Thread: It's all about cheap labor

It's all about cheap labor
Posted on Fri, Mar. 21, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
By PHILIP J. ROMERO
promero@uoregon.edu

EUGENE, Ore. -- As the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. On immigration policy, for most of the last 20 years -- since the last immigration ''reform'' act was passed in Congress in 1986 -- a vacuum is about all that has emanated from Washington.

So states are attempting what the Feds won't do. The illegal immigrant problem that was first placed on the national radar by California in the early 1990s has expanded beyond a handful of border states to almost every state in the union, with only vacuous statements from our national ``leaders.''

Amid the debate over how to control our borders, a simple truth is rarely voiced: Many industries have built their business models on cheap labor, and have no desire to end illegal immigration. They dress up their business imperative in politically correct language to give the politicians they support a publicly acceptable reason for opposing real reform such as a tamper-proof national ID card.

Policy a la carte

Politicians, Republican and Democrat, outbid each other in proposing supposedly ''tough'' immigration laws -- then conveniently fail to provide agencies the resources to enforce them. Recent highly publicized initiatives by the Department of Homeland Security to crack down on employers may change this, but there have been Potemkin village ''sweeps'' before.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the issue has increasingly been taken up at the state and local levels. It's now immigration policy a la carte. Some big-city councils have passed ordinances declaring sanctuaries.

More commonly, jurisdictions have grown tired of waiting for the federal government and are mandating sanctions that the Feds can't seem to make happen. Arizona's recent law is one example: It imposes state penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Why have Arizona voters, and by extension others, taken the law into their own hands, quite possibly unconstitutionally?

• First, they see it as an economic imperative. The majority of illegal immigrants come from poor rural regions of Mexico and Central America. Their average level of education is barely six years of school. Combined with a lack of English proficiency, this consigns them to only low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Most of government subsidies are targeted to low income residents and are mandated by federal courts.

Illegal immigrants absorb far more in government support than what they provide in tax dollars -- by a margin of at least eight to one. Taxpayers in states such as Arizona, seeing their dollars siphoned off to go to recipients they never intended, have every right to be outraged.

• Second, while illegal immigrants are motivated by a desire to work, not dependence, they also are flouting the law, and ultimately our very sovereignty.

Evading one legal obligation often leads to broader and more serious criminality -- and in fact, illegal immigrants disproportionately populate state prisons.

Ironically, the Arizona measure that has received the most attention is Proposition 300, prohibiting in-state university tuition discounts for illegal immigrant students. It went into effect on Jan. 1.

It is probably not in Arizonans' long-term interests to make it difficult for illegal immigrants to enter the middle class through college. But every such concession only maintains the look-the-other-way policy that has been endemic for generations.

In the absence of sincere federal action to match its brave promises, Arizona's frustration is entirely understandable. Expect more of the same from other states, absent effective, long overdue reform from Washington.

Philip J. Romero is professor of business administration at the University of Oregon and author of Racing Backward: the Fiscal Impact of Illegal Immigrants.
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/464625.html

Wow! I honestly can't believe that article came from a university in my state - and from the most progressive university in the state at that!
Who wudda thunk it!?!?!?!

Thanks Mr. Romero. You did good.

another great piece to send to our politicians copied MSM and advocacy groups to challenge them!

Great article!

Just emailed the author a compliment on this piece.

Evading one legal obligation often leads to broader and more serious criminality -- and in fact, illegal immigrants disproportionately populate state prisons.

Coming into the country illegally is the 1st offense.

Illegal aliens come from lawless societies. Their whole mindset is that laws dont pertain to them. Thats why our prisons are so full of them.

Racing Backward: the Fiscal Impact of Illegal Immigrants:
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman ... mero.shtml

Yes, NAFTA and so called FREE trade agreements help multi-nationals shut down their AMERICAN plants and operations to go to Mexico and China for CHEAP LABOR and to avoid environmental laws.

Then, Washington refuses to enforce immigration laws which allows for cheaper labot here via illegals.

A double whammy. Export jobs and import people!


BUT, it has to destroy the economy as we know it sooner or later does it not?

Thought I would share his response:

Thank you, Ms. ___. It won't make me any friends here in academia, however.

Have to respect an independent thinker like him.