Reality Check
As some of you know, I've been spending a lot of time recently reporting on the border and overall immigration policy (I have pieces on this issue soon appearing in the The Atlantic, The Nation and on Truthdig.com).
So I was particularly interested in the immigration report released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center. The findings are not surprising for anybody familiar with the subject. But they starkly reconfirm the central fact that undocumented workers -- or if you prefer illegal aliens-- are an ever greater and more integral part of the American labor force.
The simple fact is that these folks are going to be here -- are already here-- and we can decide as a society to either keep them "illegal" or finally acknowledge their existence and grant them sort of human status.
The key finding in the Pew report is that a decade's worth of tighter border enforcement has resulted only in forcing those who make it here safely to stay here longer (as it's too dangerous and too expensive to move back and forth across the border). Meanwhile:
-- The pace of illegal immigration has only accelerated with about half-million more people joining the resident undocumented population every year.
-- The resident undocumented population in the U.S now probably tops 12 million.
-- The undocumented now perform one of every four ag jobs, one in six cleaning jobs, one in seven construction jobs and one in every eight restaurant jobs.
The good news is that this month, after twenty years of denial and demagogy, the U.S. Senate is finally taking up comprehensive reform. The bad news is that real reform might be D.O.A.
Both parties have miserably failed on this matter. After proposing such reform (to his credit), President Bush lost his nerve and has pretty much ceded the debate to the Minuteman wing of his own party. As to the Democrats...well...Ted Kennedy is the only one of national stature that has had the courage to unfailingly champion this cause.
P.S. For any of you So Cal local yokels who can't get enough on this issue, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles Central Library I'll be dialoguing with L.A. Times Pulitzer winner Sonia Nazario about her new book Enrique's Journey. Here's the info if you want to show up.
March 8th, 2006 at 11:02 am
Marc — here’s a question for you.
What happens to these illegal immigrants when the Housing Bubble collapses. I have also read the Pew report and it seems that much of the illegal workers have been concentrated in the new home construction industries (doubtless driving down wages).
If Liberal Orthodoxy is to be believed, we are looking at a MASSIVE crime wave once illegals no longer have work, and can’t go home (no work) so turn to easy and ever-increasing crime.
While I am not convinced of the simplistic Liberal model of crime (economic hardship = crime, in linear fashion) I would not doubt for a second that:
1. The Housing Bubble is collapsing under ever-increasing energy prices (for a variety of reasons).
2. These unemployed illegal aliens will have to do SOMETHING, and that something will be negative, i.e.
3. Increased competition in all other occupations and falling wages for American workers.
This grand plan of taking all of Mexico’s unemployed and putting them to work here simply won’t work. The sheer scope of all these illegal aliens makes this clear. They will have to go back to provide economic opportunity for Americans.
Dems to the extent that they play ethnic spoils politics and business pandering (for an ever expanding pool of cheap labor) risk their own Dubai Ports World.
The populace is in an angry Jacksonian mood. While understanding of why people come to the US from Mexico (Mexico is a corrupt cesspool without work or a future) they seem unwilling (imagine that!) to sacrifice their own wages for illegal aliens. Funny how that works. Even while sympathetic for their plight, I don’t see US workers eager to give up their job to someone who will work for half or a third their wages. See: angry African Americans outraged over illegals doing all the cleanup work in New Orleans in appalling conditions (OSHA violations galore) for a third the market wages of legal workers.
I’ll submit that surrendering our borders is a non-starter, among the obvious implications is the inevitable annexation of Mexico if we are to be obliged to employ that country. No one wants that; so the wall will go up and anti-illegal immigrant measures be put in place.
March 8th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
“If Liberal Orthodoxy is to be believed, we are looking at a MASSIVE crime wave once illegals no longer have work, and can’t go home (no work) so turn to easy and ever-increasing crime. While I am not convinced of the simplistic Liberal model of crime….”
