Thread: BLACK LEADERS: IMMIGRATION BILL WILL 'HARM' AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS

BLACK LEADERS: IMMIGRATION BILL WILL 'HARM' AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS



by MATTHEW BOYLE 3 Jun 2013, 7:47 AM PDT 601POST A COMMENT

Several black leaders of various political persuasions have banded together to warn Congress of the harm they think the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill will inflict upon black workers if passed.

The group, the Black American Leadership Alliance, wrote to members of the Gang of Eight, the Congressional Black Caucus, and members from states with the highest levels of black unemployment.

“Given the fact that more than 13% of all blacks are unemployed - nearly double that of the national average, it is our position that each Member of Congress must consider the disastrous effects that Senate Bill 744 would have on low skill workers of all races, while paying particular attention to the potential harm to African Americans,” the letter argues. “Credible research indicates that black workers will suffer the greatest harm if this legislation were to be passed. We are asking that you oppose Senate Bill S.744 because of the dramatic effect it will have on the availability of employment for African American workers.”

Perhaps more significant than the argument being made is the political diversity of the letter’s signers. These facts have been presented to members of Congress before by select members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, but those efforts did not result in changes to the immigration reform bill. Now, there are at least some black community leaders who represent the political left who have signed onto this argument--a new development that may help connect with Democrats in Congress.

T. Willard Fair, the President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami, signed the letter. Though Fair is a Republican, President Obama appointed him in 2010 and 2011 to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships-Miami Regional Selection Panel.

Former U.S. Department of Justice immigration attorney and current executive director of liberal group Progressives for Immigration Reform, Leah V. Durant, signed the letter as well. Frank Morris, PhD, a board member of Progressives for Immigration Reform and the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, put his signature on the letter as well.
Conservative signers include Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) founder and president Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson and radio host and The Black Sphere executive director Kevin Jackson.

“Many studies have shown that black Americans are disproportionately harmed by mass immigration and amnesty,” they wrote. “Most policy makers who favor the legalization of nearly 11 million aliens fail to acknowledge that decades of high immigration levels has caused unemployment to rise significantly, most particularly among black Americans. They further fail to consider how current plans to add 33 million more legal workers within ten years will have an enormously disastrous effect on our nation’s jobs outlook.”

The letter authors point to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research that states “that 40 percent of the decline in employment rates for low skilled black men in recent decades was due to immigration.” They also cite studies from Harvard University professors Borjas and Katz that they wrote “found that immigration reduced the earnings of certain native born laborers by as much as eight percent and other demographic groups by 2 to 4 percent.”

“Many blacks compete with immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants, for low skilled jobs due to skill level and geography, and there are simply not enough of these jobs to go around,” the letter continues. “Consider the fact that nearly 51% of African Americans do not have a higher education. In 2011, 24.6% of blacks without a high school diploma were unemployed. Even blacks with a high school diploma were unemployed at a rate of 15.5% that same year. Passing legislation to add additional workers to an already swamped labor market will only exacerbate these statistics.”

The letter writers noted that these facts are publicly available, and have been promoted by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Nonetheless, they say career politicians have ignored them to pursue politically motivated pieces of legislation, like the Gang of Eight bill. They wrote that “many lawmakers have chosen to do nothing, putting politics over the well-being of constituents.”

“If passed, the proposed immigration bill will be costly for all Americans, but will harm black American workers more than any other group,” they wrote. “Mass immigration and amnesty puts African Americans from all walks of life out of work and suppresses wages, causing them to compete with aliens willing to work in poorer working conditions for cheaper pay."

