Posted on 09/25/2011 10:11:11 AM PDT by Eva
To listen to the recent Republican Presidential debates, you'd think illegal immigration was the biggest threat to the U.S. economy—not to mention to the rule of law, our social fabric and national security. We hate to spoil the political reverie, but the real immigration story these days is how many fewer illegal migrants are trying to get into the land of the free.
That's the news from the Department of Homeland Security, which reports that border apprehensions have dropped to their lowest level in nearly 40 years. For fiscal 2010, arrests were 463,000, down from 724,000 in 2008—a one-third decline in two years.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The fact is that Ron Paul is an open borders guy and the Paulers don't care a bit about in-state tuition. I guess they don't care about Social Security or Obamneycare, either. They just want to divide and conquer, but the truth is that they are helping Mitt Romney.
There are only two candidates out there with extensive experience in creating a good environment for business. Herman Cain and Rick Perry. I guess those who are foaming at the mouth about immigration don’t really care if the country swirls around the toilet bowl, I guess they think we will continue to pay their unemployment, not working is easier then getting a job. Why not let China become our overlords.
I read the editorial yesterday in the WSJ. I get PO’ed every time I read about how “agriculture can’t fine enough workers” so they need illegals. How about, instead of paying Americans to sit on their a$$ collecting welfare, food stamps and unemployment, send them out to the farms to EARN their keep.
It’s ridiculous - we pay Americans to stay home while employing people that shouldn’t even be in this country. That’s not even to mention the taxpayer-funded free ride they get on top of their under-the-table wages. Enough is enough - deport, shoot, do whatever but GET THESE INVADERS OUT OF MY COUNTRY.
/rant...
As I don’t subscribe , I can’t read the whole thing. If it’s at all honest, the editorial will have to take up the question of whether negative tropism ( i.e. the desire to escape butchery in Mexico) will replace positive ( U.S. economic opportunity) in the migrations ( among a # of considerations, like whether the Arizona law is a deterrent).
No Mexican immigration = Chinese hordes?
You seem to assume the borders will remain open. That employers and politicians will continue to keep the gates jammed wide open in spite of the People's clearly stated desire to stop the illegals.
Why Aren’t Political Leaders Happy About Less Illegal Entry into the United States?
In a Saturday editorial, the Wall Street Journal asked why aren’t politicians happy - or noticing - illegal entry into the Untied States appears to be much lower than at any time in recent memory?
The Wall Street Journal reports, “In the first 11 months of fiscal 2011, through August, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports that apprehensions were 316,458, well below last year’s level.” As noted by the Journal’s editorial, this is a decline from 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The numbers are even more significant when compared to the year 2000, when apprehensions along the border exceeded 1.6 million. In other words, compared to a decade ago, illegal entry to the United States has fallen by nearly 80 percent.
.....
As discussed in earlier columns, at best E-Verify is likely to push more work “off the books” and underground, while at the same time creating a burden for U.S. workers, new regulations and increased liability for employers.
The decline is due to the fact this administration is not enforcing immigration law. The numbers can go down for more than one reason and some aren’t good reasons.
I believe that the article does mention that.
It’s a fact that most of the anti-immigration/anti-Perry articles on FreeRepublic are posted by Libertarians. I do a check every time one is posted.
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Perry, Perry, Perry,
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Don't need no steenking issues
Just do my job, job, job
And I'm happy, happy, happy
To do my job, job, job
Don't need to worry-worry
On my job, job, job
Vote for Perry, Perry, Perry
For my job, job, job.
That about get "the vision thing"?
EXACTLY! They used to be called migrant workers. Now they migrate one way. They come here and stay here. They crank out babies like there is no tomorrow and WE PAY for it. They do in fact get on the dole in every way shape and form. I know a mexican woman who quit her 10.00/hour job so she could go home and get paid by the state 2000/month to baby sit her own grandchildren because there are so many of them under the guise of low income "day care".
These 30 million, not 11 million, are planting a devastating demographic time bomb that will go off in 1 generation and MUST be stopped and reversed! We will be a permanent socialist republic if this is not dealt with!
/rant
Great rant! Clearly some folks cannot understand the math.... If employers hire illegals as 5 percent of their work force, that equals less jobs for Americans. I am routinely near the border, lots of those jobs could be American jobs... But employers would then be forced to pay FICA and SS. Seems like reducing the costs of hiring Americans would work best.
I agree. I like Herman Caine, as well. I haven’t heard him give a bad answer, yet.
Of course, he has not been distracted by extraneous attacks on issue of little importance.
Immigration is a jobs issue since several million illegal aliens are taking American jobs and the rest are using up social safety net benefits needed by Americans.
A Labor Shortage? One common argument for not doing anything about illegal immigration or even for offering illegal immigrants amnesty is that there is a shortage of the type of labor provided by illegal immigrants. But if there was a shortage, then wages and employment should be increasing as employers try desperately to recruit new workers and retain the workers they already have. As already discussed, however, the opposite has been happening. Employment and wages have declined for the less-educated. Thus, there is no empirical evidence of a labor shortage. The only evidence of a labor shortage comes from employers of low-wage workers.
Jobs American Won’t Do? Another common argument for tolerating illegal immigration is that immigrants only do jobs that Americans don’t want. There are two fundamental problems with this argument. First, there are no jobs done only by immigrants. Of the 465 civilian occupations, only four are majority immigrant. These four occupations account for less than 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Most of the jobs often thought of as predominately immigrant jobs, are in fact overwhelming done by native-born Americans. For example, the American Community Survey from 2005 to 2007 showed that 55 percent of maids and housekeepers are U.S.-born, as are 58 percent of taxi drivers and chauffeurs, 63 percent of butchers and meat processors, 65 percent of construction laborers and 75 percent of janitors.8 It is simply makes no sense to argue that no Americans want such jobs when, in fact, most of the people doing this type of work were born in the United States.
The second problem with the argument that no Americans want these jobs is that wages, benefits, and working conditions have an enormous impact on the desirability of a job. If there really are jobs that Americans will not do at a given wage, then employers can improve compensation or working conditions to attract more workers. We can raise wages in low-wage sectors of our economy, secure in the knowledge that this will not spike inflation because the bottom of the labor market accounts for such a tiny fraction of total economic output. Employers who want access to cheap labor may argue forcefully that they need the workers, but the fact remains that improving compensation and working conditions is the primary way they should deal with this problem. They can also adopt different recruitment strategies or offer non-wage inducements to attract and retain workers, such as providing transportation or more flexible work hours. Allowing the free market to work in this way could significantly improve the labor market prospects for some of the working poor.
Jobs ARE the most important concern.
BUT Perry is also strongly pro-life, pro-2nd amendment, pro-small government, pro-spending cuts, pro-low taxes, pro-border security, pro-few regulations, anti-EPA, anti-Obama - not afraid to call Obama the socialist he is.
Is that not enough for you?
He's toast and frankly deserves it for being so arrogant.
Problem is not legal immigration, it is illegal immigration. Majority of illegals are under-educated. They cost billions every year in welfare of some form from tax payers.
We have benefited immensely from legal immigration based on qualifications and our needs, such as Dr. Werner Von Braun,
and millions of doctors, engineers, programmers and technicians.
Finally you are right about Perry & Cain being better than other candidates for promoting business growth. However Perry’s position on rewarding illegal immigrants $100,000 for each Texas university students flunks him for me.
Meyer, you fail to recognize that it is the job of the federal government to deport the illegals and if the federal government refuses to do its job, those illegals are here to stay.
It’s called making the best of a bad situation.
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