Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Looks like the Obama administration is patting itself on the back for a decline in illegal immigration numbers. From Politico:
The Obama administration is touting an independent report released Wednesday that shows that the number of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. fell by nearly 65 percent in recent years.
About 300,000 immigrants illegally entered the country each year from March 2007 to March 2009, nearly two-thirds fewer than the 850,000 who annually crossed the border from 2000 to 2005, according to the report by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center.
An estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2009, an 8 percent decline from the peak of 12 million in 2007. That represented the first significant decrease in two decades, the report said.
When the depression in immigration numbers happens to perfectly coincide with the biggest economic downturn in a quarter century, that isn't a freak coincidence. If President Obama wants to take credit for fewer immigrants, he's obliged to accept the blame for higher unemployment.
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Jun '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Turning the United States into Cuba is one way to turn the immigration numbers around, but not the method that most Americans had in mind.
Jul '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Few people know that half of the immigrants who came to America during the late-19th and early-20th Centuries gave up and returned home.
Things are different now. Milton Friedman once observed that unbridled immigration combined with a welfare state is a recipe for disaster.
So the question is not so much how many immigrants continue to come here, but how many go back home. The answer is: not enough.
Between the welfare entitlements extended to anchor babies, the free education and health care, the sanctuary cities that look the other way while 15 people live in a one-bedroom apartment, the underground economy in cheap labor, we continue to shoulder the enormous net costs of low-skilled immigrants.
As a human resources executive, I never knowingly hired illegal labor. But had I been inclined to, I can tell you that a huge fine and serious prison time would have been a tremendous dis-incentive.
Until we see headlines about prominent businessmen sentenced to hard time - and until the border is firmly closed - we will not see a significant reduction in the number of illegals here.
Jun '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Kenneth: Few people know that half of the immigrants who came to America during the late-19th and early-20th Centuries gave up and returned home.
...So the question is not so much how many immigrants continue to come here, but how many go back home. The answer is: not enough.
So what is the "right" (both connotations) solution to the problem of illegal immigration? I think most would agree that getting control of the border is non-negotiable. What to do with the "undocumented Democrats" currently here is the bigger problem for me. Starting from an illegal entry, I am opposed to a "path to citizenship." I would consider a "blue card" - permanent residency and a work permit both conditioned on good behaviour and limited access to welfare programs but not eligibilty for citizenship..
May '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Honestly, I'm surprised. Things might not be as good as they used to be, but our economy's still better off than Mexico's. There are still plenty of jobs, even if unemployment is high. There has to be more to this than economics.
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Pilgrim
So what is the "right" (both connotations) solution to the problem of illegal immigration? [...] What to do with the "undocumented Democrats" currently here is the bigger problem for me. Starting from an illegal entry, I am opposed to a "path to citizenship." I would consider a "blue card" - permanent residency and a work permit both conditioned on good behaviour and limited access to welfare programs but not eligibilty for citizenship.. · Sep 2 at 4:13am
This isn't a bad thought. But no eligibility for citizenship? Ever? This seems awfully harsh to me. But I'm biased.
And what would you do with folks who came here as children, illegally, but have spent most of their lives here leading American lives? This is one of the toughest parts of the equation for me.
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Aaron Miller: Honestly, I'm surprised. Things might not be as good as they used to be, but our economy's still better off than Mexico's. There are still plenty of jobs...There has to be more to this than economics. ·
(I hope this graphic enlarges when you click on it, otherwise find it here.)
Aaron, the two industries that most illegal immigrants tend to work in -- construction and agriculture -- both rank among the top three for highest unemployment figures, with unemployment among construction workers being over 20% and unemployment among agricultural workers at 15%. On top of those figures, new housing starts are down and California has lost billions of dollars of crops because of a politician-made drought. Yes, there are still jobs, but what do you do if you're laid off or can't find a new job? It's much more likely that you'll pack up your bags and go wait out the storm with your extended family back in Mexico than move your family on over to the homeless shelter.
Jun '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Diane Ellis, Ed.
This isn't a bad thought. But no eligibility for citizenship? Ever? This seems awfully harsh to me. But I'm biased.
And what would you do with folks who came here as children, illegally, but have spent most of their lives here leading American lives? This is one of the toughest parts of the equation for me. · Sep 2 at 10:59am
OK, children presumed under parental control - green card on usual terms (criminal background check, sponsor) with eligibility for naturalization.
Adults who entered illegally, not so much. Residency instead of citizenship isn't that much of an economic burden. So maybe ten years wait, no criminal record, economic self-sufficiency, no immediate family on public assistance, current on federal state and local taxes i.e. roughly the indicia of having become a conservative.
May '10
Re: Want Fewer Immigrants? Keep Unemployment High!
Thanks, Diane. That makes sense. I wonder, though, how different those figures are for Texas, which has the strongest economy in the nation and a relatively strong home market. Perhaps illegals are concentrating in the more robust states.
We don't hesitate to put a thief in prison because he has children. Innocents are harmed in that case as well, but they are harmed by the father who made the choice to break the law. Likewise, we might let children of illegals stay, but should not let that prevent us from sending the parents back.