PrintMay 23, 2007
The Immigration Bill Sells Out the Poor
The immigration debate so far has focused on trying to make legal that which is illegal, in the name of being fair to the very people who care little of legality. We are told that someone needs to pick our food from the farm fields and do jobs that American's won't. But automation has been steadily decreasing the need for agricultural labor for over a century and a half, and the trend continues.
So do we need 12 million illegal immigrants to pick our crops? How many people actually do pick our crops? I had to check. The best I can figure is around 300,000 people, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics for non managerial positions. Click "Occupational Employment Statistics" and then choose "occupation for multiple geographical areas"
We have more than enough unemployed people to fill the need for agricultural labor several times over. It is true that unemployment is still hovering around only 4.5%. But most people don't consider that with the ever expanding population (due in no small part to immigration legal and illegal), the 4.5% of 10 years ago represents fewer people than today. The ranks of the unemployed are in fact growing, evcen as the unemployment rate stays comparatively low.
Currently there are approximately 6.8 million people actively looking for work. From the data, it is clear that blacks (8.2%) and teenagers (15.3%) need jobs and are disproportionately affected by unemployment. If you'll remember what happened at Swift & Company, 950 employees were found to be illegals. Swift & Company have replaced all of those illegals with those who are entitled to earn a living here in the US. It may have been necessary to raise wages a bit in order to fill all of the jobs, but that is what market clearing of supply and demand are all about. If packing plant workers are able to make a better living, is this something that we want to bemoan? Higher wages, after all, provide an incentive for greater automation, and are an engine for economic growth and a rising standard of living.
The fact that all of those 950 jobs were filled with legal employees discredits the notion that illegals only fill those jobs Americans won't do. Flooding the market with low skilled people from other countries is bad social policy which hurts the poor and unskilled by both depriving them of jobs and driving down wages.
In 1990, the US had approximately 250 million people; today we have just over 300 million people. These 50 million more people represent a 20% increase in population over 15 years. It should be obvious to all that a 20% increase in population will cause a significant increase in energy consumption, and increase demand for housing, transportation and schools in some proportionate manner. Those who worry about energy consumption should realize that by moving to the United States from a poor country like Mexico, a person's energy consumption and "carbon footprint" automatically increase dramatically.
In the last few years we have experienced price hikes in gasoline directly as a result of refinery capacity limits when it came to hurricanes, formulation changes and now cold winters. Why cold winters? Refiners are forced to choose between cracking oil for gasoline versus home heating fuel in the run up to the winter season. Now let's add to this equation that by 2025 (less than 20 years away) there will be approximately another 50 million people living in the US, bringing the total population to 350 million or a further 20% increase in population. So, how will we supply gasoline given the difficulty of building new refineries?
It is clear that Congress and those who advocate continuing unrestrained immigration are dealing with yesteryear's notions of America and its needs. This is the Twenty-first Century, a new century, a new set of sensibilities. The silence of Al Gore and other environmentalists on the impact of a rising population through immigration is deafening.
Do we feel empathy with those who want to come to America and find their fortune? I can safely say yes. However, the responsibility does not rest upon the US government or the taxpayer for the welfare of every resident of the planet. The responsibility for any national belongs first with the country of birth or citizenship. By allowing illegal immigration and other misguided immigration policies that don't serve the interests of US citizens, we enable and in fact encourage incompetence in other governments, giving them the use of the US as a safety valve to compensate for their economic failures.
In light of limited resources and the above figures on population, how can anyone say it is mean spirited to limit immigration? How is it fair to our poor and young people? How is it responsible to encourage corrupt and incompetent governments to continue with business as usual when by their own failed policies only increase the misery of their own people?
