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The United States is currently experiencing one of the biggest waves of immigration in its history. According to Gallup, Americans generally agree that immigration is a good thing for the country. This attitude crosses party lines, and is shared by Republicans and Democrats alike. In polls from Fox News and Pew, Americans also express support for programs that provide unauthorized immigrants an easier path to legal work status or even citizenship. However, many are frustrated by the numbers of people who enter the country illegally and firmly believe that our immigration policy is in serious need of an overhaul in order to guarantee fairness for native-born residents and those who are here or trying to come here legally. They also worry that lax enforcement and ineffective laws may affect our safety. Given the economy, many argue that we just don’t have the capacity to admit more people–authorized or not. Budgets are strained, unemployment is high, job creation has leveled off, and states are laying off workers. Many worry that the country can’t afford to absorb more people looking for jobs. It is, of course, important to remember as we consider immigration reform and its tradeoffs that the issue concerns real people, the vast majority of whom come to this country for many legitimate and positive reasons– a better life, freedom from persecution, a good education, and a trustworthy legal system among them.

For the past decade, Congress has been gridlocked and unable to reform immigration in any substantial or workable way, instead repeatedly trying and failing to implement significant change. The legislature has taken up comprehensive immigration reform bills, including, recently, the DREAM Act, which would provide conditional permanent residency to some categories of unauthorized residents. However, these have never made it to see a president’s signature, often due to partisan bickering. In fact, pretty much the only bipartisan immigration reform success over the past decade was the Secure Fence Act, which led to the controversial construction of a 700-mile fence along the 2000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. President Obama recently issued an executive order halting deportation and granting work permits for certain unauthorized immigrants under the age of thirty who were brought to the United States as children, but this could easily be undone by a change of leadership. In place of comprehensive reform, we have a patchwork of laws, including a number enacted piecemeal by states, such as beefing up border security, enacting tougher sanctions for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, or making it a crime for immigrants to not carry immigration papers. While some of these changes seem to be reducing the number of people who enter the country without permission or overstay tourist or student visas, some measures are also controversial, and their effectiveness is in dispute. Meanwhile, Americans are frustrated by this impasse and eager for change, with many viewing our current immigration policy as broken and antiquated. In a 2010 CBS News/ New York Times poll, half of Americans said current immigration policy needs to be completely rebuilt, and another 41 percent supported fundamental changes to the system. But before we can build common ground on how to reform our immigration system, we must first understand the complexities of the issue and disentangle fact from fiction.

There are currently about 38 million immigrants living in the U.S., and nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born. Just over 1 million individuals obtained legal permanent resident status in 2011. Immigrants enter the country legally for a variety of reasons. The vast majority of these individuals enter the country to reunite with family members. Others enter as refugees or due to their employment skills. A small number enter through a lottery system, and others enter on temporary work or student visas. An estimated two thirds of current immigrants are legal. The remaining third or so – approximately 11.5 million individuals – either entered the country illegally or overstayed legal temporary visas. While unauthorized immigration has tripled since 1990, after a peak in 2007, it has slowed in recent years. The Pew Hispanic Center suggests that this may be due mostly to a decrease in immigration from Mexico. It’s possible that some reform measures–sanctions for employers, increased border patrol–may have contributed to this decrease. Other factors, such as a high unemployment rate in the U.S. and changes in economic conditions in home countries, may also deter individuals from entering the country illegally. Here are some other important key facts about immigration:

• More than half of immigrants settle in just four “gateway” states: California, Florida, New York and Texas, meaning immigration’s effect on the nation’s social and economic fabric varies widely. Increasingly, however, immigrants are moving to areas of the country with very little history of immigration.
• Nearly 16 percent of U.S. workers are foreign born. Unauthorized immigrants made up 5.2 percent of the nation’s labor force in March 2010.
• Major employers, especially those in technology fields, repeatedly ask for the country to permit larger numbers of highly-skilled foreign-born workers with specific skills.
• More than 11 percent of immigrants have advanced degrees–slightly more than native-born Americans. On the other hand, around 30 percent of immigrants have less than a high school diploma–nearly four times the same figure for native-born Americans.
• Immigrants are 30 percent more likely than native-born Americans to form a new business, and three times more likely to file patents.
• A 2010 study suggested that immigrants cost the health care system less per person than native-born citizens. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act excludes unauthorized immigrants from federal coverage, and provides limited coverage to authorized immigrants.

