Immigration déjà vu
Trump is promising mass deportations if he’s elected. He claims this will create jobs and economic growth. We’ve been here before.
“In the 1930s, state and local governments deported 400,000 to 500,000 people of Mexican descent, promising to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. What actually happened? The employment of native-born Americans dropped — and their unemployment went up. American workers ended up with worse jobs and, if anything, their wages were lower. The US workers who were hurt most were the ones whose jobs had to be cut because the businesses they worked for had to downsize because of the loss of their immigrant workforce.
“Jump to 1964, when the “Bracero Exclusion” removed almost a half million Mexican farmworkers with the promise that this would improve the employment and wages of American farmworkers. Didn’t work. Instead of hiring non-immigrants, employers changed how they farmed to use fewer workers and cut back on production, making room for more imports.
“Moving to 2008 — the Secure Communities program was a police-based enforcement program that deported 454,000 people from 2008 to 2015. It too did native-born US workers no favors. It resulted in a half-percent drop in their employment and a 0.6 percent fall in their hourly wages. Citizens up and down the jobs scale — from low-skilled to high-skilled — were hurt. That’s from deporting just 5 percent of our unauthorized immigrants. Mass deportation would be much worse.”
Look, Trump doesn’t care about working class employment or the economy. He’s happy to dupe the rubes by hating on teh swarthy immigrants. It’s not economics, it’s xenophobia.
Trump’s deportation policy is bad for America
“In the 1930s, state and local governments deported 400,000 to 500,000 people of Mexican descent, promising to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. What actually happened? The employment of native-born Americans dropped — and their unemployment went up. American workers ended up with worse jobs and, if anything, their wages were lower. The US workers who were hurt most were the ones whose jobs had to be cut because the businesses they worked for had to downsize because of the loss of their immigrant workforce.
“Jump to 1964, when the “Bracero Exclusion” removed almost a half million Mexican farmworkers with the promise that this would improve the employment and wages of American farmworkers. Didn’t work. Instead of hiring non-immigrants, employers changed how they farmed to use fewer workers and cut back on production, making room for more imports.
“Moving to 2008 — the Secure Communities program was a police-based enforcement program that deported 454,000 people from 2008 to 2015. It too did native-born US workers no favors. It resulted in a half-percent drop in their employment and a 0.6 percent fall in their hourly wages. Citizens up and down the jobs scale — from low-skilled to high-skilled — were hurt. That’s from deporting just 5 percent of our unauthorized immigrants. Mass deportation would be much worse.”
Look, Trump doesn’t care about working class employment or the economy. He’s happy to dupe the rubes by hating on teh swarthy immigrants. It’s not economics, it’s xenophobia.
Trump’s deportation policy is bad for America
I don’t understand why we cannot document everyone who is in this country. Case in point: Florida law requires all businesses that employ more than 25 workers to use E verify to determine a workers eligibility to be in this country. Why is this not required of ALL businesses? Is Florida too afraid or embarrassed to know how many illegal workers are in their state? Is it for tax avoidance reasons? Some other reason?
I think we should give a limited grace period to voluntarily document everyone in this country. After that, undocumented people will be deported and businesses that employ undocumented people should be heavily fined.
@Mark,
The answer is simple and obvious. Employers, consumers and the US economy all benefit from undocumented labor. Until employers and consumers pay a steep price for exploiting undocumented labor, that’s not gonna change.
Yes,
Undocumented Labor is cheap wages Labor with no Overhead. They get screwed on Direct Wages and also on Indirect Benefits. Companies are the issue here and not the unregistered immigrant Labor.
That does not mean do not hire them once they are legal.
My limited experience is that employers will pay undocumented immigrants “market” wages (you can speculate what where the market wage could be without their participation…I don’t know), but unemployment insurance claims, workers comp and stuff like 401k contributions get heavily shaved. The employer might pay the UI and workers comp, but these workers won’t make claims as there seems to be some kind of understandings about that. What I think I know about it is a little out-of-date though….2017about.
Eric:
You can not claim Unemployment without a Social Security number and another form of ID. There is not shaving, it can not be claimed.
In your first and third example was the drop in native born employment more a result of the economic conditions at the time (Great Depression and GFC) as opposed to the deportation of unauthorized workers?
@Michael,
Economic downturns have historically been used as an excuse to reduce immigration, but there were also laws implemented to curb immigration and justify deportations during those times. I encourage you to click and read the Boston Globe link I provided at the bottom of my post.
@Joel & Bill,
So you are saying illegal immigration is just political talking points to get votes? Neither party really wants to solve the issue??? That’s my gut feeling but it amazes me how people are hoodwinked by it.
MarkG:
I have written how many times about Repub Senators announcing the border was open just as Biden took office? Even Ted Cruz made that proclamation along with the others before Biden took office. Repubs were only against it when the conspirator and criminal was in office.
You also have a population that is not replacing itself too. Whitey is taking a more conservative stance on replacement. Population growth is at 1.6 and down from 2.01 in 2006.
Immigration, Population, Replacement, Politics and the Economy – Angry Bear
300 Million and Counting
@Mark,
Undocumented immigration is a problem, but much of the problem lies in lack of enough judges to adjudicate claims. There’s too much money in keeping undocumented workers on the job. I just finishing reading a book on xenophobia in America. The vilifying of immigrants for political purposes, and its use to distract voters from their real needs, is as American as apple pie.
Joel:
True on the first sentence and immigration judges.
Please don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with people coming to this country to have a better life. They just need to be documented and controlled so the playing field is level for all businesses and workers. If we could put a man on the moon over 50 years ago I am sure we could figure out a way to account for everyone in this country if we wanted to.
@Mark,
“If we could put a man on the moon over 50 years ago I am sure we could figure out a way to account for everyone in this country if we wanted to.”
The phrase “if we wanted to” is doing all the work in that sentence.
On the evidence, I’d say that our overlords don’t want to, and that most inflation-shy American consumers don’t want to, either.
From what I’ve read, eVerify isn’t bullet-proof, but it seems to me like a place to start. Prison sentences for any employer found to have employed undocumented workers (because they didn’t check eVerify) and fines for anyone shopping at a store that hasn’t posted that their sourcing has been checked by eVerify. And anyone who stays at a hotel or resort that hasn’t eVerified all the workers.
That will happen co-terminus with the first verified report of porcine aviation.