The Truth About Immigration

There is always a controversy about immigration in general, and “illegal” immigration in particular. There are a few facts that need to be considered in the debate.

We Are All Descendants of Immigrants

Everyone in this country except Native Americans are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. If we are honest, all our ancestors were illegal immigrants in that we came uninvited and stole the land from the rightful owners, killing many in the process.

Putting that aside, we need to be brutally honest about some facts in the current debate.

One, not all illegal immigrants come across the Mexican border, and not all are of Mexican or South American descent. Many come across the Canadian border. Some are Canadians, others are white Europeans who come to Canada to cross into the US without going through the legal immigration process.

Immigrants Help Our Economy

Two, our economy would suffer, and our standard of living would take a hit if we really did stop immigration—legal or illegal. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 10.3 million unfilled jobs in the United States as of Nov. 1, 2022. The rate of unfilled jobs is 6.3 percent but that was 1.0 percentage points lower than its peak in March 2022.

In October, job openings decreased in state and local government, excluding education (-101,000); nondurable goods manufacturing (-95,000); and federal government (-61,000). The number of job openings increased in other services (+76,000) and in finance and insurance (+70,000). Most of these job openings are in small businesses with 1 to 9 employees according to BLS. According to Bloomberg, small businesses account for half the jobs in the U.S.

These unfilled jobs exist despite immigration, legal and illegal. If we deported all the undocumented immigrants and sealed the border as many, particularly Republicans, want, our economy would collapse. There would not be enough workers to provide goods and services. In addition, immigrants, legal and illegal, pay withholding taxes, sales taxes, and other taxes. If they disappeared, all governmental agencies from local to the federal government would see a drastic reduction in revenue.

Immigrants Do Jobs America Americans Won’t

Furthermore, immigrants legal and undocumented, do jobs other Americans do not want to do. Our people, particularly those born in the last 30 years, are spoiled. They are unwilling to do manual labor or menial jobs. A large percentage of our population now has a college degree, masters, or PhD. Many owe large sums in student loan debt. They cannot afford to work for the low wages immigrants are willing to work for.

The bottom line is it may make for partisan talking points, and it may motivate many Americans to vote for candidates who promise to close the borders, but stopping immigration would put us into a depression, or at least a prolonged recession. What little manufacturing that is still done in the U.S. would be curtailed, and restaurants would not be able to find dishwashers, office buildings would lack janitors, and our hospitals would also be affected.

Political clap trap is one thing. Reality is quite another.