Does the U.S. economy benefit from the talents and spending power of immigrants? Do immigrants take jobs away from citizens, or does immigration actually create jobs? What benefits should authorized immigrants receive once they’re here? When it comes to unauthorized immigration, the economic issues revolve mainly around whether unauthorized workers bring down wages for American workers by giving employers a steady stream of people who will accept very low wages and poor working conditions. Many Americans also argue that individuals here illegally are using government benefits, which costs taxpayers money and could strain tight budgets. Most experts argue that, overall, immigration is a boon to the economy. Immigrants–authorized or not–aren’t only seeking jobs or using benefits; they’re also consuming, producing, innovating and, often even in the case of unauthorized immigrants, paying taxes. The National Research Council found in 1997 that immigrants add up to $10 billion to the economy each year. From a national perspective, there are pluses to having a large, flexible work force and younger immigrants to offset an aging population. Most research suggests that the negative impact of immigration on the job market is small and, often, temporary. Many also argue that lower-skilled immigrant workers are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want, and there’s evidence this may be the case. Furthermore, high-skilled immigrants have made vast contributions to business and science–they’ve helped launch Yahoo!, Google and eBay, and they’ve given us the theory of relativity. On the other hand, there are studies that suggest that immigration does indeed hurt lower-skilled, less-educated native-born workers and could potentially drive down their wages, up to as much as 4 percent. The impact of immigration on high-skilled workers is also not very well researched, and it’s unclear if unintended consequences exist. What about budgetary strain? Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found that taxes paid by immigrants–both authorized and unauthorized– exceed the costs of services they use. On the other hand, budgetary costs aren’t equal across states and local governments. Some states with concentrated high immigration, like California, New Mexico and Arizona, bear a heavier burden of costs that may take a while to make back–or may never be recovered at all.

The immigration debate goes far beyond economics. Many Americans hold deep-seated concerns over considerations around culture and safety. As immigrants more and more move to parts of the country with very little history of immigration, will they join the American mainstream? Will they encounter discrimination or animosity? Studies show that the majority of immigrants in the U.S. have been here for a decade, and the longer immigrants reside in the U.S., the more likely they are to own a home and learn English. In a 2009 study from Public Agenda, immigrants themselves reported that, for them, learning English and pursuing citizenship are practical steps toward fitting in and getting a job. More than three- quarters said it took fewer than 5 years to “feel comfortable here and part of the community.” Nearly half said it took fewer than two. For many, unauthorized immigration also raises questions about national security and whether terrorists and criminals might take advantage of the easy access and lax laws. Others meanwhile worry that an overemphasis on such issues could lead to racial profiling or a curtailing of civil liberties.

While Americans share a general consensus that the current immigration system is broken, they lack common ground on how to move forward. Meanwhile, politicians tend to play to the extremes on this issue, because it’s the hard core believers on each side who are the most vocal. Such a strategy can only lead to further stalemate. As part of breaking out of this cycle of gridlock, the nation’s citizens have a responsibility. They will need to face up to the tradeoffs inherent in immigration reform, weigh the choices and judge: what is our most workable pathway to a sustainable solution?

Our immigration system is unsustainable. With about 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States and over 300,000 arriving each year, the current system undercuts American workers and risks allowing dangerous criminals and terrorists into the U.S. It’s also just wrong to tolerate the widespread breaking of the law. It’s economically unfeasible—and logistically impossible—to round up 11.5 million individuals and deport them. We should instead strengthen and strictly enforce current laws, thereby encouraging unauthorized immigrants to leave of their own accord as it becomes more difficult to make a living. Meanwhile, we should reduce levels of legal immigration to make sure employment opportunities are going to the millions of Americans currently out of work.

