Illegal immigration can't be sustained

Published: 8/27/2007 5:20 AM

The activists using Elvira Arellano as a catalyst for immigration reform need to enroll in an Economics 101 class and bone up on the effects of the law of supply and demand.

Unbridled immigration, be it either illegal or legal, is not the way to go in today's America. Present day America is not like the days of Plymouth Rock, when we had the vast undeveloped land expanses and unchecked numbers of people could enter on a whim. So how can some of today's border jumpers enter via the back door into a developed and highly populated America and suddenly compare themselves to being modern day Pilgrims?

Today's America demands that we must control the numbers of people entering the country just as we have to control the number of people entering a sporting or theatrical event, as there is only so much room to contain people without creating problems.

Illegal immigrants from our southern border may think they are initially bettering themselves finding these low- paying menial jobs not available in their country. However, the law of supply and demand will eventually catch up with them, as there are only so many low-level jobs available. Continued unabated illegal immigration will in the end tend to reduce these clandestine immigrants to a surplus commodity to be taken advantage of by many employers who will have even better odds for continued cheap labor rates from an overabundant unskilled labor pool that will all too soon become a bottomless pit as more and more people enter the country illegally. These ongoing bargain basement wage earners will tend to create overcrowded rundown living conditions as many families will have no choice other than to double up in apartments to survive.

Surprisingly, the law of supply and demand also affects skilled people. A major airline recently ran an ad to recruit new pilots. One-thousand hopeful pilots applied, but the airline had only 100 job openings. The law of supply and demand also applies to skilled professions as it does to "jobs nobody wants."

Walter Santi

Bloomingdale

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