Thursday, October 6, 2011

Immigration Issues: Sorting Out the Candidates

Mike Scruggs
Part 1 of a Series

There are about 22 million Americans who want a job and can’t find one. This is according to the Department of Labor’s broader U-6 unemployment category, which includes discouraged workers not counted in the more familiar but less accurate U-3 category. Yet approximately eight million illegal aliens hold American jobs. Recent research by the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that the problem is not only illegal immigration. The United States is taking in a record one million legal immigrants each year, approximately double the 500,00 maximum number recommended by the Jordan Commission in 1994 and more recently by several prominent labor economists. The recommended maximum is to avoid displacing U.S. workers or having a negative impact on their wages and standard of living.

Excess immigration of any kind is especially unwise considering the severe recession and high unemployment rates we are now facing. Flooding the U.S. job market with new immigrants—whether illegal or legal—is not sound economic policy. It not only displaces American workers, but the excess competition by a new and cheaper labor supply also drives down their wages. This is a large part of the problem of why American wages have not kept up with inflation and is a significant factor in our continued economic recession. Are jobs important? Is the economy important? Then sound immigration policies are important. You cannot honestly talk about jobs and the economy without addressing our immigration problems.

Unfortunately, a huge part of our immigration problem is that we are not enforcing absolutely necessary policies that are already on the books. President Obama also has plans to give hundreds of thousands of “administrative” amnesties without Congressional approval. This is an inexcusable disregard for American law and the public good.

NumbersUSA has developed a rating system for Presidential and Congressional hopefuls that sorts out positions on twelve important immigration categories. These issues were addressed by the Jordan Commission in 1994 but get little attention by the mainstream media. The public is therefore not well informed on them, and politicians are allowed to avoid critical policy positions and well-informed public scrutiny.

Here are the 12 categories:

  1. Amnesty and Legalization. Neither long-term work permits nor a path to citizenship should be offered to people not legally in the United States. This includes not only blanket amnesties but also so-called “earned legalization,” a frequent political flimflam. People who have violated our immigration laws have usually also committed document and tax fraud. They should not be rewarded for it. If they are not sent home, it is a form of amnesty.
  2. Mandate E-Verify. E-Verify is an automated quick-response Federal system to insure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants.
  3. Reduce overall immigration levels. Excess legal immigration is having a significant negative impact on American wages and employment. The current level of one million per year considerably exceeds the traditional level of 250,000 and is double the level considered the maximum that can be absorbed into the U.S. economy without harming American workers. Immigration is such a sacred cow, however, that few politicians want to address this major problem.
  4. End Chain Migration. Family based immigration should be limited to spouses and minor children. The abuse of family migration began with the 1965 law that has allowed special preference to siblings, in-laws and other relatives whereby whole villages from Mexico and India have moved to the U.S. It is a major culprit in runaway immigration numbers.
  5. End Visa Lottery. 50,000 permanent work permits are given annually by random lottery selection.
  6. Limit Unfair Worker Competition. Implement national safeguards that would prevent import of foreign labor any time it would threaten the jobs or wages of American labor.
  7. Secure Borders. Implement border security measures already passed by Congress and strengthen security against terrorist, criminal, and organized crime entry. Most politicians pay lip service to this, but why has it not been done? Securing the borders is necessary but not sufficient to prevent massive illegal immigration. Nearly half of all illegal immigrants do not sneak across the border. They enter with tourist, student, or work visas and then go illegal.
  1. Implement Entry/Exit. Monitor those who enter and leave the country. This is

    important to prevent terrorism and illegal immigration due to massive unchecked visa violations.

  1. Support Local Enforcement. Federal cooperation with and assistance to state and

    local law enforcement agencies to remove illegal immigrants.

  1. Punish Business Violators. Remove economic incentives for businesses to hire illegal foreign workers. This would include tax policies, fines, and possible incarceration.
  1. Refugee Fraud. The “Temporary Protected Status” of refugees is being badly abused and should be reformed.
  2. End Birthright Citizenship. Nearly all advanced nations have ended this much abused policy resulting in over 350,000 births to illegal immigrants per year. This is a substantial burden on healthcare facilities and taxpayers and retards the exit of illegal immigrant parents.

