Illegal Immigration Poses Moral Questions About American Jobs

Frosty Wooldrige poses a question many are asking today, if it is moral to give jobs to illegal immigrants when so many Americans are unemployed. He says this comes at a time when 15 million Americans can't find work. More than 32 million Americans now live on food stamps. This, he goes on, is a serious time for the nation and the question about illegal immigrants taking American jobs is one I'm number of people are asking these days. People are asking what can be done about this if the president doesn't enforce immigration laws, as is claimed former President Bush didn't do. While the border states of Texas, California and Arizona are in critical financial shape, Mexico receives $25 billion in cash transfers when illegal immigrants send money back to Mexico from the United States. Wooldridge observes that while illegal immigrations comprise about 50 percent of the annual U.S. immigration, other minorities are pushed to the bottom as a consequence. Black workers, as an example, get job cuts from competition of immigrant workers who compete for jobs for far less pay. He cites janitorial work as an example, where African American janitors paid $15/hour lost their jobs to Mexican immigrants who would work for $10/hour. In addition to the problems of job competition, Wooldridge quotes Edwin Rubenstein, an economist, as saying American taxpayers give $346 billion annually for medication, education and incarceration of illegal immigrants and their children. So there is a drain on the economy from the social obligations. Woolridge cites the problems in France, with Muslim immigration, as they indicate what can happen as a result of immigration where competition for jobs become particularly keen and social unrest develops. An editorial of the Stratfor Global Intelligence online journal discusses how xenophia is present all the time in Europe, but increases significantly during economic downturns. That's because resources become scarce, and minorities are seen as a source of the economic problem or competing for jobs. The editorial points out that the French right-wing party, the National Front was a small minority party until the 1970s when unemployment in recessions created issues out of immigration. The editorial goes on to observe that an economic recession creates problems when businesses begin seeking out migrant workers because they are willing to work for less pay than the citizens of the country. They can also be fired without cause. This has happened in both the United Kingdom as well as in France. The author maintains that countries like Spain, a new migration destination and where unemployment is expected to rise above 20% in 2009, and Ireland, where employment is also growing, are likely to be the new places for immigration and stress that results. The same author or maintains that in spite of the problems, Europe needs immigration to fuel economic growth by providing both low skilled and high skilled labor. He observes that countries like Austria and Switzerland would be severely harmed if they lost their migrant workers in low skilled and high skilled areas. He goes on to say that Germany is losing money due to a shortage of information technology experts and engineers and other professionals. He points out the same situation is going on in France. Demographics, specifically the low birth rate of Europeans versus immigrants is also an issue where immigration can help balance population. The author maintains that countries in Europe, if they reverse immigration policies, could lose highly skilled workers to the benefit of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States if violence against immigrants becomes widely publicized. In the meantime, news from Europe reveals conservatives won elections in many of Europe's largest economies. Right-leaning governments are now in control or poised to take over in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium while conservative opposition parties are now leading in Britain and Spain. Most of this is seen as a response to the growing global economic crisis. With the pressure of immigration the political response is moving countries to the right, as economists predicted. One wonders about the outcome of all of this particularly for Barack Obama as he leads the United States in the direction of change.