History has a way of repeating itself it seems.
The Obama administration has taken great strides in deporting illegal immigrants, half of which were criminals.
Which sounds kind of like the “Mexican Repatriation Act” of the 1930s…or Operation Wetback in the 1950s. These programs forced and poorly and unfairly targeted encouraged and assisted Mexican nationals to go back to their country of origin to alleviate the pressures brought on by heightened immigration and a struggling economy in the U.S.
Fast-forward to 2011, what we have is a struggling economy, heightened immigration to the U.S., and political pressure. Hopefully we won’t see a reliance on the tactics Operation Wetback and the Mexican Repatriation Act used to address immigration in the face of economic recession and heightened immigration.
Immigration is a dirty word…
…because we have a struggling economy, and every problem needs a scapegoat. Blame illegal immigrants for rises in crime, heightened job competition, exorbitant government expenditures in education…it just makes sense that all of these things are “their” fault, right?
There is “research” out there suggesting that illegal immigration drives down wages on jobs Americans could be doing, and could be getting paid higher wages to do it. However there is more research and economic modeling out there that proves that if anything, illegal immigration has a net positive effect on the U.S. economy.
Which makes sense if we step back and think.
- Assuming illegal immigrants send the bulk of their earned income to family outside the U.S., they are physically here, and spending the rest of their funds at U.S. businesses for basic goods and services – i.e. groceries or utilities.
- Research suggests that the jobs illegal immigrants take generally are unskilled labor jobs – jobs that in general high school dropouts are competing for. Since we are trying to race to the top, this job competition actually could be useful for limiting seemingly easy alternatives to education for disinterested youth.
- Having no illegal immigration does not guarantee the jobs they do not fill will be available to American workers. Economics taught me at the very least that businesses will always try to maximize profits by lowering the costs of inputs, by increasing the amount of output supplied, or both. If hiring people is more expensive than technological innovation and automation, for example, then American workers may find themselves competing against a well-oiled machine rather than cheap labor.
I feel the discussion of deporting immigrants that are in the U.S. illegally is moot – mainly because they are already here. Deporting them now is a matter of principle, but does it really save the government more money to spend money to find and then deport the people here illegally?
And although there is no policy or practical foundation in my next statement – don’t we claim to have this awe-inspiring American dream? This diverse melting pot of opportunity? Aren’t we a nation of immigrants? Our messaging as a part of our patriotism says you can count on our compassion – but our policies and discourse says “our compassion is perishable and case by case”.
Illegal immigrants already here in the U.S. is like a sunk cost, to use an economic term. Now that illegal immigrants are here, what makes the most sense for the U.S.? Given their contributions already to U.S. consumption and the GDP, I say a path to citizenship takes advantage of their economic power. Also, this is a big win for the government – simply because it provides more taxable income the government can see, track, and fill government coffers with.
So does immigration have to be a dirty word? Not if people who do have a voice actually fight to re-educate or re-define the norm. That is why I respect groups like NC DREAM Team, because they are in the business of re-education.
After understanding how to deal with illegal immigrants already here, then we can move toward that all-important task of border control, or actually, addressing outdated federal immigration policies.
Teach Americans that Immigrant doesn’t have to be a dirty word.
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