来源：《彭博商业周刊》
原文见刊日期：2022年2月21日
U.S. immigration policies should be guided by two basic principles. The first is that immigrants are indispensable to American innovation and long-term economic growth. The second is that laws to secure the country’s borders must be rigorously enforced. A system built on these commonsense ideas would promote economic dynamism, boost tax revenue, prevent population decline, and protect national security. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s approach to immigration — both legal and otherwise — has so far been hopelessly muddled. Fixing it should be a top priority.
美国的移民政策应该遵循两个基本原则。首先，移民对于美国的创新和长期经济增长是不可或缺的。第二，确保边境安全的法律必须严格执行。建立在这些常识性理念之上的体系将促进经济活力，增加税收，防止人口下降，并保护国家安全。不幸的是，到目前为止，拜登政府在移民问题上的做法——无论是合法移民还是非法移民——都是令人绝望的混乱。修复移民体系应该是首要任务。
Start with the legal immigration system, which is heavily weighted toward immigrants with family ties, who make up nearly 70% of those who receive permanent residence. Of the 1 million green cards awarded in 2019, fewer than 15% were for work-based reasons.
首先是合法移民制度，目前严重倾向于有家庭关系的移民，这些人占获得永久居留权的移民人数的近70%。在2019年颁发的100万张绿卡中，只有不到15%是出于工作原因得到的。
To correct this imbalance, the U.S. should adopt a points-based system, and give preferences to high-skilled immigrants. Those with specialized knowledge, outstanding language skills, and entrepreneurial promise, as well as foreign students who earn advanced degrees in the U.S., should receive highest priority.
为了纠正这种不平衡，美国应该采用计分制，并优先考虑高技能移民。那些拥有专业知识、优秀语言技能和创业前景的人，以及在美国获得高级学位的外国学生，应该获得最高优先权。
Legislation introduced by Democrats would give a small boost to the number of employment-based green cards the U.S. issues, but it doesn’t go far enough in establishing a workable skills-based system.
民主党提出的法案将小幅提高美国就业型绿卡的数量，但在建立一个可行的以技能为基础的移民体系方面还远远不够。
Of course, any expansion of legal immigration will be impossible without improvements in border security. Here, too, the administration’s approach has been haphazard at best.
当然，如果边境安全得不到改善，任何合法移民的扩张都是不可能的。在这方面，拜登政府的做法依旧混乱。
Attempted border crossings have reached record highs under Biden’s watch. To deal with the crisis, the administration has relied on a World War II-era provision called Title 42, which allows the government to curb immigration during a public-health emergency. Since the spring of 2020, the U.S. has expelled more than 1 million migrants from the border without allowing them to claim asylum.
在拜登密切关注下，越境未遂人数创下历史新高。为了应对这场危机，拜登政府依靠的是二战时期的一项名为“第42条”的条款，该条款允许政府在公共卫生紧急情况下限制移民。自2020年春季以来，美国已经驱逐了100多万移民，但没有允许他们申请庇护。
This approach might have made sense earlier in the pandemic, when overcrowded border facilities seemed like a significant public-health threat. Now it’s unnecessary and inhumane, given that many of those deported could be in danger in their home countries. And many will simply try again.
这种做法在疫情早期可能是有意义的，当时过度拥挤的边境设施似乎是一个重大的公共卫生威胁。现在，考虑到许多被驱逐出境的人在自己的国家可能处于危险之中，这是不必要的，也是不人道的。许多人只会再次尝试越境。
The administration has a more effective tool for managing this problem. The Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols requires those arrested at the border to remain in Mexico as they go through the asylum process. The program is flawed, with some applicants having to endure unsafe conditions while waiting for hearings. But it grants migrants legal representation and an opportunity to make their case in front of a U.S. immigration official. Bizarrely, rather than fixing this system, the administration is trying to rescind it in court while continuing to enforce Title 42. It should do the opposite.
政府有一个更有效的工具来处理这个问题。特朗普时代的移民保护协议要求那些在边境被捕的人在走庇护程序时留在墨西哥。该协议存在缺陷，一些申请人在等待听证会时不得不忍受不安全的境况。但它为移民提供了法律代表，并让他们有机会在美国移民官员面前陈述自己的理由。奇怪的是，拜登政府非但没有修改这一协议，反而试图在法庭上废除它，同时继续执行第42条。政府本应该做相反的事情。
Ending such incoherence from the administration is a necessary step toward a more orderly system — one that upholds American values and brings in the immigrants the U.S. needs.
结束政府的这种政策支离破碎是朝着一个更有秩序的体系迈出的必要一步，这个体系将维护美国的价值观，并引入美国需要的移民。