Thread: Are American workers harmed by illegal alien workforce?

Are American workers harmed (such as through job displacement or lower wages) by an illegal alien workforce?


What are the solutions to illegal immigration to America?

About this Topic

The issue of illegal immigration, with its broad sub-issues ranging from mass deportation to general amnesty to the building of a 700-mile wall, have not only sparked intense controversy recently, but have been debated since the country's founding. As legal and illegal immigrant populations continue to climb, the issue has taken on a new importance and focus. This site gives readers an overview of the debate offering "pro" and "con" responses to central questions in the words of the actual proponents and opponents of the debate.

PRO Legalization and/or CON Deportation CON Legalization and/or PRO Deportation

PRO: Proponents believe that illegal immigration benefits the US economy through additional tax revenue, expansion of the low-cost labor pool, and increased money in circulation. They argue that undocumented immigrants perform jobs that keep American society running smoothly. They believe immigrants bring good values, have motivations consistent with the American dream, and that opposition to immigration stems from racism.

CON: Opponents of illegal immigration believe that aliens broke the law by crossing the borders without proper documentation or by overstaying their visas, and therefore deportation is the appropriate option. They regard illegal aliens as criminals, potential terrorists, and social and economic burdens. They argue that undocumented immigrants should not have the right to change their legal status because such lenience will encourage more illegal immigration.


Last updated on: 4/13/2009 12:52 PM PST


PRO (yes)

Vernon M. Briggs, Jr., PhD, Emeritus Professor of Labor Economics at Cornell University, in an Apr. 4, 2008 testimony before the US Civil Rights Commission titled "Illegal Immigration: The Impact on Wages and Employment of Black Workers," offered the following:

"Of the 50 million low skilled adults (those 25 years of age and over) in the civilian labor force in 2007, black Americans accounted for about 5.6 million of such workers (or about 10 percent of the total). These black American workers, however, had the highest unemployment rates of any of the four racial and ethnic groups for which the data was collected... Because most illegal immigrants overwhelmingly seek work in the low skilled labor market and because the black American labor force is so disproportionately concentrated in this same low wage sector, there is little doubt that there is significant overlap in competition for jobs in this sector of the labor market. Given the inordinately high unemployment rates for low skilled black workers (the highest for all racial and ethnic groups for whom data is collected), it is obvious that the major loser in this competition are low skilled black workers... Illegal immigrants – who themselves are often exploited even though they may not think so — are allowed to cause harm in the form of unemployment and depressed wages to the most vulnerable workers in the American work force."

Apr. 4, 2008 - Vernon M. Briggs Jr. , PhD


B. Lindsay Lowell, PhD, Director of Policy Studies of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, in a Nov. 26, 2007 email response to ProCon.org, stated:

"Some Americans are hurt by unauthorized workers, just as other benefit. Objective economists are clear that there is no free lunch, just as they clear about benefits accompanying most costs. Unfortunately, and no matter assertions on one side or the other, the actual research available is not in agreement at this point in time on the balance of pluses and minuses. But it is clear that unauthorized employment undercuts transparency and the legal framework protecting the American workforce. Even if there were no clear evidence of adverse economic impacts, and some evidence does exist, its hard to see how one can reasonably conclude no harm on non-economic grounds."

Nov. 26, 2007 - B. Lindsay Lowell, PhD



Richard Jones, Sheriff of Butler County in Ohio, in a Dec. 6, 2007 email response to ProCon.org, responded:

"Yes. Not only are American workers harmed by the loss of jobs, the hourly rates are reduced because of illegal aliens working for far less. I know of business owners who often cannot compete in the bidding process for contracts because of under bidding by other businesses that cheat and hire illegal aliens at far less than standard wages. This practice is destroying many American businesses and costing honest, hard working Americans their jobs."