This should be done by:

• Employing more Border Patrol agents, building high-tech barriers along the border and making unauthorized immigration a felony.
• Pursuing and punishing employers who hire undocumented workers and requiring that they check the status of all new and current workers in a government database. Employers who do not fire workers without valid Social Security numbers should face very serious fines.
• Requiring that unauthorized immigrants already here pay stiff fines, learn English and apply for citizenship. If they are unwilling to do this, they should be deported. We cannot round up and deport 11.5 million people, but we can make sure that those who stay here have a genuine commitment to this country.
• Giving notice that all future visa violators and other illegal immigrants will be prosecuted and deported.
• Reducing the level of legal immigration until we get a better handle on its impact on the economy or until the economy improves substantially.

Immigrants have contributed enormously to our nation’s economy, which simply won’t function well without them. Almost a fifth of U.S. workers are foreign born. Immigrants not only bring a diverse set of skills to the workforce; they are also entrepreneurs that start companies (and employ Americans), inventors and innovators, and powerful consumers. The spending power of Hispanic Americans alone, 40 percent of whom are born outside the U.S., is projected to top $1.5 trillion in 2015. We should harness this potential while also focusing on adjusting the system to the needs of our economy, bringing in the people who can help us most. Workforce needs should drive who we let in, how many, and for how long. We should also provide the means for those unauthorized individuals who have been contributing to our nation’s economy to do so legally.

This should be done by:

• Creating a guest worker program, so that employers who need agricultural and other low-skilled workers can bring them into the U.S. in a legal, but temporary, way.
• Adjusting the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country annually to fit the existing job market. Set levels of legal immigration for both low- and high-skilled workers that meet our demand for labor, and then enforce them at the border and the worksite. The number would be increased or decreased each year depending on the jobs available.
• Bringing in more highly-skilled science and technology workers, as long as employers say they need them. Our schools are just not producing enough people who are prepared and want to go into these fields, so these immigrants would give our economy a competitive edge.
• Providing green cards for top foreign graduate students at U.S. colleges and a visa specifically for entrepreneurs.

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud to be citizens of a country where so many people want to live. Our whole society benefits from having a human policy that recognizes the vast majority of unauthorized workers have become valued members of our culture and economy. Plus, the country basically allowed illegal entry for decades. To suddenly pull the rug out from under people who have built good lives here is just wrong. We should offer those unauthorized immigrants of any age, as long as they have committed no crimes and are in good standing, not only access to legal work, but an opportunity for improvement and a clear pathway to citizenship.

This should be done by:

• Passing a compassionate and fair-minded amnesty program that gives unauthorized residents without a criminal record the opportunity to legalize their status. These individuals should pay fines, learn English and wait in line to become legal residents.
• Increasing the number of slots for legal immigration so that foreigners will not be so tempted to enter illegally.
• Providing driver’s licenses and identity cards for all those who enter the country for more than six months so that we can strengthen security and law enforcement.
• Ensuring that legal immigrants receive educational benefits – including real opportunities to learn English – and have good access to health care and other basic rights.

The Citizens' Solutions Guides are made possible by the generous support of The Dilenschneider Group. "Immigration: A Citizens' Solutions Guide" was written by Allison Rizzolo of Public Agenda. Public Agenda’s Citizens' Solutions Guides are nonpartisan, unbiased resources to help you think through a difficult issue in alternative ways, weighing and evaluating values, priorities, pros, cons and tradeoffs. The Guides can also be used as discussion starters for community and group conversations and in classes. Note that the Citizens' Solutions Guides are meant to help people start thinking and talking about an issue in productive ways — they are not meant to rigidly restrict thinking or dialogue. The perspectives described are not the only ways of dealing with the problem, nor are the viewpoints mutually exclusive in every respect. You can mix and match from different perspectives, or add additional related ideas.

Public Agenda is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and improving people’s lives. Through research and public engagement, we help leaders, citizens and stakeholders build common ground on solutions to tough public problems like education reform, the environment and healthcare. Public Agenda was founded in 1975 by the social scientist and public opinion expert Dan Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, and is based in New York City. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/PublicAgenda and on Twitter at @PublicAgenda

For more information on the Citizens' Solutions Guides or Public Agenda, contact Allison Rizzolo at (212) 686-6610, ext. 148, or email at arizzolo@publicagenda.org.