S. 1033 sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) & Edward Kennedy (D-MA) H.R. 2330 sponsored by Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) & Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) offers a framework for evaluating immigration policy that centers on a two-part "middleclass test." Part One requires that: immigration policy should bolster–not undermine–the critical contribution that immigrants make to our economy as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers and consumers. Part Two holds that: immigration policy must strengthen the rights of immigrants in the workplace. To the extent that a proposed policy fulfills both parts of the test, we argue that it will help to strengthen and expand the American middle class, enhancing opportunities for all Americans to realize the American Dream. We assign legislation a letter grade based on how well it matches up to each of these objectives.

A complete explanation of the framework and rationale for each part of the test is fully laid out in "Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: A Primer for Policymakers and Advocates," available at www.drummajorinstitute.org.

Description
The Secure America & Orderly Immigration Act is a comprehensive immigration reform bill that sets up a temporary work visa program. After posting jobs in the US Jobs Bank and finding no qualified U.S. worker who is interested, employers could offer jobs to those with temporary immigration visas. Temporary visas would be available both to foreign residents with an interest in working in the U.S. and to undocumented immigrants already working in the U.S. without authorization (who must pay an extra fine in order to participate). Immigrants who apply for the visas must show that they have a job waiting in the U.S., pay a fee and pass medical and security checks. Visaholders are eligible to work in the U.S. for a total stay of six years. After that, they must either return home or apply for permanent residency. The bill also includes new border security initiatives, measures to reduce the backlog in green card applications and facilitate family reunification, new resources for hospitals and local governments to deal with immigrants and the formation of an electronic work authorization system.

Middle-Class Test Part One
IMMIGRATION POLICY SHOULD BOLSTER–NOT UNDERMINE– THE CRITICAL CONTRIBUTION THAT IMMIGRANTS MAKE TO OUR ECONOMY AS WORKERS, ENTREPRENEURS, TAXPAYERS AND CONSUMERS.

Grade: A

The American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants. The Secure America & Orderly Immigration Act would enable immigrants to continue contributing to the U.S. through its temporary worker visa programs. The number of temporary visas available would be flexible, allowing numbers of new temporary workers to increase or decrease, according to economic conditions. Temporary workers who have formed strong ties to the United States, including economic ties, would have the opportunity to apply for permanent residency. The bill also bolsters immigrants' economic contribution by requiring formerly undocumented workers to pay any back taxes owed in order to qualify for permanent status.

Middle-Class Test Part Two:
IMMIGRATION POLICY MUST STRENGTHEN THE RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE WORKPLACE.

Grade: C

When immigrants lack rights in the workplace, labor standards are driven down, and all working people have less opportunity to enter or remain part of the middle class. The Secure America & Orderly Immigration Act contains some measures to reinforce the workplace rights of immigrants, but as the bill is currently written, these safeguards do not go far enough. The bill would enhance the labor rights of current undocumented immigrants by enabling them to attain at least temporary legal status, meaning they would no longer have to be afraid that exercising their rights at work or demanding improved wages and working conditions would lead to immediate deportation. The bill guarantees temporary immigrant workers the same workplace rights as U.S. workers and, by bringing their employment out into the open, helps to ensure that these workplace regulations, like minimum wage laws, safety standards and the right organize a union, will be more consistently and effectively enforced. The bill would make it illegal to treat temporary immigrant workers as independent contractors, would ban hiring them to break strikes and would regulate the practice of recruiting workers abroad. It's significant that the new temporary visas would not bind immigrants to any one job, so that immigrant workers could leave an employer to seek a better opportunity elsewhere. These protections would make the workplace rights of currently undocumented immigrant workers stronger than they are today.

The workplace rights provisions are a good start, but they still leave immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation in ways that could significantly undermine their rights and thus threaten middle-class wages and working conditions for all workers. Immigrants are particularly susceptible to exploitation under this bill at key points in their U.S. work experience: when they are first being recruited to work in the United States and must compete with other workers for a limited number of visas; when they fear losing their jobs because it means losing legal status in the country after a period of unemployment; and when they are asking an employer to sponsor them for early green card eligibility. The opportunities for employers to exert excessive power over immigrant employees at these junctures has the potential to shape immigrants' entire U.S. work experience, rendering them unable to exercise their rights effectively and to advance in the workplace.

In addition, stronger mechanisms for enforcing all the bill's labor protections are needed, because the bill's weak administrative process carried out at the discretion of the already overburdened Department of Labor risks being insufficient to genuinely deter violations. Creating a more robust enforcement system and closing the loopholes that render temporary immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation at key junctures would enable this bill to genuinely strengthen immigrants' rights in the workplace, representing a gain for every American who is, or aspires to be, middle class.

Read Appendix I: A Legislative Analysis of The Comprehensive Enforcement & Immigration Reform Act
Read Appendix III: A Legislative Analysis of The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act