Dec. 6, 2007 - Richard K. Jones, MS



Joseph George Caldwell, PhD, Financial Management Consultant, in a Nov. 27, 2007 email response to ProCon.org, wrote:

"Yes, American workers are harmed by an illegal alien workforce... Every immigrant to this country, legal or illegal, causes the destruction of approximately one acre of natural land, because of construction of infrastructure (homes, offices, roads, parking lots, schools, hospitals, and the like)... Even from an economic viewpoint, U.S. workers are hurt, because they are forced to compete with illegal workers willing to accept a much lower wage."

Nov. 27, 2007 - Joseph George Caldwell, PhD



Virginia Deane Abernethy, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, in a Nov. 28, 2007 email response to ProCon.org, offered the following:

"Yes. American workers are harmed by an illegal workforce both through wage depression and displacement from jobs."

Nov. 28, 2007 - Virginia Deane Abernethy, PhD



George J. Borjas, PhD, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University, in a May, 2004 Center for Immigration Studies essay titled "Increasing the Supply of Labor Through Immigration, Measuring the Impact on Native-born Workers," wrote:

"Economic theory predicts that increasing the supply of labor... will reduce earnings for natives in competition with immigrants... Statistical analysis shows that when immigration increases the supply of workers in a skill category, the earnings of native-born workers in that same category fall. The negative effect will occur regardless of whether the immigrant workers are legal or illegal, temporary or permanent. Any sizable increase in the number of immigrants will inevitably lower wages for some American workers. Conversely, reducing the supply of labor by strict immigration enforcement and reduced legal immigration would increase the earnings of native workers."

May, 2004 - George J. Borjas, PhD


CON (no)

John G. Morgan, State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, in an Aug. 2007 study prepared by the Offices of Research and Education Accountability titled "Immigration Issues in Tennessee (193 KB)," offered the following:

"[U]nauthorized aliens are not taking jobs or significantly affecting native workers’ wages. Immigrants, including unauthorized aliens, are filling a demand for labor, especially in low skilled jobs, which lowers prices and modestly raises natives’ per capita income... Many businesses indicate a labor shortage in areas of Tennessee and the U.S. Additional immigrants are needed to fill the demand, especially in lower skilled occupations. Based on interviews by the Comptroller’s Office of Research with several trade associations in the hospitality and construction industries in Tennessee, sufficient eligible workers are not available to meet their labor demands. They contend that the number of projected jobs is greater than the eligible workers moving into the workforce."

Aug. 2007 - John G. Morgan


Alan B. Krueger, PhD, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Princeton University, in an Apr. 4, 2006 Center for American Progress memorandum titled "Two Labor Economic Issues for the Immigration Debate," wrote:

"Confident predictions that [legal and illegal] immigrant inflows have depressed the wages and employment opportunities of U.S. workers, particularly of the less skilled, belie an unsettled and often unsupportive research base [...] Studies that claim to find a deleterious effect of immigration on natives’ wages are typically based on theoretical predictions, not actual experience [...] The best available evidence does not support the view that large waves of immigrants in the past have had a detrimental effect on the labor market opportunities of natives, including the less skilled and minorities. Any claim that increased immigration... will necessarily reduce the wages of incumbent workers should be viewed as speculation with little solid research support."

Apr. 4, 2006 - Alan B. Krueger, PhD


David A. Jaeger, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary, in a March 2006 Center for American Progress study titled "Replacing the Undocumented Work Force," wrote:

"While we find that, overall, there are enough out-of-work natives to replace undocumented workers, there is a severe mismatch between the skills of undocumented workers and the natives who would potentially replace them. Moreover... all out-of-work natives would not otherwise find work. Clearly, a certain share of natives are unemployed due to the normal functioning of the labor market (socalled 'frictional' unemployment) and will find work regardless of what happens with undocumented workers...

