The United States is never going to stop the flood of illegal immigrants through its borders the way it's trying to do it now.

"We've tried enforcement and it's failed," economist Daniel T. Griswold told the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond yesterday.

To solve the illegal-immigration problem, America must recognize that the country needs more workers than it can supply itself, the think-tank expert says.

Migrants enter the country illegally because there are low-skilled jobs waiting for them to fill, said Griswold, who is with the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.

At the same time, the number of Americans who used to fill many of those jobs -- people without high school diplomas -- has declined by 4.6 million during the past decade as the typical U.S. worker grows older and better educated.

As many as 12 million people may be living illegally in the United States.

The U.S. immigration system simply does not offer enough channels for immigrants to enter the country legally and fill the gap between the demand for labor and the supply of workers, he said.

"So they come in illegally," Griswold said, though the idea of getting rid of them is unrealistic: "We're not going to be able to deport 12 million people."

Secure borders are, however, crucial, he said: "We've got to have border enforcement so terrorists and criminals can't come in."

A program enabling foreigners to work temporarily in this country would resolve the crisis, Griswold said, a provision notably missing from the U.S.' 1986 attempt to reform immigration.

That measure overlooked the fact that low-skilled workers play a vital and legitimate role in the American economy, he said.

If foreign-born workers are allowed to take a legal, safe and orderly path into the U.S., Griswold said, the number choosing the dangers and expenses of jumping the border will drop sharply. "These workers may be poorly educated," he said, "but they aren't dumb."

They should not be granted permanent legal status automatically, he said. Undocumented workers would have to pay fines and back taxes as part of their legalization.

But those penalties can't be so onerous, Griswold said, that millions of illegal workers decide it makes more sense for them to remain in the underground U.S. labor market.

Griswold spoke yesterday evening to about 70 people at the World Affairs Council program at the Richmond Marriott.

He directs Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.