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A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie
Washington, D.C. – As Arizona approaches the one-year anniversary of the passage of SB 1070, the Immigration Policy Center and Center for American Progress release a new report, A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie: The Economic Impact of Legalization Versus Deportation in Arizona, by Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda and Marshall Fitz, which examines two very different […]
Read MoreReport on Birthright Citizenship Low on Facts, High on Fantasy
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the most outlandish and unrealistic statements made in the immigration debate given the level of dialed up rhetoric. A recent report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), however, appears to have been written to test just how far into the realm of fantasy the debate can be taken. In […]
Read MoreUtah Governor Signs Series of Controversial Immigration Bills
Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a package of controversial immigration bills today in the Utah’s state capitol. The measures include a series of immigration bills passed by Utah’s legislature last week, including HB 497 (a revised SB1070-inspired immigration-enforcement bill), HB 116 (which creates a guest worker program through federal waivers) and HB 466 (which sets […]
Read MoreNew Report Profiles Rising Stars in Anti-Immigrant Movement
State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) ringleader, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-PA). Photo by SLLI. Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report, “Attacking the Constitution: State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) and the Anti-Immigrant Movement,” which examines a dozen leading members of SLLI. The report also links SLLI (and state […]
Read MoreStates Legislators Attempt to Reframe Enforcement-Only Approach to Immigration
Heading into legislative sessions this year, many state lawmakers seemed to be on a collision course with enforcement-only immigration proposals. This week, however, legislators in Utah at least attempted to look beyond the narrow scope of enforcement to proposals that aimed at a more balanced immigration debate. States like Nebraska and Kentucky also attempted to […]
Read MoreSome States Try to Harness the Economic Power of Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Google co-founder, Sergey Brin (center), immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. Photo by gillat Despite restrictionists’ repeated attempts to scapegoat immigrants for U.S. unemployment and a flailing economy, research suggests that immigrants actually create jobs through their purchasing power and entrepreneurship—that is, immigrants buy goods and services from U.S. businesses and creating their own businesses, […]
Read MoreImmigrants Are Not the Cause of Minority Unemployment and Low Wages
Nativists are fond of grandstanding over the plight of minority workers in the United States. While not particularly concerned with civil-rights issues, anti-immigrant activists are quick to cast themselves as defenders of the downtrodden when they blame immigrants for the high unemployment rates and low wages that are all too common among minorities. For instance, […]
Read MoreThe Racial Blame Game
Immigrants Are Not the Cause of High Unemployment and Low Wages Among Minority Workers
Some observers have suggested that immigrants are to blame for the high unemployment rates and low wages experienced by so many minority workers in the United States. However, the best available evidence suggests that immigration is not the cause of dismal employment prospects for American minorities. For instance, cities experiencing the highest levels of immigration tend to have relatively low or average unemployment rates for African Americans. This should come as no surprise; immigrants go where jobs are more plentiful. The grim job market which confronts many minority workers is the product of numerous economic and social factors: the decline of factory employment, the deindustrialization of inner cities, racial discrimination, etc. Immigration plays a very small role. However, that role is generally positive. Immigrant workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs help to create jobs and give a slight boost to the wages of the vast majority of native-born workers. Some unscrupulous employers do exploit undocumented immigrants to the detriment of wages and working conditions for both native-born workers and legal immigrants. But the most practical solution to this problem is an earned legalization program for undocumented immigrants and stronger worksite enforcement of wage and labor laws.
Immigrants are not the cause of minority unemployment.
Will State Legislators Continue to Pull the Plug on Restrictive Immigration Measures?
While some state lawmakers continue to tango with restrictive immigration bills this week, others pulled the plug on measures they worried were too costly or politically risky. Lawmakers in Arkansas, New Mexico and Nebraska voted down (or anticipated the failure of) measures that would restrict access to preventative medical care, tuition equity and driver’s licenses […]
Read MoreState Compacts Reframe Approach to Immigration, But Will Legislators Listen?
Rather than allow immigration restrictionists to define how their state deals with immigration, business leaders, elected officials, community activists and faith groups in Utah and Indiana have taken an important step in reframing their state’s approach by signing “state compacts”—declarations of principles to guide the state’s immigration discussion. And they’re not the only folks standing […]
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