The same reasoning should apply to policy decisions. Unfortunately, the current immigration conversation suggests that political considerations trump moral ones. Word play substitutes for wisdom. Symbols smother substance.
Debate rages not over right and wrong but over labels such as "illegal," "undocumented," "amnesty" and "earned adjustment." This has impeded the free flow of information and an informed dialogue.
Last Tuesday morning behind the Utah Capitol, 11 students and two faculty mentors comprising the University of Utah Honors Think Tank on Immigration released a factual guide, "Immigration in Context: A Resource Guide for Utah," in the hope of adding to, expanding and informing the immigration debate for legislators, schools and state residents. Most important, the group did not take a specific stand on immigration.
Resolving the immigration challenge requires dealing with the approximately 12 million people living here in violation of civil immigration law. Pew Hispanic Center surveys from this year and last show that about 60 percent of American voters favor immigration status for undocumented workers who have lived here for more than two years, paid taxes and passed a security check.
Results and opinions vary, depending on whether workers are labeled "illegal" or "undocumented." Should undocumented workers be granted "amnesty"? Is "earned adjustment" a more acceptable term? Words and labels matter.
The think tank thought it important "to remind the reader that [immigration] affects real people." Perhaps the best label for those real people is "human being," a category open to all regardless of their nationality or immigration status.
Utah's undocumented population, estimated to number about 100,000, has grown over the past 15 years, which, not coincidentally, has been a period of robust economic expansion and projects including significant road building, major construction and the 2002 Winter Olympics. Undocumented workers performed much of the difficult labor for those projects. Those workers deserve consideration.
Utah's current job growth rate of 4.5 percent, an unemployment rate of 2.4 percent, demographic trends and economic expectations indicate the state will continue to rely on net migration of workers. Immigration reforms that increase efficiencies and better match law to reality surely would benefit Utah economically.
Still, other costs and benefits merit consideration. Much is made of crime among the undocumented, and recent stories have grabbed headlines. Nevertheless, it is inescapable that the undocumented are many times more likely to be victims of crimes than perpetrators. Indeed, the undocumented have as much interest as the documented in keeping the community safe.
Human beings should work together for that end.
The effects of immigration are unevenly felt. Immigrant labor may fill a business need and bring about lower prices for consumers while subjecting some workers to increased competition for jobs. Wise policymakers might address this through improved and more widely accessible worker-training programs.
The current immigration system is broken. While immigration reform will not please all people, reform is necessary. Twelve million people are not going to disappear.
The costs and benefits of immigration elude easy quantification, but both merit examination. Society needs to move toward an informed, honest and collaborative debate.
Congress ought to press forward with immigration reform that enhances individual effort for maximal societal benefit a moral decision that respects the dignity of every human being.
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MARK ALVAREZ is a Salt Lake City attorney.
