Guest Opinion: Rick Cole: Councilmember Cole Calls for Federal Immigration Reform

At our District 2 Forum last week on the recent ICE raids and our community’s response, there was one thing everyone could agree on: our current immigration system is broken. It’s unsustainable to have an underclass of more than 10 million immigrants In America whose lack of legal status exposes them to routine economic exploitation.

As Americans have come to realize that mass deportations means uprooting their long-settled neighbors and co-workers, that policy is fast losing public support. A range of polls all show that a majority disapprove of the Trump Administration’s approach to immigration — and a recent reputable national poll pegs support for giving most immigrants a path to legal status at nearly two-thirds.

A Federal judge’s Temporary Restraining Order seems to have halted the street terror of heavily-armed, masked ICE agents grabbing people off our streets based on how they look. But that order is on appeal – and the Trump Administration remains committed to rounding up and expelling more than 10 million immigrants — and potentially even their adult and minor children who were born here.

That’s the story behind the $150 billion allocated in the “Big Beautiful Bill Act” to vastly expand immigration enforcement. This is far beyond any semblance of a connection to “violent criminals.” This would fund what Trump calls the “largest mass deportation in our history.”

This month, experts at UC Merced and the business-led Bay Area Council Economic Institute released a study on the potential economic impacts of such a disruptive policy. Their figures estimate that California’s more than 2.2 million undocumented residents make up fully 8% of our overall workforce. Their work and incomes account for nearly 9% of the State’s gross domestic product and contribute more than $23 billion annually in local, state, and federal taxes.

“Over a quarter of the state’s agricultural workforce is undocumented, and nearly two-thirds are immigrants of any status,” the study reports. “Without undocumented workers, GDP generated by California’s agriculture industry would contract by 14%. A mass deportation policy would also severely disrupt California’s construction industry, which already faces a major labor shortage and relies heavily on immigrant workers – 26% of whom are undocumented and 61% of whom are immigrants. Without undocumented workers, GDP generated by California’s construction industry would shrink by nearly 16%.”

Of course, these are simply mathematical projections – reality would be much messier. At a time of simmering inflationary pressures, disrupting our food supply and the service and restaurant industries (that also heavily rely on undocumented workers) would have immediate and severe impacts on many individual businesses and communities across California.

Locally, the efforts to rebuild Altadena would be dealt a heavy blow. In fact, the lead plaintiffs in the Federal lawsuit against ICE’s tactics are three workers who were seized in Pasadena on their way to their construction jobs in our devastated neighboring community.

If we can all agree the current situation is untenable (and if nearly two-thirds of Americans support a path to legal status instead of mass deportations), why can’t Congress pass a bipartisan reform measure – like the one signed by President Reagan back in 1986?

Unfortunately, the last forty years have seen fewer and fewer opportunities for real solutions to our national challenges instead of partisan polarization and gridlock. Last year, a bipartisan group of Senators hammered out a bill that had a realistic chance of passing – until candidate Donald Trump intervened. Senate Majority Leader strongly supported it and one Republican Senator said, “This proposal would have had almost unanimous Republican support if it weren’t for Donald Trump.”

Now two Latina Congressmembers, one Democratic and one Republican, are trying again. “We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals,” Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, the Republican said. “No more need to choose between amnesty or deportation. The Dignity bill is the answer!”

Eligible applicants would have to pass a criminal background check, pay taxes and submit $7,000 in restitution over the duration of the seven-year program. After completion, they could renew their status indefinitely to stay and work in the U.S. as long as they meet the criteria. Participants would not be eligible for federal benefits or entitlements.

“Congress has not passed comprehensive immigration reform in our country in nearly four decades,” the Democrat, Rep. Veronica Escobar, said. “This bill addresses long standing, long overdue legislation that will benefit our Dreamers, some of the most important young people in our country who by no choice of their own are here and know no other land than America. This will help American families who are married to an undocumented spouse who have long sought relief through the courts, through law. This will help millions and millions of people who are a critical component of the American economy.”

Reasonable people can disagree on whether this effort is the right answer. But clearly we need a better answer than the inhumane, divisive and disruptive first steps toward mass deportations unleashed locally by ICE.

Unless Congress finds that answer – one that gets signed into law — our neighbors will continue to live in fear, our community will continue to suffer and we will long regret writing a dark and dangerous chapter in our nation’s history.

Rick Cole is District 2 Councilmember for Pasadena. He also teaches public policy at Pepperdine University and Occidental College.