What would you expect from Open Borders Latino advocates of illegal aliens? Babble just like this:

U.S. economy owes much of its success to immigrants

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews ... 1b.article
September 1, 2007
BY SYLVIA PUENTE AND VICTOR ORTIZ

The immigration debate is so much more complex than the current debate that surrounds Elvira Arellano. By focusing the debate on her, we ignore the complex issues that surround immigration, including the economic contribution that immigrants make that sustain the U.S. economy, the increasing economic interdependence that is a byproduct of globalization, and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Retiring baby boomers are dependent upon the immigrant labor force to ensure that Social Security remains solvent. The conservative trustees of the Social Security system have reported that more than 1 million immigrants a year are needed to enter the U.S. labor market to sustain the Social Security system ("2006 Old-Age Survivors Insurance and Disabilities Report"). While numbers are key to the immigration debate, this important labor market need is rarely the focus of discussions in the streets or in the halls of government. This economic necessity is stubbornly overlooked. Yet it highlights the deeply intertwined future of native and immigrant populations.

This increasing interdependence occurs in the context of the unabated economic integration of the United States and Mexico. When NAFTA went into effect in 1994, these two countries traded a combined $100 billion. By 2006 trade had reached $332 billion. Further economic integration is demonstrated by the fact that Mexico is the second-largest trading partner for both the United States and Illinois.

Inexplicably, the close relationship between immigration and economic integration is also rarely acknowledged in the streets or the halls of government.

Economic change and globalization have also caused social dislocation. Immigrants have followed the route of the lion's share of the bi-national economic gains; they have come to the United States. As a result, individuals and employers have literally moved across borders. Public policy has enabled this for business, but has neglected to do this for people.

As a society, we enjoy the conveniences and savings produced by hard-working, low-wage employees who toil in restaurants, as nannies, landscapers and construction workers. Their work subsidizes our high quality of life, which we often take for granted as our new American Manifesto of comfort, convenience and service. Yet, in taking for granted these privileges, we overlook that many of their providers are immigrants. Most of them work diligently, growing the retirement base for future retirees. For example, recent estimates indicate that annually $7 billion remains unclaimed from taxes withheld from these workers' paychecks (New York Times, April 5, 2005). This is another number rarely acknowledged in the debates in the streets or the halls of government.

Participants in the public debate also seldom acknowledge that the overwhelming percentages of the children of these immigrants were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens. It is in our collective interest that these children obtain a high-quality education and are prepared for the 21st century. Let us remember that these children will not be an immigrant labor force but the U.S. workers whose skills and education will define the standing of the country in the world's economy.

Regardless of the omissions of these numbers in the immigrant debate, the data beckon to us that our futures are already intertwined, like it or not, and practical and economic necessity point to a shared, collective future. Retiring baby boomers depend on the immigrant labor force to ensure that Social Security remains solvent. Likewise, we need the labor of immigrants to sustain our comforts. Being a nation of immigrants is not just our historical reality but also a reality of our economic future. Congress must overhaul the federal immigration system to acknowledge this reality.

Sylvia Puente is director of the Metropolitan Chicago Initiative, Institute for Latino Studies, at the University of Notre Dame. Victor Ortiz is program head of Latino and Latin American studies at Northeastern Illinois University.