Actually by your admission the immigrants have a competitive advantage in the job market. It would be the ones who can’t support their families on sub-minimum-wage jobs that will turn to crime — that’s probably you and me. In fact, we’re already witnessing the massive crime wave, and these criminals are wearing white collars. You’re the one being simplistic here.
“…among the obvious implications is the inevitable annexation of Mexico if we are to be obliged to employ that country. No one wants that; so the wall will go up and anti-illegal immigrant measures be put in place”
Any solution needs to address in a comprehensive way the economic disparities in our hemisphere and the effects on these by trade policies and the ravages of capitalism. As long as we look to Latin America merely as the means for maintaining our unsustainable consumerism, our borders will be vulnerable.
March 8th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
The “face reality, people!” argument presented by Cooper is quite handy: after this amnesty, it can be reused when there are 10 million new illegal aliens here who will be given amnesty. Then, after another 10 million new illegal aliens have come here because of the past amnesties, the “Cooper argument” can be reused. It’s evergreen!
Meanwhile, the fact that some industries have become dependent on foreign serf labor that’s here illegally should be extremely worrisome to those who care about our political system.
There are very powerful corporations that are profiting off of illegal activity, and they then donate to politicians who enable that illegal activity to continue.
Most people call that “corruption”. See my comment on the Nation post for a handy example.
Regarding Bush’s “guest” worker scheme, anyone who thinks Cooper has any credibility should read up on what it was intended to do. According to our current Sec’y of Education (at that time a Bush assistant), possible “guest” workers would include nurses, teachers, and just about anyone else. It was intended to be open to any employer and any type of employee.
In other words, Bush originally wanted to flood the U.S. with cheap labor not just for stoop labor, but for everything else.
Unfortunately, the Dems are too corrupt and stupid to take advantage of this. Perhaps they should take some time off and think this whole thing through.
March 8th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Well the government can’t hire them and I dout a newspaper would, for writing anyway, so I’m safe. My carpenter’s union source told me in Sacramento the union actually “gained” a big chunk of the lost housing sector. Residential pays less in order to compete. This is a rare ocurrance nationwide but a gain for California.
Kudos on The Atlantic. Very well done.
March 8th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Here’s another point to ponder:
With millions of Mexicans living in the U.S. – either illegally or under a “guest” worker scheme – how much political power does the government of Mexico have inside our country?
Aren’t we in effect currently in a power sharing arrangement with that government over a significant part of our population? Wouldn’t a “guest” worker scheme make that even worse and formalize that arrangement?
If we give Mexico an even greater economic incentive to send us their people*, aren’t they going to want to keep that going? If we decide to reduce the numbers of “guests”, won’t they lobby to keep it at higher levels?
Won’t they work with U.S. “immigrants rights groups” as they do now? Won’t they spread propaganda inside the U.S. as they’re paying an American PR firm to do? Won’t they agitate their citizens inside our country?
* Money sent from workers in the U.S. to Mexico (“remittances”) is their second greatest source of income after oil.
March 8th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Illegal Immigrants
They hold HOW many jobs in the United States?
March 8th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Perhaps we should annex Mexico?
Would making these workers “legal” fix the (whole) problem? Isn’t part of the attraction of these workers their illegal status? They can be paid less, refused benefits, put in unpleasant and dangerous work conditions – all with the expectation that they will remain silent rather than risk being deported.
If they are made legal won’t at least some of them lose their jobs to new illegals?
March 8th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
“The populace is in an angry Jacksonian mood. While understanding of why people come to the US from Mexico (Mexico is a corrupt cesspool without work or a future) they seem unwilling (imagine that!) to sacrifice their own wages for illegal aliens. Funny how that
works. Even while sympathetic for their plight, I don’t see US workers eager to give up their job to someone who will work for half or a third their wages. See: angry African Americans outraged over illegals doing all the cleanup work in New Orleans in appalling conditions (OSHA violations galore) for a third the market wages of legal workers.â€
Jim,
Yes I agree with you, exploiting illegal foreign workers and displacing American labor so that businesses can make a greater profit is immoral.
