bush administration has designed new measures (about 26) to crack down on illegal immigration. The latest measures, which the government can take within the boundaries of existing law, would raise fines ( up to 25%) for deliberately hiring illegal workers, reform current guest-worker programs and reinforce an electronic organism to authenticate workers’ legal status as well as an enhancement of border security forces. President Bush in a statement, after the release of the plan, asserted, Although the Congress has not addressed our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive reform legislation, my administration will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made. However, enforcing harder immigration rules have both good and bad effects on the US economy. While a crackdown on illegal immigrants would benefit, because the employers would be forced to raise wages to attract American workers, on the other hand, the loss of illegal immigrants would also stall progress, as undocumented workers do many jobs that only a few indigenous Americans will perform. A rampant crackdown on illegal immigrants will also hurt some industries, predominantly agriculture where more than half of workers are believed to be undocumented. As the presidential election are approaching closer, Illegal immigration is turning into a hot-button issue for most of the candidates, be they Republicans or Democrats, for immigration is going to play an important role in their campaign for the White house.
Apr
23
