I Lift My Lamp Beside the Unemployment Office

Center for Immigration Studies ^ | Dec. '08 | Mark Krikorian

[T.L.Sink]

So 533,000 jobs were eliminated last month. Guess how many new workers the federal immigration program adds to the labor market over the same period? As many as 140,000. Per month. How about stepping up enforcement efforts to get illegal workers to leave? The White House says no. Also, it makes no sense during what is likely to be the worst recession most of us will ever see that we increase additions to the labor market further by, say, Sen. Menendez's and many Democrats' demands to increase immigration by 50 percent. Thus we legally anchor more people who might otherwise leave, as with the Dream Act which would amnesty two million-plus illegals and create future [chain migration] immigration rights for hundreds of thousands more. Or that give farmers an indentured labor force which the Ags-Jobs bill would do. And these are the "small" immigration bills coming up next year. Harry Reid said confidently that "I don't expect much of a fight at all" on amnesty.

[T.L.Sink]

Krikorian also notes that even if we gave illegals green cards (a disaster in itself) as the open-borders, pro-amnesty lobbies desire, the catastrophe of the illegal invasion would only be exacerbated. A Mexican peasant with a sixth grade education still ends up sooner or later on the taxpayer dole - on social welfare, incarceration, etc. And this doesn't even touch upon the billions taxpayers give for bankrupt public school districts, insolvent hospitals, and the horrific human and economic costs of the drug cartel. As Krikorian says, allowing one's nation to be swamped with 19th century laborers for votes and reasons of political correctness - who are dysfunctional in a 21st century economy - inevitably ends in failure.

[cripplecreek]

Harry Reid said confidently that "I don't expect much of a fight at all" on amnesty.

Guess again idiot boy.

[org.whodat]

Harry Reid said confidently that "I don't expect much of a fight at all" on amnesty.

Harry, I just don't think, the black Democrat voter will let you put them on the back of the bus without a fight.

[proxy_user]

Most of these people applied four to five years ago, and meet all the legal requirements. They also hold relatively high-paying jobs in the US economy.

[T.L.Sink]

What you say is logical which is why it doesn’t apply to liberals. Obama is the black who will do everything in his power to erase borders and degrade American sovereignty - for VOTES! Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the USA. We’ve seen members of both political parties (including Bush) craw through the political sewer to pander and prostitute themselves for this ethnocentric lobby. There are a few blacks who see what’s going on but most remain on the Dem. plantation. Voting Dem seems to be in their DNA - stimulus/response, like Pavlov’s dogs!

[org.whodat]

I offer the, shoot themselves in the foot, republicans a method to split the democrats. Whether they have sense enough to take it is another matter.

[T.L.Sink]

You seem to be focused on legal immigrants. Krikorian is talking about two issues: (1) In a time of recession and increasing unemployment for American workers there is no need for ANY foreign laborers and (2) the nearly 20 million illegals only make a bad situation worse. It’s been proven that whatever taxes and benefits these workers provide, they are still a NET LOSS to our economy. To cite just one study, Robert Rector of Heritage in a highly acclaimed research project demonstrated that if illegal immigration isn’t curtailed within 20 years it could result in the collapse of the whole economic and social infrastructure of America.

[Little Ray]

He doesn’t care about you or me. He was talking about his fellow Democrats and the spineless ‘Pubbie Senators.

[T.L.Sink]

Right! It’s going to take years for the party to recover its conservative ideology. The base has had enough of RINOs, “me too, but not as much,” Republicans and liberal-lite candidates. I know it’s not popular to say but, frankly, I think George Bush has done more damage to conservatism than the liberals. I think he’s had a pretty good national defense policy, but domestically - a Big Government, Big Spender, Entitlement lover’s dream. (Sorry, I forgot open-borders and amnestty!)

[cripplecreek]

And he’ll still face a fight just like last time. Even one of my senators (Stabenow) voted against amnesty last time.

Like it or not, I’m still a constituent and act like it.

[spikeytx86]

Most Illegals are deporting themselves. They worked mainly in construction or in hotel housekeeping. Real Estate and Tourism have been hit hard during this recession.

Since there are no jobs, there is no money, and they might as well go back to Mexico, which millions have already done.

As for the new immigrants being allowed to come in, they have been in the process for years, and are probably taking jobs in sectors that are still experiencing a shortage of skilled employees, and may not even be affected by the down turn.

[T.L.Sink]

You’re certainly right that in a recession many illegals are leaving or not coming here. That’s the basic argument of those of us who want to control illegal immigration - THEY GO WHERE THE JOBS ARE! Thus, we should “nail” all employers who illegally hire illegals. In regard to your point about skilled legal immigrants, I agree with Lou Dobbs. It’s outrageous that corporations outsource such skilled labor, say engineers, to places like India for lower wages. We’re not talking about a lack of such skilled professionals in America - just which workers come the cheapest to corporations.

[spikeytx86]

I agree. Employer sanctions should be overwhelmingly stiff for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

And I don’t have a problem outsourcing or hiring H1-B immigrants for skilled jobs, but they must demonstrate that they actively searched for domestic workers before doing so.