Immigration policy: a matter of faith!

Why I'll walk today with my immigrant friends

Recent legislative action in Arizona prompted renewed conversations about immigration policy, national security and immigration reform. 

It's about time.

News reports out of Arizona over the past couple of days link the new law, giving police the authority to arrest residents without proper documentation, to Mexico's "drug wars" that threaten to spill over into the United States.  Making that connection doesn't stand up under even a cursory investigation. 

The vast, vast majority of immigrants in the United States and in Arizona have no connection whatsoever to the illegal drug trade.  Such unfair, unproven rhetoric does not advance an honest discussion, but promotes bigotry, hatred and division in our communities.

The hundreds of immigrants I've known and talked to over the past 16 years came to the U. S. seeking a better life, work and hope for themselves and their families.  This is the story for almost all of the 12-14 million immigrants in this country without the proper papers.  And, this has been the story of all of us immigrants who came to the U. S. or whose ancestors arrived before us. 

And, we've all taken good advantage of their  presence. Businesses, homeowners, contractors, restaurants. . .the list is practically endless.  The economy in Dallas would be hurt severely by the exit of the folks who are here without documentation. 

So, I'll walk with thousands of others today. 

I'll walk because I believe in the people who need to be included in our national life. 

I'll walk because I believe in the promise of our nation.

Categorically Unequal--book notes

I haven't read Categorically Unequal, but I plan to in 2009.

Not long ago, someone sent me the following synopsis of the book's content. Controversial, no doubt. Worth a careful study because usually this sort of study turns bright lights on subjects we'd just as soon ignore.

________________________________

The United States holds the dubious distinction of having the most unequal income distribution of any advanced industrialized nation. While other developed countries face similar challenges from globalization and technological change, none rivals America’s singularly poor record for equitably distributing the benefits and burdens of recent economic shifts.

In Categorically Unequal, Douglas Massey, the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, weaves together history, political economy, and even neuropsychology to provide a comprehensive explanation of how America’s culture and political system perpetuates inequalities between different segments of the population.

Categorically Unequal is striking both for its theoretical originality and for the breadth of topics it covers. Massey argues that social inequalities arise from the universal human tendency to place others into social categories. In America, ethnic minorities, women, and the poor have consistently been the targets of stereotyping, and as a result, they have been exploited and discriminated against throughout the nation’s history.

African-Americans continue to face discrimination in markets for jobs, housing, and credit. Meanwhile, the militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border has discouraged Mexican migrants from leaving the United States, creating a pool of exploitable workers who lack the legal rights of citizens. Massey also shows that women’s advances in the labor market have been concentrated among the affluent and well-educated, while low-skilled female workers have been relegated to occupations that offer few chances for earnings mobility.

At the same time, as the wages of low-income men have fallen, more working-class women are remaining unmarried and raising children on their own. Even as minorities and women continue to face these obstacles, the progressive legacy of the New Deal has come under frontal assault. The government has passed anti-union legislation, made taxes more regressive, allowed the real value of the federal minimum wage to decline, and drastically cut social welfare spending.

As a result, the income gap between the richest and poorest has dramatically widened since 1980. Massey attributes these anti-poor policies in part to the increasing segregation of neighborhoods by income, which has insulated the affluent from the social consequences of poverty, and to the disenfranchisement of the poor, as the population of immigrants, prisoners, and ex-felons swells.

America’s unrivalled disparities are not simply the inevitable result of globalization and technological change. As Massey shows, privileged groups have systematically exploited and excluded many of their fellow Americans.

By delving into the root causes of inequality in America, Categorically Unequal provides a compelling argument for the creation of a more equitable society.

[Order a copy here. For a bibliography of Massey's previous work take a look here.]

.

More on immigration and the economy from Ray Perryman

Check back to this past Tuesday's post to read the first portion of my synopsis of a study conducted by Ray Perryman and his team. What follows are excerpts from the same report dealing with our national reliance on immigrant labor. This dependence on immigrant workers presents many problems, especially for the laborers themselves. But the net benefit to our national economy should factor significantly into any conversation about immigration reform. As always, I'm looking for your responses. LJ

______________________________

As the era of a plentiful workforce wanes and the "baby boomers" begin to approach retirement, the US economy has found numerous ways to sustain growth and prosperity. These approaches include. . .an increasing reliance on immigrants, both legal and undocumented.

. . .The relative increase in the immigrant share of the overall population in the past few decades, the greater reliance on undocumented workers, and intense political attention have often camouflaged the fundamental economic concerns. . . . The development of immigration policy affects not only national security and other priorities, but also the economy. Overly restrictive policy has the potential to devastate certain industries which would be faced with near crisis conditions in terms of affordable labor.

