S.J. Lee’s scientific contributions

As many as eleven million undocumented immigrants are living and working in the United States today, and the number is only growing. This Policy Essay addresses the problems resulting from the presence of so many undocumented workers in this country and presents two key legislative proposals to help solve the current crisis. In particular, it confronts two crucial weaknesses in immigration policy today: effectively managing the undocumented workers already in the United States and preventing a new population of undocumented immigrants from replacing the one we have now. The Essay contends that the Bush Administration's legislative proposal would establish a guest worker program that only temporarily addresses the former issue and completely ignores the national border security problems causing the latter issue. Instead, the Essay concludes that the federal government should present a means for undocumented workers presently residing in this country to gain legal permanent resident status and should provide for a more reliably secured national border.