Business owners state that they need immigrant workers because Americans will not take certain jobs. This is a lie—it is the same argument used to justify slavery, pre-Civil War. Americans will take these jobs; but they want to be paid a living wage and receive benefits. It’s another form of outsourcing!
March 8th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Jim Rockford,
Although I disagree with your categorizing the border issue as a “liberal vs. conservative” or “left vs. right” issue (why must we have to use these overused buzzwords for every damn issue?), I agree with a lot of what you say, especially about wages falling in the U.S. for all workers because of the current situation.
The current challenges that we face with immigration needs to be addressed in the United Nations; not just in the U.S. Congress. Given that the current administration has managed to alienate the U.S. from the international community, it may take a different administration to work with the U.N. on this.
Other wealthy countries need to take up some of the slack in accepting immigrants who are fleeing from corrupt places in the world like Mexico. The U.S. cannot handle this alone.
Furthermore, I do not believe that the borders (every border, including to Canada) should just be left wide open for just anyone to come in and out of the country as they please, as Marc C. seems to suggest. I know that most of you may live in comfortable suburban or rural settings; but where I live and teach, Mexican gangs like MS 13 are a reality. The borders, in my opnion, are not tight enough.
Finally, there needs to be comprehensive health care and wage reform in this country. Not surprisingly, these topics have been left out of any discussion of so-called “immigration reform.” If all Americans (citizens, permanent residents, documented AND undocumented) were guaranteed a decent standard of living, we would not be experiencing the cornucopia of problems that we have now.
March 8th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
Let’s cut to the chase on one issue that keeps coming up here: The idea that immigrants are “taking Americans’ jobs away.” This is no more true that saying that new babies born to an expanding population in an industralized country with an expanding economy are taking jobs away from others. The reason that immigrants go to countries like the United States, the UK, or France rather than Bangladesh or Ethiopia is precisely because there are jobs available. My fantasy is that all “illegal immigrants” in the United States would go on strike for one full month, so we could watch the entire economy collapse in front of our eyes which is exactly what would happen.
Funny thing, but I don’t see anyone complaining about the many thoundands of Irish currently working in the US, or other Europeans or Canadians. Could it be that the ethnicity of the immigrants is what this is really all about?
March 8th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
“My fantasy is that all “illegal immigrants†in the United States would go on strike for one full month, so we could watch the entire economy collapse in front of our eyes which is exactly what would happen.”
Ain’t that the truth…
March 9th, 2006 at 12:05 am
I have a problem, as well, though, with the statement “taking jobs that Americans are unwilling to do.” In other words, the notion is that Americans don’t value hard work. Never mind that this flies in the face of statistics which show that Americans work more hours per week than in any other country in the world.
The problem is quite different: American employers themselves (not all) have demeaned and cheapened the very concept of work by farming it out to the lowest bidder.
The quality of work is always highest when the worker is adequately compensated. Not all employers get this.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:32 am
The notion that illegal immigrants generally take jobs nobody else will do is rapidly dying.
A relative of mine owns an avocado farm. She pays illegals $9.75 an hour to pick them. She had people working for her every year for the last 15 years.
Starting about five years ago there has been a mass exit of all her old help. It turns out that they have all gone to construction jobs, where they make anywher from $20 to $25 an hour.
Now, she never works the same people. Every year, she’s must find new ones, as illegals are rapidly assimilating into the construction industry.
Illegals are currently swarming into an occupation that many Americans would be happy to take, but they undercut an average American construction worker by $5 to $10 dollars an hour.
Myself, I needed a fence put up around my property. I got a number of bids around the 5K range. They estimated it as a 2-3 day job. The last bid I got was for $2,500.
Obviously, I took that bid, and the construction manager who arrived was white, and obviously an American. He brought along with him 6 workers. All mexican. None spoke english. Most probably illegals.
They got a rather large fence put up in one day.
It was great for me, but not so great for the other bidders who didn’t employ illegals.
