Proposals for new directions in immigration law are proliferating at the state and national levels. Based on interviews with The Times, here is a sampling of ideas political leaders and immigration experts are advancing:
VERNON M. BRIGGS, Cornell University labor economist, proposes making the level of legal immigration subject to U.S. economic conditions:
"Right now, our legal immigration system is inflexible: It admits 700,000 legal immigrants a year regardless of economic circumstance. In other countries, like Canada and Australia, the ceiling fluctuates with domestic economic conditions, and as unemployment goes up immigration goes down. I would like to see the level (here) set by the Department of Labor. . . .
"Under our current immigration system, 80% are admitted on the basis of family unification. . . . That ought to be eliminated . . . and shifted to a system where the Labor Department determines what occupations and what regions are in need of workers."
*
PETE WILSON, California governor, favors a tamper-proof ID and bolstering the Border Patrol:
"The law (against hiring illegal immigrants) doesn't mean much now, because it is virtually unenforceable. What's needed to make it enforceable is a tamper-proof card, which could also be used as eligibility for (government) benefits.
"The cost of bringing on additional Border Patrol officers runs somewhere between $23,000 and $30,000. That cost is far, far less for the return upon it than what the states are being compelled (to provide) in state tax dollars for services (to illegal immigrants) that are being mandated by the federal government."
*
ALAN NELSON, lobbyist, Federation for American Immigration Reform, favors programs to identify and remove illegal immigrants from the workplace. He also seeks more cooperation from Mexico:
"Congress needs to authorize state employer laws so you have complementary laws at the state level to back up the federal laws. . . . The main thrust of employer sanctions is not to penalize employers, it is to keep illegal aliens from working. What we need is more efforts (to ensure) that when illegal aliens are apprehended and removed from jobs . . . those jobs are filled by citizens or lawful aliens.
