Local opinion: Immigrants are key to Southern Arizona’s economy

In the first 100 days, the Trump administration’s policies created an economic crisis for Southern Arizona — and Representative Juan Ciscomani has done nothing to push back against a White House agenda that threatens to crater the economy of his own district.

These harmful policies are also poised to deliver a serious blow to the University of Arizona, one of the top public research institutions in the world. The university is home to highly ranked programs in space sciences, water, cancer research, earth sciences, and more. International enrollment is vital to the success of these programs and to the broader vitality of the university.

We are watching a potential brain drain unfold in real time, as the administration wages an all-out assault on higher education and key federal health agencies — many of which conduct life-saving research funded by the National Institutes of Health. The sweeping revocation of thousands of student visas has created a serious branding problem for U.S. institutions, weakening their ability to attract the world’s brightest students.

Meanwhile, the ramp-up in immigration enforcement and the deployment of U.S. military personnel to the border will only make matters worse for employers across the service and labor industries — especially in construction, hospitality, and agriculture. The House GOP has proposed an unprecedented $175 billion for immigration and border enforcement.

There’s a better way forward — one that balances border security with economic pragmatism. We need smart investments that meet our national security needs while protecting the undocumented workers who contribute to our economy. We must also expand legal immigration pathways and modernize our outdated system.

There is no doubt the U.S. must revolutionize its border infrastructure. That means focusing our limited resources on modern technologies to detect criminal activity, staffing more customs agents at ports of entry, and ensuring a fair, efficient process for asylum seekers. These reforms can and should be implemented in a more cost-effective manner. Simply throwing billions at enforcement while ignoring the need for expanded legal pathways will not solve our immigration challenges.

At the same time, Republicans are proposing sweeping cuts to programs that benefit everyday Americans — Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, and more. Even veterans are under threat: the GOP-backed proposal to slash 83,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs is not only shortsighted but deeply disrespectful to those who have served our country.

These cuts will not improve the lives of Southern Arizona’s working-class families. Instead, they will deepen fears that people’s livelihoods are under attack, and they will cause many valued members of our communities to disappear.

As an immigration attorney with 20 years of experience, I’ve heard from hundreds of local business owners. Many are desperate to hire foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans won’t take, or to help their undocumented employees pursue a path to citizenship. But they’re stuck — blocked by a legal immigration system that offers few options and fewer solutions. Our system is broken, and it’s time for a comprehensive overhaul.

On a recent visit to Washington, D.C., I joined members of a national immigration lawyers’ association in meetings with several Arizona congressional offices, including Rep. Ciscomani’s. We asked what plans they had to fix our dysfunctional immigration system. Their answer? Silence. One after another, Republican offices told us there was no “appetite” for reform — only for building a wall, arresting hardworking taxpayers, and deporting as many people as possible.

Policies like these are not only cruel, but they are also economically catastrophic.

Consider this: the American Immigration Council recently estimated that a mass deportation regime in which just 20% of undocumented immigrants “self-deport” would still cost U.S. taxpayers $88 billion annually, totaling nearly $968 billion over a decade.

How does that make any fiscal sense? Why is there always money for militarized immigration enforcement, but not for health care, food assistance, or veterans’ services?

The next 100 days will be a litmus test: will these policies spark a backlash against the Trump agenda? And more importantly, will Rep. Ciscomani finally raise his voice on behalf of his constituents?

Time will tell.