Does Immigration Reform Make Economic Sense?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/13345

Submitted by Jesse Russell on April 18, 2010 - 6:44pm
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Lede: As momentum builds for Congress to do something comprehensive about immigration reform, supporters of the reform say it makes economic sense for America. Doug Cunningham has more.

By Doug Cunningham

The Carnegie Foundation and the Fiscal Policy Institute produced a study that assessed immigrant economic impact in the 25 largest U.S. metro economies. It found that instead of hurting the economy, immigrants contribute to the economy in the same proportion as their numbers in the population. Hector Figeuroa is Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU 32BJ in New York City.

: “What we are finding with this study and a lot of other studies out there who look at the impact if immigrants in the economy is that immigrants are not part of the problem. They’re really part of the solution.”

The report finds that areas with the highest levels of immigration growth also have experienced among the highest economic growth. Figueroa says while employers do exploit undocumented workers to drive wages down, the answer to that is unionization and giving equal labor law protections to all immigrants.

: “What we’re saying is that the problem will never go away until we change the laws and it allows millions of people -who are contributing to our economy like this reports suggest - to be able to do that with the same rights as everybody else.”

[fasttense]

1. OK, so you give this group of illegal immigrants citizenship of some kind,

Like Raygun did. The result of Raygun's amnesty program (beloved by corporations) was a huge increase in the number of illegal immigrants. Now, what do you do with the next even larger group of illegal immigrants? Because they will come knowing citizenship will eventually follow.

You have to attack the disease not the symptoms. The disease is the whole sale abuse of illegal hiring. Corporate America loves illegals because they can hire them for pennies and not have to pay their share of payroll taxes. Illegal immigration gives corporations an easily intimidated and abused labor force that they make millions off of. The disease is the Illegal employers, not the immigrants themselves. If an illegal immigrant could not find a job, most of them would migrate back to their homes or not come at all.

If the US would stop allowing corporations to hire illegally, the problem would not be as bad and you would not have a constant wave of people migrating illegally.

[The Northerner]

4. +1

[FreakinDJ]

2. Go after the EMPLOYER not the employee

We don't need immigration reform, we need Employer Enforcement

[The Northerner]

5. +1

[Craftsman]

6. Go after both the illegal aliens and the illegal alien employers.

Deport all the job thieves.

[notesdev]

3. Illegal immigration is good

if you're a Carnegie.

If you're one of the people who has to take a pay cut to compete with completely unregulated labor - that is, if you don't lose the job entirely to the low-wage/no-benefit alternative they offer, maybe it not so good.

[Craftsman]

7. [phone]