Bottom line, illegals are starting to rake in some significant cash (and who could blame them) as they are saddling up in a higher paying industry, leaving a lot of Americans who would be glad to have the work, in the unemployment lines.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:04 am
“Funny thing, but I don’t see anyone complaining about the many thoundands of Irish currently working in the US, or other Europeans or Canadians. Could it be that the ethnicity of the immigrants is what this is really all about? ”
What the hell are you talking about ? Really ? Is there any sense behind that sentence ? We’re not talking about “thousands” of super-exploited workers flooding industries. We’re talking about many millions and I could care less what their ethnicity is.
I’m really sick of the implication that racism is what fuels the illegal immigration issue. Your version of liberal compassion is fueling greed. Does the concept “illegal” mean a goddam thing to the special pleaders and people who for whatever reason don’t give a shit about busting labor markets ? It obviously doesn’t mean anything to the exploiters who’ve aggressively created these markets for underground labor. Why in God’s name have the conditions for farmworkers degenerated so from the days when the UFW had its initial success ? What has happened to the unionized meatpackers who had decent wages, benefits and at least some control over their working conditions not so long ago ? What’s happening in the construction industry ? Or does the ethnicity of unionized workers who’ve seen the rug pulled out from under them by an influx of illegals mean nobody gives a shit ? Does the ethnicity of the recent legal immigrants and African-Americans who have seen the bottom rung cut from under them by industries that skirt the law – no, make that help shape the law – and access super-exploited workers have anything to do with such wide acceptance of expanding the legions of the desperate in the unskilled job market ? Sure, unions in service industries have taken to including illegal immigrants in their organizing drives. It’s not their job to play the cop against workers when entire industries and the government have conspired in a fait accompli that’s designed to undermine organized labor. You play the hand you’re dealt. But that’s not a sound approach to social policy.
If the truth be known, ethnicity and the plight of the poor people of Mexico is the primary reason why a lot of liberals are so soggy on this issue – it works in favor of the argument to accept the situation or “adjust” it periodically to make it seem to go away until the next time we notice that it’s beyond any controls. After all, American capitalism just can’t stop itself from doing everything it can to help the poor people of Mexico and don’t you forget it.
What the apologists don’t acknowledge is that if we do, in fact have labor shortages that are real and not generated by this nod-wink approach to labor law, we can accomodate them by increasing legal immigration. Grey or temporary labor markets aren’t the most humane way to achieve balanc if real gaps exist. It wouldn’t be difficult to control the bulk of illegal hiring by targeting enforcement on a few obvious industries. And focusing on employers is the key because that’s what drives the problem, not draconian laws that punish children. Take the incentive of easily obtainable jobs away and let everything else take its natural course. If the job magnet is reduced, there’s no need for building a wall. And if somebody can make it here under the radar doing odd jobs or yard work, more power to them. Nobody cares. I’m talking about how this impacts key sectors of the economy.
The argument that illegal immigration is either necessary or something we should tolerate out of some sort of liberalism is bullshit, pure and simple. I really loathe “liberal” arguments that excuse illegal immigration. Free-market arguments I can understand, and I reject them for the amoral dogmatism that they represent. So-called liberals who excuse this are running on empty because they are providing PC cover for one of the classic ploys of the worst sort of employers and bowing to the idea that labor markets are beyond any sort of control. That may be the sort of “liberalism” that Milton Friedman harks back to, but I’ll be damned if it’s got anything to do with FDR.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:11 am
our economy would be extremely damaged if immigrants did not work for low wages. companies here could not compete with the rest of the world if they had to pay higher wages. more and more work would be done in lower wage countries. smaller companies would shut down, and unemployment would rise as higher paid workers dependent on these companies would lose their jobs as well. we need to figure out how we allocate work and labor in a world that is getting smaller and smaller. lets dont point fingers at corruption here or there, corruption is everywhere.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:32 am
“companies here could not compete with the rest of the world if they had to pay higher wages. more and more work would be done in lower wage countries.”
