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The Conclusions and Recommendations of the Jordan Commission
The Jordan Commission concluded that for both efficiency and equity reasons major changes were required if prevailing immigration policy was to become congruent with the national interest. Adults without a high school education and those with only a high school diploma consistently have the highest levels of unemployment and the highest incidences of poverty. Almost two-thirds of the adult foreign-born population has less than a high school education or only a high school diploma. Unfortunately, almost half the adult population of the United States has these same low levels of educational attainment. Except where there is “a compelling national interest” to do so (i.e., the admission of “immediate family members” such as spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens as well those of refugees), the Commission concluded that it makes no sense for economic efficiency reasons to add to this pool by admitting other would-be adult immigrants to this large low-skilled labor pool. Likewise, equity considerations also require that “a higher level of job protections should be made available to the most vulnerable in our society” [Commission (1995), p.8]. Since so many of the adult immigrant population are poorly educated, it is the poorly educated and unskilled citizen and permanent resident segment of the nation’s work force who bear the brunt of the “unfair competition” of the existing immigration admission system and its massive abuse by illegal immigrants.
Accordingly, with respect to the legal immigration system, the Commission concluded that there is the need for “a significant redefinition” of admission priorities and a reallocation of the existing admission numbers [Commission (1997, p. XVII]. The Commission concluded that the present legal admission system be “shifted away from the extended family and toward the nuclear family and away from the unskilled and toward the higher-skilled immigrant” [Commission (1997), p. XVII]. To accomplish these changes, the Commission recommended the elimination of the existing family-based admission categories for adult unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; for adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; for adult, unmarried sons and daughters of legal permanent aliens; and for adult brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.
As for the employment-based admissions, the Commission recommended “the elimination of the admission category of unskilled workers” because the country already has a vast surplus of unskilled workers. In the same vein, the Commission also recommended the elimination of the diversity admission category (which only requires that the 50,000 persons who are selected each year by a lottery application process be chosen from a list of foreign countries with a low level of immigration to the United States in the preceding 5 years and that the applicant have at least a high school diploma).
As a consequence of all of these proposed changes, the Commission recommended that a “modest reduction in the level of immigration” be made to “about 550,000 per year” (or by about 30 percent below the then-existing ceiling in 1997 which remains the current ceiling in 2009) [Commission (1997, p. XIX].
With respect to illegal immigration, the Commission acknowledged that “illegal immigration continues to be a problem.” It recommended the enactment of a “comprehensive strategy” based on enhanced border management to prevent illegal entries; improved worksite enforcement of the ban on employment of illegal immigrants; and speedy removal of those illegal immigrants apprehended within the country [Commission (1997), p.103]. In passing, it is worth noting that there is no mention by the Commission of any need for another amnesty (or “pathway to citizenship”) for those illegal immigrants currently living and/or working in the country as being part of this “comprehensive strategy.”
The Commission also stated its adamant opposition “to the implementation of a large-scale” guest worker program for lesser-skilled and unskilled workers” [Commission (1997), p.94].
And lastly, the Jordan Commission articulated the standard that “a credible” immigration policy must meet if it is to truly serve the national interest: “people who should get in do get in; people who should not get in are kept out; and people who are judged deportable are required to leave” [Commission (1997, p.59]. It cannot be said any better.
References:
Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. (2003)
Mass Immigration and the National Interest: Policy Directions for the New Century.
(Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, Inc).
National Research Council. (1997)
The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration.
(Washington, DC: The National Academy Press).
Commission on Immigration Reform, U.S. (1995)
Legal Immigration: Setting Priorities.
(Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform).
Commission on Immigration Reform, U.S. (1997)
Becoming an American: Immigration and Immigrant Policy.
(Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform) [Final Report to Congress].
About PFIR
Institute for Sound Public Policy is a volunteer 501(c)(3) citizens organization. Our goals are to educate the public on the problems created by current U.S. immigration policies and to promote legislation to correct them.
It is our position that immigration policy should consider and mitigate the effect of immigration on overall U.S. population and population growth, domestic water and energy supplies, open space and preservation of biodiversity, the emission of greenhouse gasses from the United States, the working conditions and wages of both immigrants and native born workers, and should limit and mitigate the economic, social, and cultural impact of immigration.
The goal is to focus public attention on the unintended consequences of immigration policy.
IFSPP favors policies of economic development assistance, including population assistance, to developing countries to lessen the “push” factors of poverty and unemployment that drive emigration from those countries.
We oppose broad amnesties for undocumented aliens in the United States because of the impact such amnesties have had in the past on attitudes toward rule of law and the increases in illegal immigration that have followed previous amnesties, as foreign nationals attempt to arrive in time to be included in the next amnesty.
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