Thread: Immigration Economics 101

Immigration Economics 101

Monday, January 23, 2012



Illegal immigration is a deeply divisive issue. It's also a crucial economic issue. And while heated rhetoric across a deep divide has long dominated this topic, many Americans on both sides of the argument rightly agree that this is ultimately a federal problem demanding a federal solution.

Certainly an overwhelming segment of the business community, including the wide-ranging fields of agriculture, hospitality, construction and high-tech electronics, is pressing for comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates for such change made the economic case for it again at a recent Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Representatives of a bipartisan group of business and political leaders called Partnership for a New American Economy came to the meeting to press the case for an overdue immigration overhaul.

Among the organization's members are assorted mayors, including Charleston's Joe Riley, Columbia's Steve Benjamin and New York City's Michael Bloomberg.

Jeremy Robbins, an advisor to Mayor Bloomberg, spoke at the meeting and later gave us this basic, either/or economic pitch: "If you can't get the right worker, you're not going to grow."

In other words, like it or not, there simply aren't enough U.S. citizens to fill those "right worker" roles -- even considering the current high jobless rate.

The U.S. House recognized that reality two months ago when it passed the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act" by a sweeping 389-15 margin. The legislation removes caps that absurdly hold China and India to the same number of highly trained immigrants into the U.S. as we allow for much smaller nations.

Walter Isaacson, in his biography of the late Steve Jobs, reports that the Apple founder stressed to President Barack Obama "the need for more trained engineers and suggested that any foreign students who earned an engineering degree in the U.S. should be given a visa to stay in the country."

Just because a foreign-born person is educated here and then works here doesn't mean that will cost an American a job.

Indeed, it can in some cases save Americans' jobs by preventing U.S. companies from shifting their endeavors out of the country.

As Mr. Robbins put it: "The labor market's not a zero-sum game."

And crafting immigration policy to help businesses succeed is not strictly a high-end game. The agricultural industry -- and low food prices -- depend on cheap labor from south of the U.S. border. A more productive guest-worker program would help supply those workers.

No, open borders aren't the answer. We need to regain control of the immigration equation.

Washington has long failed to fulfill that obligation. While the Obama administration touts numbers showing that it has deported illegal immigrants at a higher rate than the previous administration, blatant gaps in the federal enforcement effort have moved several states, including ours, to pass their own immigration laws. The Justice Department has challenged some of those laws, including ours, in court.

Ideally, though, this issue, with its major economic ramifications, shouldn't be settled by judges.

It should be resolved by federal authorities who restore confidence in their commitment and ability to enforce the law -- and by federal lawmakers who support long-overdue immigration reform.

Immigration Economics 101 | The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment

Certainly an overwhelming segment of the business community, including the wide-ranging fields of agriculture, hospitality, construction and high-tech electronics, is pressing for comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates for such change made the economic case for it again at a recent Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Their business plan is to have U.S. taxpayers pick up the cost of benefits for their workers, including medical and educational expenses. Good economics for employers, but financial disaster for taxpayers.