"When almost one in seven blacks is unemployed, now is not the time to further saturate the labor force with increased immigration levels and amnesty," the signers argue. "If Congress fails to stop this irresponsible legislation, the United States will continue to see more and more blacks out of jobs and unable to support their families.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...them-to-suffer

Right Now... there's a Whole Lot Of White Politicians (Male & Female) ready to sell the African Americans out... AGAIN

BUT ~ They are Equal Opportunity American Job Crusher's

African Americans - Remember who Screwed You

Asian Americans - Remember who Screwed You

Spanish Americans - Remember who Screwed You

Latino Americans - Remember who Screwed You

Caucasian Americans - Remember who Screwed You

Unemployed Democrats - Remember who Screwed You

Unemployed Independents - Remember who Screwed You

Unemployed Republicans - Remember who Screwed You

Not Only Does the Senate want to SCREW You, Your Children; your Grand Children, Your Friends ... they also want you too Pay for the SCREWING

Black leadership group protests 'disastrous effects of illegal immigration to the black community'

By Challen Stephens
on June 03, 2013 at 11:31 AM, updated June 03, 2013 at 4:30 PM
al.com



The Black American Leadership Conference this morning issued an open letter calling on members of Congress to oppose the current immigration proposal, arguing increased competition for low-skill jobs would hurt Americans, particularly black Americans, struggling to find work.

"Given the fact that more than 13% of all blacks are unemployed - nearly double that of the national average, it is our position that each Member of Congress must consider the disastrous effects that Senate Bill 744 would have on low skill workers of all races, while paying particular attention to the potential harm to African Americans," reads the open letter.

The current proposal, supported by the bipartisan Gang of Eight in the U.S. Senate, includes provisional legal status and potential pathways to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States without authorization.

The letter makes reference to academic studies at several universities, from Harvard to Cornell, linking increases in immigration to competition for low-skill jobs, as well as declining wages and rising unemployment.

"Many blacks compete with immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants, for low skilled jobs due to skill level and geography, and there are simply not enough of these jobs to go around," reads the letter. "Consider the fact that nearly 51% of African Americans do not have a higher education."

The letter argues: "Yet, the fact remains that the proposed immigration bill will nearly double legal immigration levels and provide instant work authorization to over 11 million illegal immigrants. We are firmly convinced that such an expansion of the labor force during one of the most protracted periods of high unemployment in decades will result in suppressed wages for all Americans, but the effects on African Americans will be the most devastating."

For May, the unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Labor.

That's below the national rate of 7.5 percent. But the U.S Department of Labor reported that the black unemployment rate sat at 13.2 percent, or nearly double 6.7 white unemployment rate, in April.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, has been outspoken in his opposition to the Gang of Eight reforms. “I greatly appreciate receiving this letter and share these concerns," Sessions said Monday afternoon. "The Senate immigration bill will be bad for African-American workers, and all American workers."

"This bill serves the special interests at the expense of poor and middle class Americans – both immigrant and native born," said Sessions in an emailed release. "In this time of low wages and high unemployment there is no justification for such large increases in the supply of foreign labor."

Sessions has argued that the reforms would burden public welfare roles and that provisions for bringing in family members and clearing immigration backlogs and expanding guest worker programs could lead to citizenship or lawful status for up to 30 million immigrants over the next 10 years.

Sessions has written his own open letter to President Obama, contending the administration has failed to listen to immigration enforcement officers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, last month had voiced the same argument that the current immigration proposal "undermines millions of African American workers."

According to the group's press release, members of the Black American Leadership Alliance include:

Frank Morris, Former Executive Director, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Board Member, Progressives for Immigration Reform; Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, President and Founder of BOND (The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny); Bishop Felton Smith, Prelate of the Tennessee Eastern First Jurisdiction and Senior Pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Nashville, TN; Charles Butler, Veteran Chicago area Talk Show Host of The Take with Charles Butler; Leah V. Durant, Former US DOJ Immigration Attorney and Executive Director, Progressives for Immigration Reform; T. W. Fair, President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Miami; Vernon Robinson, Former Council Member, Winston-Salem, NC and former candidate for US Congressional Office; Kevin Jackson, Radio Host and Executive Director, The Black Sphere; Leo Alexander, Broadcaster, Writer and Political Commentator, Washington, DC; Kevin Martin Author, Writer and Political Commentator.

The Gang of Eight members in the Senate include four Democrats and four Republicans:

Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, Michael Bennett, D-Col., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John McCain. R-Ariz., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Updated at 4:29 p.m. with comment from Sessions.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/06/blac...p_protest.html

Added second article to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=1...lack-community