It disappoints me that the debate over immigration lacks some fundamental aspects.
1) Facts seems to me to be missing.
Some of the economic data surrounding the impacts of illegal immigration will be incomplete and some will be based on estimates. Estimates could easily be subjective - economic models are complex. I find it difficult to understand any estimate unless the study tells me specifically the assumptions included in the study.
But can we agree on this?
- Illegal immigrants provide cheap labor.
- Consumers and Employers of the good and services produced by cheap labor are both potential beneficiaries. If the illegal immigrant labor was supplied by US citizens and/or legal immigrants the costs of the labor would rise since the supply of labor would be reduced. But it is not clear to me how much the consumer benefits and how much the employer benefits.
- This supply of cheap labor dampens the salaries of legal workers especially low-skilled workers who compete with illegals.
So there is an impact on labor rates, costs of goods and services and probably unemployment. But who benefits and who does it hurt? How much of the cost savings are passed on to the consumer? For low-skilled workers does the cost savings compensate for lower wages?
The other economic impacts are really difficult to estimate. How much public money is spent providing services to illegals for education, health care, etc.? How much money is lost due to crime or uncollected taxes? How much is paid in taxes by illegals who end up with no legal claim to the public services paid by those taxes? I have no idea but shouldn't this be an integral part of the debate?
2) Assumptions are not verified.
We can't deport 12 million people. We hear this all of the time. Is that true?
If we had a policy of finding and deporting all illegal immigrants how would we do it? Some steps could be that for anyone who gets a parking or traffic ticket they must present a valid driver's license. If one can't be produced than there is a second charge and the person must provide some identification.
Likewise anyone charged with a crime must provide some identification.
If the person cannot provide identification that are held in jail without bail (due to flight risk). If the person is convicted and still has no identification they are deported and anything property they own is confiscated. Their employer is also notified and may be subject to an investigation about hiring illegals. Remember that hiring illegals is also against the law.
Wouldn't measures like this have the impact of (a) reducing the stream of illegals and (b) convincing some to go home? I am sure that there are any number of measures that would change the risk-reward profile for employers and workers.
Now I am not arguing for any specific measures but I am questioning the assumption that we cannot deport illegals. This would do more to stem illegal immigration than a fence. As T. always tells me, you need to deal with the problem on the demand side and the supply side.
3) Desired outcomes are not expressed.
On each side of the debate, what is the desired outcome or end state? Shouldn't an immigration policy be based on goals about population growth, goals on the composition of annual immigration based on skills, education, age, and nationality? The issue of fairness and nationality is central to the debate. Should we favor Mexicans and our brothers from Latin America over Asians, Europeans and Africans?
If there are resources that deal with the debate in a realistic way - let me know - since I am still undecided about a "comprehensive" immigration bill.
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Interesting information on the issue.
1. 40% of all workers in L.A. County ( L.A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on
Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican
nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely
illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L.A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L.A. County . )
(All of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)
Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare.
Over 70% of the United States ' annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration.
29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
yeah, illegals are scary and all, but a lot of them do pay taxes actually. And do not freak out about the Mexicans please. It is just another influx or Immigrants (remember, nobody liked Irish or Italians when they were coming here by shiploads).
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