Creation of a guest-worker program would actually decrease the number of Mexican migrant workers in the United States, according to Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff.
In an interview with The Examiner, Chertoff explained “a weird, perverse result of not having a guest-worker program: You actually create a larger population of illegal migrants who are staying in the country.”
That’s because seasonal migrant workers are finding it increasingly difficult to cross back and forth across the border and therefore are staying in the United States year-round to avoid risk of capture, Chertoff said.
“They want to come here, work six or seven months and then go home again to their families,” he said. “And if they know they can go home and come back, they’re not goingto sit here and consume services for 12 months. They’re going to go back home with their money.”
But a gradual increase in border security in recent years has altered that calculation for many illegals.
“What happens now is that people are quote, unquote stuck,” Chertoff said. “So ironically, they start to put down roots and build their lives here, because they feel if they go back they’re not going to be able to come back again.
“So I actually think if we get a properly constructed temporary worker program, you’ll find that a significant number of people really choose only to come to work on a seasonal basis. And that might curiously have the result of automatically reducing the population that is staying here.”
Although Chertoff is aggressively beefing up border security with National Guard troops, fences, motion sensors and even satellite tracking, he is convinced that such measures can only slow the flow of aliens.
“Deterrence is not going to work here, because a person who’s willing to cross the desert with their child and risk their life is not going to be deterred,” he said. “They’re just going to try again and again and again.
“And if all we do is try to put boots on the ground and sensors and satellites, it’s like trying to stem a raging river. You’re going to wind up building the virtual wall higher and higher and higher, and the water’s going find its way around.”
In other words, Mexicans will immigrate illegally by sea or by traveling first to Canada. This could be prevented, Chertoff said, through a guest-worker program that keeps track of the Mexicans.
“If you can channel some of that raging water into something you can regulate — background check the people, give them cards, and know what they’re doing — then you relieve a lot of that pressure,” he said. “Then you can focus on drug dealers, criminals, terrorists — people we don’t want comingacross.”
House Republicans have passed a border security bill and are resisting a Senate version that includes a guest-worker program. But Chertoff said such resistance will end up hurting the Border Patrol.
“If we don’t get a temporary worker program, it’s going to get harder and harder for my guys because that flow is going to continue to come,” he said. “And those people who might otherwise go back are going to continue to stay.”
Four weeks after White House Press Secretary Tony Snow angered conservatives by comparing illegal immigration to a traffic ticket, Chertoff compared it to tax evasion.
“People do commit crimes,” he said. “I mean, take taxes. People sometimes don’t pay their taxes. They get a civil penalty. And then after that, it’s considered they’ve paid their debt and then they continue to enjoy the rest of their privileges of living in this country.”
Although a guestworker program would grant legal status to illegal immigrants, Chertoff emphasized that the immigrants would have to pay fines and wait years for citizenship.
“I’ve been a prosecutor most of my professional life, and I don’t like the idea of people getting away with something,” he said. “On the other hand, I also understand there’s a practical reality and if we find an appropriate punishment and an appropriate penalty, then I think we have made the point that there is a consequence for violating the law.”