    NumbersUSA has a tough political grading system that penalizes equivocal answers or failure to address the issues. Many are failing to address the issues, and some candidate positions are rather slippery. Obama gets and F-, but so far not many of the Republican hopefuls come close to NumbersUSA standards. Many candidates talk tough on border security but avoid straight-forward positions on amnesty, reducing legal immigration, and enforcement measures. Presidential hopeful ratings are currently: Bachmann with B-; Cain and Romney with C-; Palin with D; Gingrich, Huntsman, and Perry with D-; and Christie, Santorum, Johnson, and Paul with F. See www.numbersusa.com for specific comments and details.

If jobs and the economy are important, then immigration policy is important. Voters should not let politicians get away with shallow or evasive answers or not taking a stand on important policy questions.

13 comments:

  1. WHO GET’S PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ‘CONSTRUCTION’ JOBS?


    Here are the U.S. Representatives currently blocking Legislative faction on the Legal Workforce Act that requires all employers to use E-Verify, to fire illegal aliens who already are working for them: This is the time to hit hard the phones, e-mail to these lawmakers who include:


    • Speaker of the House Boehner (Ohio)
    • House Majority Leader Cantor (Virginia)
    • House Majority Whip McCarthy (California)
    • House Chairman of Ways & Means Committee Camp (Michigan)
    • Members of the Ways & Means Committee


    URGENTLY--Contact these House Representative and insist as a voter to your federal politician at 202-224-3121. Google ‘NumbersUSA’ web site that offers a free faxing system so you can directly contact the above mentioned politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are the politicians who have ground to a halt Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) to ensure that these Republican leaders understand that IMMIGRATION IS A JOBS ISSUE and that H.R. 2885 IS a jobs bill. Inside personnel are picking up information this week in the Congress, which these GOP leaders currently plan to keep the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) from a House floor vote this fall. The GOP professes to want jobs for American Workers, then why may you ask are they are holding back on a crucial piece of legislation? Somewhere in our nation are up to 8 million employed illegal aliens, which should be in the hands of ordinary U.S. citizens and lawful residents.


    WE MUST KEEP ECONOMIC ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS OUT OF AMERICA. SUCH STATES AS ARIZONA, ALABAMA, GEORGIA AND TO A DEGREE UTAH, ARE THE FIRST STATES TO ENACT DRACONIAN POLICING LAWS, AS THE—ONLY—WAY—TO SAVE THEIR RESIDENTS BEING FORCED BY THE COURTS TO SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE WITH WELFARE AND OTHER PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Our schools have been flooded with the children of illegal parents. Our hospitals are flooded with illegal alien families. The law says we must educate and give treatment to every sick person no matter their immigration status. But Alabama policing law shows evidence that thousands of illegal aliens are fleeing to other states, however by instituting Rep. Smith mandatory Legal Workforce Act, which includes unfettered audits of company’s jobs for illegal foreigners will collapse. Unable to get a job, the exodus will begin and American Workers will replace them.



    President Obama news conference today talked specifically about Construction jobs for repairing bridges, roads and other infrastructure, but it’s without doubt that many disreputable Contractors use illegal cheap labor. They see no wrong in hiring foreign nationals, then making honest Contractors and sub-Contractors having to compete with lower bidding on jobs without any conscious to the consequences. In any local community across the country illegal aliens are being hired instead of the legal population as roofers, framers and hundreds of other occupations, even to assist in professional jobs as electricians, plumbers and not just for manual labor. This is just but the tip of the iceberg, as within your hometown illegal workers are grouping around such locations as 'Home Depot' and day labor centers. They are in our factories, offices and hundreds of manufacturing companies, without any risk of detection. The mandatory Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) will guarantee overtime the reduction of the illegal immigrant workforce by implementing revised E-Verify. Only the special interest lobbyists and open borders organizations who are criticizing the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885), Their interest are governed by financial gain, from illegal cheap labor or more voting power in 2012.

