http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_2762809

Supply and demand of illegals
By Reggie Rivers
5-27-2005

The illegal immigration debate is always framed as a conflict between us and them. We're the good guys, innocently living our lives, abiding by laws and exerting no negative impact on our Southern neighbors. They are the bad guys, sneaking across our borders, flouting our laws, stealing our jobs and exploiting our education and health care systems.

We see the problem in very simplistic terms: We're victims of their criminal activity.

But if illegal immigration is the natural consequence of a supply-and-demand model, is it reasonable to lay all of the blame on the people who provide the supply? What about those who create the demand?

Supply and demand is a factor in the illegal drug trade, because some argue that it's consumers, not producers, who create the problem. Should we blame the Central and South American countries who are growing the products or should we blame the Americans who are spending billions each year to purchase them?

Perhaps both groups deserve a share of the blame.

If demand is the force that brings drugs across the border illegally, couldn't the same be said of illegal workers?

The force that never gets mentioned in this debate is our own hyper-consumerism. In order to consume products and services at the rate we do, we need high incomes, easy access to credit and relatively inexpensive goods.

Gasoline prices provide a representative example. We can afford to drive gas-guzzling SUVs (I've got one), because fuel prices are relatively low compared to other countries. Europeans pay roughly $4.75 a gallon. If our prices climbed that high, most of us would get rid of our SUVs and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Most product categories operate the same way. Consumerism as a national sport requires a playing field filled with low-priced options. Our homes are packed with furniture, clothing, toys, jewelry, pets, electronic equipment, artwork, cookware, vehicles, recreational equipment and much more - yet we're still constantly shopping for more.

My wife and I live in a large house, own three cars and have a very consumptive lifestyle. Our consumerism relies on cheap goods, and those inexpensive products have to come from somewhere.

President Bush has praised outsourcing as one tool for lowering costs, but no one seems to talk about "insourcing" (illegal immigration) as its natural corollary. We are providing the demand that compels employers to cross borders looking for workers, and workers to cross borders looking for employers.

We complain about illegal immigrants, but as long as we're eating in restaurants, stocking our refrigerators with fresh fruits and vegetables, sneaking away for long weekends in hotels, hiring crews to clean our homes and offices, getting our cars professionally detailed, buying newly constructed homes and hiring remodeling crews to update our kitchens and bathrooms, we're contributing to the problem.

Our immigration policies have been ambivalent, because we can't decide what's most important to us. Some people want to shut down the borders, check IDs at every federal, state and local government office, and prosecute anyone who is here illegally. But most politicians are afraid to push too hard, because they know that most Americans are unwilling to retard their consumption.

Illegal immigration is a complicated problem driven by diverse social forces. We can't completely close the border, nor can we leave it wide open. We need to find a solution that meets the needs of everyone involved.

Rather than simply demonizing workers who come here to support their families, we should consider the degree to which we create the problem. Our insatiable appetite for inexpensive consumer goods is the fuel that feeds the wildfire of illegal immigration.