That’s already happened and is a separate problem. Illegal immigration is mostly feeding industries that must have a domestic labor force – service industries, agriculture, construction, etc. Illegal immigrants aren’t keeping jobs from going to China – they’re performing essentially the same function as China, but for capital that isn’t mobile.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:37 am
“If all Americans (citizens, permanent residents, documented AND undocumented) were guaranteed a decent standard of living, we would not be experiencing the cornucopia of problems that we have now. ”
And we’d all be eating rainbow stew.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Aw reg isn’t everything our fault? It’s really the Irish! Still only racism and nothing more. Jeepers. TIME mag had a good piece a while back about Long Island where so many followed the leader to the same town they they drove down their wages to around 10 bucks for general labor. The first guy got rich enough to fuel quite a spread back in Mexico. Five bedroom hacienda.
March 9th, 2006 at 9:43 am
no, there would be a lot more jobs lost as any small mfg would close down and service workers supporting these companies would have no one to work for, very little to construct. Ag jobs would be lost too, as we would get tomatoes from Mexico. Why not? Face it, we are interdependent. a fence will just fence us in with no where to release our problems.
March 9th, 2006 at 11:15 am
In fail to see why there aren’t plenty of schmuks to do service work. Most small manufacturing has already moved offshore. This is about gardeners and day labor.
March 10th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Everything Reg, Eleanore, and IllegalImmigrationNews said…….and more.
Every time I here the Prez repeat his business biased reason for allowing ‘willing’ mexican slaves to couple with more than willing international business masters in order to screw ‘somewhat’ civilized american wages and working conditions, I understand more clearly how he has never had to do one full day of labor in his whole privileged life. Add most of Washington’s business whores with hands out for another earmark donation out of workers taxes, and ‘representatives’ more than willing to comply for a small kickback donation into a ‘keep my job’ re-election fund.
There is absolutely no need for long expensive fences, gobs of expensive border agents, and more lip-flapping laws. All that is necessary is Business Biased Republicans in Washington to insist on enforcement of existing laws against employment of illegal immigrants and Worker Biased Democrats to insist on enforcement of laws against handing out free social services to same. Deportation will not be necessary.
March 10th, 2006 at 6:18 am
“Add most of Washington’s business whores with hands out for another earmark donation out of workers taxes, and ‘representatives’ more than willing to comply for a small kickback donation into a ‘keep my job’ re-election fund.”
The second behavior in my statement above would of course preceed the first. Can’t show actionable quid-pro-quo you know.
March 9th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
I’ll be redundant and repeat my original statement– Businesses state that they need immigrant workers because Americans will not take certain jobs. THIS IS A LIE—it is the same argument used to justify slavery.
Americans will take these jobs; but they want to be paid a living wage and receive benefits. Hiring illegal immigrants is another method of outsourcing labor.
The equation to explain the whys of illegal immigration into the US is simple:
Add: Widespread abject poverty and starvation in Mexico after US corporations relocated their cheap-labor plants from the US-Mexico border to Asia, and after Mexican banks and telecommunications were privatized, creating dozens of instant billionaires and plunging millions into poverty.
Add: An extremely porous, under-enforced US-Mexico border.
Add: US employers anxious for more profits, and willing to exploit the poverty and fears of illegal immigrants to do so.
Add: The federal government anxious to curry favor with , and garner votes from, business owners and the Hispanic community…thus, willing to under-enforce borders and immigrations laws, and ignore illegal hiring by employers.
Add: The Social Security Administration dependent on taking in $7 billion annually of contributions from illegal immigrant workers who will never receive benefits from the system.
THE RESULT: Millions of illegal immigrants working for low wages and in poor working conditions, grateful for scraps to fall from the US table of prosperity.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I think they’ll take them even without a so-called living wage. Many jobs here are far from living wage jobs. I’m up for a journalist position at a regional paper. It pays $500 a week before taxes. That, balanced off the skyrocketing house costs makes it difficult to even attempt, but I would and mostly will if offered a chance. The latter is the tough part.
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