    ReplyDelete
  4. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. No jobs bill in Congress will move so many unemployed Americans so quickly into jobs as will the Legal Workforce Act. If Republicans are serious about jobs, they will pass the Legal Workforce Act this fall and put millions of jobless Americans back to work. Republicans have been in charge of the House for nine months and have done nothing to move illegal aliens out of 7 million non-agricultural jobs. The GOP leadership's keeping the Legal Workforce Act from the House floor for a vote suggests that Pres. Obama is right about House Republicans being a "do-nothing Congress." House leaders have been back in town and need to get a strong reality check the rest of this week that Americans anticipate them to stop the national humiliation of forcing millions of Americans into unemployment because of the federal government's rebuttal to require verification at the workplace. Only the TEA PARTY leadership--the majority of average people will never allow another Amnesty passage through Congress, or any clandestine Immigration Reform laws.


    One Old Vet saying, “Stand next to me and you’ll never stand alone.”

    MY EARLIER BLOGS: http://brittanicus-enoughisenough.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. These are the politicians who have ground to a halt Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) to ensure that these Republican leaders understand that IMMIGRATION IS A JOBS ISSUE and that H.R. 2885 IS a jobs bill. Inside personnel are picking up information this week in the Congress, which these GOP leaders currently plan to keep the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) from a House floor vote this fall. The GOP professes to want jobs for American Workers, then why may you ask are they are holding back on a crucial piece of legislation? Somewhere in our nation are up to 8 million employed illegal aliens, which should be in the hands of ordinary U.S. citizens and lawful residents.


    WE MUST KEEP ECONOMIC ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS OUT OF AMERICA. SUCH STATES AS ARIZONA, ALABAMA, GEORGIA AND TO A DEGREE UTAH, ARE THE FIRST STATES TO ENACT DRACONIAN POLICING LAWS, AS THE—ONLY—WAY—TO SAVE THEIR RESIDENTS BEING FORCED BY THE COURTS TO SUPPORT THESE PEOPLE WITH WELFARE AND OTHER PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.

    ReplyDelete
  11. WHO GET’S PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ‘CONSTRUCTION’ JOBS?


    Here are the U.S. Representatives currently blocking Legislative faction on the Legal Workforce Act that requires all employers to use E-Verify, to fire illegal aliens who already are working for them: This is the time to hit hard the phones, e-mail to these lawmakers who include:


    • Speaker of the House Boehner (Ohio)
    • House Majority Leader Cantor (Virginia)
    • House Majority Whip McCarthy (California)
    • House Chairman of Ways & Means Committee Camp (Michigan)
    • Members of the Ways & Means Committee


    URGENTLY--Contact these House Representative and insist as a voter to your federal politician at 202-224-3121. Google ‘NumbersUSA’ web site that offers a free faxing system so you can directly contact the above mentioned politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WHO GET’S PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ‘CONSTRUCTION’ JOBS?


    Here are the U.S. Representatives currently blocking Legislative faction on the Legal Workforce Act that requires all employers to use E-Verify, to fire illegal aliens who already are working for them: This is the time to hit hard the phones, e-mail to these lawmakers who include:


    • Speaker of the House Boehner (Ohio)
    • House Majority Leader Cantor (Virginia)
    • House Majority Whip McCarthy (California)
    • House Chairman of Ways & Means Committee Camp (Michigan)
    • Members of the Ways & Means Committee


    URGENTLY--Contact these House Representative and insist as a voter to your federal politician at 202-224-3121. Google ‘NumbersUSA’ web site that offers a free faxing system so you can directly contact the above mentioned politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  13. WHO GET’S PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ‘CONSTRUCTION’ JOBS?


    Here are the U.S. Representatives currently blocking Legislative faction on the Legal Workforce Act that requires all employers to use E-Verify, to fire illegal aliens who already are working for them: This is the time to hit hard the phones, e-mail to these lawmakers who include:


    • Speaker of the House Boehner (Ohio)
    • House Majority Leader Cantor (Virginia)
    • House Majority Whip McCarthy (California)
    • House Chairman of Ways & Means Committee Camp (Michigan)
    • Members of the Ways & Means Committee


    URGENTLY--Contact these House Representative and insist as a voter to your federal politician at 202-224-3121. Google ‘NumbersUSA’ web site that offers a free faxing system so you can directly contact the above mentioned politicians.

    ReplyDelete