The Blue Card Initiative Foundation
The United States faces a complex reality: illegal immigration presents serious legal and societal burdens. Yet, millions of undocumented immigrants are productive workers and are deeply embedded in America’s economic engine and producing notable economic value for the United States. Undocumented immigrants are a large asset when their contributions are valued and harnessed in a mutually beneficial way.
Illegal immigration in America is a crisis that defied decades of political effort and continues to cost billions of dollars, while growing highly divisive. Focused on curbing illegal immigration and neglecting economic needs, most solutions have proven unfeasible, failing to solve this crisis and serve America’s common interests.
America must win this battle with an economically constructive solution that restores justice and lawful order while fueling economic growth. It needs a strategy that separates hype from reality, strengthens and protects the economy, while ending the damage caused by illegal immigration. It needs a novel approach that manages this crisis academically, creatively, and strategically to help today’s economy.
The Blue Card Initiative presents a novel approach, more feasible and acceptable to both political spectrums in the U.S - a comprehensive solution addressing the economic decline while ending the crisis. This Blue Card Initiative (“BCI”) is a balanced and economically sound solution that serves the country and treats the immigrants fairly. It fills a critical gap, resolves the crisis efficiently and fairly, strengthens the economy and turns a longstanding challenge into a strategic advantage. It offers a huge economic opportunity.
The Blue Card Initiative
The Blue Card Initiative Foundation (“BCIF”) is a nonprofit organization coordinating and funding bipartisan grassroots advocacy. As the current political climate in the U.S. complicates solutions coming from Congress, we believe that a grassroots movement with wide public support would entice more politicians to act in a bipartisan manner that fairly addresses the illegal immigration crisis in an economically sound manner.
BCIF seeks broad support from Congress, labor, religious, and business groups across the U.S., and plans to build national chapters for that purpose. We ask for and welcome your involvement.
For comments, support or contributions please contact:
Sam Makhlouf, Author, Founder, Chairman
sbmakhlouf@aol.com
or
Robert S Peters, Strategic Advisor, Editor
rspeters728@hotmail.com
The Problematic Edge
The presence of millions of illegal immigrants in the United States presents both a serious challenge and large advantage. The millions of low-wage undocumented immigrants and the trend of outsourcing manufacturing to low-cost countries have helped avert a potentially prolonged recession or full retrenchment of the U.S. economy over the last 40 years. But what is America’s future, if those two double-edged swords continue to impact us?
A nation that fails to enforce its laws is as doomed as one without laws. Tolerating unlawful residency erodes the rule of law, burdens public systems and sustains a costly shadow economy.
Over 11 million illegal immigrants reside in the Unites States, according to the American Immigration Council. Having entered the U.S. illegally, they violated U.S. immigration laws and burden society, consuming critical resources without officially contributing to the tax pool. Many remain without adequate assimilation, little education, or proper preventive healthcare. Some join gangs and commit crimes.
The annual cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is approximately $130 billion. Their impact varies by region and city. Border regions have higher, front-loaded, government spending on education, healthcare, and public services and tend to support aggressive control measures, while the tax benefit, if paid, is backloaded. Lacking long term security in the U.S., these immigrants transfer over $100 billion annually to their home countries to provide for family and retirement savings, further increasing the burden on the United States.nd welcome your involvement.
The Good Edge
Undocumented immigrant labor, though unlawful, has become deeply embedded in America’s economic survival and workforce stability.
The supply of low-wage labor by illegal immigrants has saved America’s economy. The rise of China, India, Taiwan, South Korea and others as strong production hubs in the global supply chain posed enormous challenges for the U.S., a problem counteracted only by the presence of low-wage workers in the U.S. Softening the blow, they serve an integral role in protecting the United States’ economy and lifestyle. Combined with lower-cost product components from low-cost countries, the input of low-wage workers in menial work drove many U.S. citizens towards higher skill work, increased disposable income and spending, and allowed many U.S. products to remain marketable in America and abroad.