. . .If all undocumented workers were removed from the workforce, a number of industries would face substantial shortages of workers, and Americans would have to be induced into the labor pool or provided incentives to take jobs far below their current education and skill levels. For this phenomenon to occur to a meaningful extent, substantial wage escalation would likely be necessary, thus eroding competitiveness in global markets.

As the domestic workforce becomes older, more stable in number, and better educated, the US production complex increasingly requires foreign, low-skilled workers. The economy is now relying on more low-skilled immigrant workers than the allowable work visas under current policy.

In 1960, about 50% of men in this country joined the low-skilled labor force without completing high school; the number is now 10%. . . .The total demand [for low-skilled workers] will far exceed the rate of growth in the workforce that will occur from natural expansion and the entry afforded by current immigration policy, leaving a potential gap of tens of millions of laborers. Even if some marginal workers are induced into the workforce from other sources, the need for an immigrant pool to perform these functions is likely to increase.

For several industries and occupations, undocumented immigrants serve as a particularly important source of labor. These include private households, food manufacturing, farming, furniture manufacturing, construction, textile manufacturing, food services, administrative and support services, accommodations, and selected elements of the manufacturing industry.

.

Economic reality and immigration

Economist Ray Perryman (http://www.perrymangroup.com/) knows about as much about the Texas economy as anyone who makes a living studying it. The Perryman Report is consulted by policy makers, business leaders and academics who share a concern for economic forces and the reality facing Texas citizens, consumers, labor and employers.

The Perryman Report & Texas Letter (March 2008) contains an important essay, "An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Undocumented Workers on Business Activity in the US with Estimated Effects by State and by Industry."

Noting the concerns of a shrinking workforce brought about by the aging of the Baby Boomers, Perryman is keen to impress upon his readers, no matter what their ideological or political positions, the central role of immigrants in helping sustain and grow the American economy. Perryman regards "enforcement-only" strategies and responses to undocumented immigrants as inadequate and naive in light of economic reality. As he says early in his report, "Overly restrictive policy has the potential to devastate certain industries. . . . While a national reform initiative is imperative, it must be cognizant of the potential economic fallout in order to avoid unnecessary disruptions, dislocations, and unintended consequences" (page 1).

Here are some facts from Perryman's research and wisdom:

• 1 in 8 people living in the U. S. is an immigrant


• Total number of immigrants is up by 10 million since 2000 to over 37,000,000 nationwide


• 33% of our immigrant population accesses some major welfare program compared to 19% of native-born families, but most of these immigrant consumers are documented, rather than undocumented


• A higher percentage of immigrants are employed than natives, but have lower educational levels, work at lower skill jobs and earn less for their work


• Estimates of the undocumented immigrant population in the U. S. ranges from 11.1 to 12 million


• California, Texas, Florida, and New York have the highest number of undocumented residents


• Undocumented immigrants arrive in increasing numbers with 180,000 annually in the 1980s, as compared to 850,000 per year between 2000-2005


• 78% of undocumented immigrants come from Latin America, with 56% of the total arriving from Mexico


• Approximately 4% of U. S. school-age children are undocumented


• The cost to educate undocumented immigrant children and U. S. born children of undocumented immigrants is estimated to be $30 billion


• 8.1 million undocumented immigrants work in the U. S. economy


• Between 50 and 75% of undocumented immigrants pay federal, state and local taxes.


• Social Security and Medicare contributions made by undocumented workers support the benefits of older American citizens, as the immigrants will not be able to collect such benefits


• Undocumented workers pay "far more" in taxes than they receive in benefits from various governments; while some state and local entities experience a net loss in cost of benefits versus taxes paid. "Viewed on the whole. . .the group more than compensates for the services it receives" (page 3).


• Removing all undocumented workers would result in $1.757 trillion in annual lost spending, $651.511 billion in annual lost labor output, and 8.1 million job losses.


• After the U. S. economy "adjusted" to such a loss of labor and capital, Perryman estimates that the sustained losses would include $551.569 billion in annual spending, $244.971 billion in annual labor output and more than 2.8 million lost jobs.

Amazing analysis.

The economic and labor data line up well with my personal experience in inner city Dallas. We must craft policies that provide guest worker status to immigrants who simply want to work, make a contribution to the U. S. economy and better their lives and those of their loved ones.

Doesn't that sound thoroughly American?

[More from Ray Perryman later.]

.