A blast from the past, to help put the politics of the immigration issue into perspective--
"We must not tolerate illegal immigration. Since 1992, we have increased our Border Patrol by over 35%; deployed underground sensors, infrared night scopes and encrypted radios; built miles of new fences; and installed massive amounts of new lighting. We have moved forcefully to protect American jobs by calling on Congress to enact increased civil and criminal sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers. Since 1993, we have removed 30,000 illegal workers from jobs across the country."
Source: Between Hope and History, by Bill Clinton, p.134 Jan 1, 1996
Yes, that's Bill Clinton on illegal immigration.
Bill sounds like he'd approve of Jim Sensenbrenner's H.R. 4437, doesn't he?
Newsweek has a somewhat fair assessment of the impact of illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Somewhat.
In a WEB EXCLUSIVE, Jessica Bennett interviews economist James P. Smith. He works at the Rand Corporation, specializing in immigration labor. (That means he's an expert and you shouldn't question what he says.)
I'm with Smith on this point.
NEWSWEEK: Is it possible at this point to gauge the economic impact of Monday’s protests?
James P. Smith: At most, part of workers lost part of a day, [but] there’s no real effect on consumption. Whether it had a political effect or not—that’s a different question. But the economic impact was zero.
In the rest of the article, it seems that Smith really wants to put the best possible spin on the pro-illegal immigration movement. However, he is at least intellectually honest enough to admit that the country would not fall apart without illegal immigrants.
The interview can be summed up this way:
While pointing out that the May Day protests had no economic impact, Smith cites all the good things that illegals do for America. He believes that the country would suffer without the illegals. Some industries would be forced to fold entirely and we'd have to import more goods. Higher prices would also be a side effect of an America without illegals.
I don't buy that. So much of what we consume already comes from places like China. I don't think the threat of higher prices flies. It's not as if all of our industries employ and depend on illegal immigrants.
We already have so much outsourcing and offshoring, and so many evil Wal-Marts, yet the unemployment rate is at 4.7% -- lower than the average of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
It's difficult to argue that the lack of cheap labor would cripple the economy.
Smith says, "Undocumented immigrants tend to be very low skilled and also receive extremely low wages in their home countries, so they’re willing to work for quite low wages in the United States relative to our standards. Most Americans in those kinds of jobs are not going to work for those wages—and that’s the niche that the undocumented tend to [fill]. They work in low-skilled jobs at wages way below what domestic workers would be willing to work for, and those are the industries they tend to dominate. And we all benefit from that in lower prices for the services we buy."
I think Smith is overstating the benefits that illegals bring to the country.
Here, I question Smith's presentation of the facts. He fails to accurately address the true cost of supporting illegals.
NEWSWEEK:But would it benefit consumers in any way—like a decrease in taxes?
Smith:At the federal level, [undocumented immigrants] turn out to be a net-positive benefit because immigrants are young and the federal government is spending money on programs for the elderly, like Medicare and Social Security. At the state and local level they tend to be a tax burden, not because of welfare and not because of health, but because of education. In California, we estimated that the native-born households were paying about $1,200 more in taxes than they received in benefits in order to pay for immigrants.
NEWSWEEK:What’s the biggest misconception about the impact of undocumented workers on the U.S. economy?
Smith:I think people overstate their importance. It’s a positive benefit but it’s not the be-all end-all of the economy.
Although Smith admits to the tax burden of educating illegals, he doesn't stress what an incredible burden it is, billions of dollars annually. Furthermore, he completely dismisses the tremendous costs of health care and welfare programs that the taxpayer must carry.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons has an article detailing the enormous impact that illegal immigrants have on American health and medicine.
(Excerpts)
The influx of illegal aliens has serious hidden medical consequences. We judge reality primarily by what we see. But what we do not see can be more dangerous, more expensive, and more deadly than what is seen.
Illegal aliens’ stealthy assaults on medicine now must rouse Americans to alert and alarm. Even President Bush describes illegal aliens only as they are seen: strong physical laborers who work hard in undesirable jobs with low wages, who care for their families, and who pursue the American dream.
What is unseen is their free medical care that has degraded and closed some of America's finest emergency medical facilities, and caused hospital bankruptcies: 84 California hospitals are closing their doors. “Anchor babies” born to illegal aliens instantly qualify as citizens for welfare benefits and have caused enormous rises in Medicaid costs and stipends under Supplemental Security Income and Disability Income.
What is seen is the illegal alien who with strong back may cough, sweat, and bleed, but is assumed healthy even though he and his illegal alien wife and children were never examined for contagious diseases.
By default, we grant health passes to illegal aliens. Yet many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue, and Chagas disease.
What is seen is the political statistic that 43 million lives are at risk in America because of lack of medical insurance. What is unseen is that medical insurance does not equal medical care. Uninsured people receive medical care in hospital emergency departments (EDs) under the coercive Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985 (EMTALA), which obligates hospitals to treat the uninsured but does not pay for that care. Also unseen is the percentage of the uninsured who are illegal aliens. No one knows how many illegal aliens reside in America. If there are 10 million, they constitute nearly 25 percent of the uninsured. The percentage could be even higher.
The health care cost in terms of tax dollars is not the only issue. Also of concern is the transmission of disease due to lack of controls at the borders.
Clearly, Smith did not paint a complete picture of the effects of illegals on the health of Americans nor the cost of caring for illegals.
It's worth reading more of the report.
The "expert" and the Newsweek article distort reality. Disappointing, but not all that surprising.
Smith concludes that illegal immigrants positively benefit the economy, though their importance is overstated by some.
I think Smith and illegal immigrant supporters are dramatically underestimating the enormous cost that they pose to the country.
When all is calculated, the cost of providing services for illegal immigrants is far greater than the benefits they contribute in economic terms.
If we are going to have a constructive debate on immigration reform, it is crucial that we understand the facts.
Distorting the true costs of illegal immigrants in America will benefit no one in the end. In order to establish an immigration policy that is fair and orderly, it must be built on an honest foundation.
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Additional reading:
Here is an eye-opening piece by Mark Cromer, "Illegal Immigration: A Costly Crisis."
Tom Tancredo gives his ideas in "A Day Without an Illegal Immigrant."
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