The largest share of out-of-work natives have a high school diploma, where approximately 3.1 million potentially need jobs, 1.2 million more than the number of undocumented workers with a high school diploma. If the undocumented immigrants were removed from the work force, these natives would either remain out-of-work or would need to find jobs requiring lower levels of education... Removing undocumented workers from the economy would not be a panacea for native unemployment."

March 2006 - David Jaeger, PhD


Sheldon Rampton, Research Director at the Center for Media & Democracy, in a Nov. 30, 2007 email response to ProCon.org, provided the following:

"For the most part, no. Illegal aliens are typically hired to perform low-paying, menial jobs that most Americans simply prefer not to do. I have a friend who... needs live-in assistance to perform basic tasks such as eating, bathing, going to the bathroom, and dressing herself. Some of the people she has hired for this purpose are illegal immigrants. Finding people who are willing to do this work for the amount of pay that she can afford would be very difficult if legal residents were the only people she could find to hire.

It should be noted, moreover, that today we live in an international economy, in which jobs previously held by Americans are increasingly being performed by people who live in other countries, generally at lower wages. This includes jobs such as manufacturing, telephone customer support, telemarketing, and even computer programming and office services. Low-paid foreign workers do not actually have to reside in the United States to compete with American workers."

Nov. 30, 2007 - Sheldon Rampton


The Center for American Progress, in a Dec. 20, 2006 website article titled "Highlight on Comprehensive Immigration Reform," offered the following:

"Approximately 7.2 million undocumented immigrants currently work in the United States, but they are concentrated in a number of sectors in the workforce. And because a massive skill and education gap exists between undocumented workers and unemployed U.S. citizens, undocumented workers do not displace American jobs as many fear."

Dec. 20, 2006 - Center for American Progress


http://immigration.procon.org/viewanswe ... nID=000852

Approximately 7.2 million ( why says only 7.2 million?) undocumented immigrants currently work in the United States, but they are concentrated in a number of sectors in the workforce. And because a massive skill and education gap exists between undocumented workers and unemployed U.S. citizens, undocumented workers do not displace American jobs as many fear."

It is true that the illegals that come here represent the bottom of the education barrel, however even though the education gap between American workers and illegals is expansive; illegals are still being given American jobs. Business owners and corporate elites are concerned about their profit margin even if it costs us our country!

What ever!!! LIE'S, LIE'S, LIE'S.

What about the truck driver's, construction, fast food job's that have historically been our kid's introduction into the work place and provided much needed family help in that they could earn their own money for clothes, school trips or for those living on their own, or companies like UPS who hire illegals etc.. I could go on and on.

These people and a large part of the American people see this article for what it is, self-serving spinning of special interest groups.

This would all be good to forward to the Senate Sub committee on Immigration. Refutes a lot of the Greenspan and SEIU nonsense.

I say that American workers are most definitely harmed by the hiring of Illegal Aliens.

First of all, it is totally false to think or say that Illegals take the jobs that Americans do not want to have for themselves. In virtually every city where Illegals had been discovered and deported, the American residents of those cities lined up to take the jobs that had become available. Why were those not available in the first place? Because the owners of those companies did not want to offer jobs to Americans as they would then have to pay SSI benefits and in some cases, health care. By hiring undocumented workers, employers escape those expenses... at least until they are caught... and are able to hire those Illegal workers at minimum pay scale.

Secondly, Illegal Aliens who do specialized work, such as gardening or landscaping, house cleaners or mechanics, for example, have continually forced American workers aside by undercutting the fees of their American counterparts. Many American service workers have lost their businesses or their hourly work because the Illegal Aliens charge less. Of course, part of the blame may be placed on the Americans who hire the Illegals to begin with, rather than hiring Americans. It's one thing to pay less for a service, but it's another thing to disregard Americans in favor of those who are in this country illegally. All American citizens, when hiring service personnel, should make a full check on the citizenship of those who would be working for them... and hire American workers.

Thirdly, Illegal Aliens who take jobs in places like fast food restaurants, full-service restaurants, service stations, messenger services, or in any business for that matter, are preventing our American youth from taking part-time or summertime jobs that would help them learn the value of earning their living, of earning extra money for themselves, and for developing a sense of responsibility in their lives. There used to be a time when High School kids and College kids, for that matter, would take part-time jobs to help themselves along. Not any more... especially when such jobs are given to Illegal Aliens. Some may complain that our youth today don't care for such things, that they don't care to work; but that, too, is a fallacy. There are many responsible young people in America who want to learn how to take care of themselves; who want more responsibility in their lives by taking a part-time or summertime job, but are unable to take those jobs because they had been given to Illegal Aliens.

In addition to all of this, the problem of identity theft by Illegal Aliens is becoming out of control. Illegal Aliens somehow use other people's Social Security numbers so that they can find work, but then leave the taxes on the money they earn to the holder of the Social Security Number they have stolen. There are too many consequences of this situation to list here, but you can peruse many examples of the seriousness of this situation in an article that had formerly been submitted to ALIPAC and which was written by Vicki Crawford for the "Naples News" of Florida:
http://www.naplesnews.com/blogs/observa ... heftentry/

Illegal Aliens are doing a great injustice to the American Workers... the U.S. Taxpaying Citizens, for all of the situations listed above and more. The supporters of Illegal Aliens are doing a great injustice to the American workers, especially in these hard economic times, by putting the interests of those who have illegally entered this country over the interests of their fellow Americans... the U.S. Taxpayers who have to keep funding government spending that seems to support the rights of Illegal Aliens over the rights of American citizens. Our Government needs to put the interests of the U.S. Citizens above all others.

It's one thing to help others out, but we can't help others if we cannot help ourselves. We cannot take care of others if we cannot take care of our own. We cannot create jobs for others if our own citizens are going without jobs themselves.

MarkM, great post. I agree with you 100%.

I recently had a run in with a friend that knows my finances are very scarce; she told me if I wanted to paint the interior of my house I should just hire an illegal because they are cheaper. I told her that while the initial cost of having the illegal paint my interior would be cheaper in the long run it would cost me and my country so much more................

Originally Posted by ELE

MarkM, great post. I agree with you 100%.

I recently had a run in with a friend that knows my finances are very scarce; she told me if I wanted to paint the interior of my house I should just hire an illegal because they are cheaper. I told her that while the initial cost of having the illegal paint my interior would be cheaper in the long run it would cost me and my country so much more................

Good for you!!

My fiance and I will be moving in August and we already have american workers lined up to move us that day. As far as jobs in the food industry goes, I have not seen a teenager in a fast food restaurant in many, many years! My mother and I used to go to a restaurant called Soup Plantation. It was a buffet style restaurant. Anyway, all the workers there were high school age kids and were of many ethnicities. They were always so curteous and the place was always very clean. My mom and I took a break from that place for awhile, about a year. Then when we returned, all the kids were GONE!!! In their place were nothing but illegal aliens who spoke spanish to each other. It was disgusting! When I went to the bathroom I saw an illegal picking her nose outside of the entrance!!! UGH!!! We never have set foot in that place again. It was so sad to see all these lovely kids totally replaced like they don't matter. So YES, ILLEGALS DO HARM THE AMERICAN WORKER!!!! Doesn't take a PHd to figure that out!!!

Originally Posted by alexcastro

My fiance and I will be moving in August and we already have american workers lined up to move us that day. As far as jobs in the food industry goes, I have not seen a teenager in a fast food restaurant in many, many years!

I see them working at In and Out Burger, but that's it.

Originally Posted by Bowman

Originally Posted by alexcastro

My fiance and I will be moving in August and we already have american workers lined up to move us that day. As far as jobs in the food industry goes, I have not seen a teenager in a fast food restaurant in many, many years!

I see them working at In and Out Burger, but that's it.

You mean American kids right?? In and Out Burger where I live is the only place I see legal employment also.