Posted on 04/30/2006 6:21:01 AM PDT by sinkspur
In Texas, we shouldn't need a Hispanic boycott to demonstrate the significance of immigrants. They've been driving growth in the state economy for more than 30 years.
But maybe we could use a reminder about their increasing clout, and the assets and challenges they bring to the mix.
That might boost appreciation and provoke new initiatives to improve the future.
Immigrants' success at assimilating here -- in particular, their ability to close the gap in education and income -- will go a long way in determining Texas' prosperity.
For those who believe that immigration is more threatening than promising, consider that it accounted for more than half the job growth in the country from 1996 to 2002.
It may not be surprising that foreign-born workers accounted for 86 percent of the growth among mechanics and construction workers. But they also represented 27 percent of the group that includes doctors, scientists and teachers, and 31 percent of new health and science technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The numbers would be higher, if not for rules that restrict the number of highly skilled foreigners who want to work here. In fiscal 2006, the annual cap for so-called H-1B visas was reached two months before the fiscal year even started.
Immigrants have been a crucial complement to the economy, with their numbers climbing when times were strong and waning in the downturns. Which means there's something a lot worse than having immigrants flow into Texas and the United States: having them not come here.
On Monday, Hispanics and other immigrants are planning rallies and a consumer boycott in major cities across the country. Their primary goal is to influence the immigration debate in Washington, which has become increasingly polarized.
Some lawmakers are focused on reducing undocumented workers and even punishing them. They propose to build fences between the U.S. and Mexico and beef up border patrols.
There have been some high-profile raids on employers in the past few weeks and talk about deporting an estimated 11 million illegals. That notion is both destructive and impractical.
Others talk about creating amnesty and guest-worker programs, proposals aimed at helping immigrants improve their lot here and keeping the flow of foreign-born residents coming.
"The only way to move forward is to move forward together," says Pia Orrenius, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
"Somehow, we have to legalize people who are already here," she says. "But we also need to have a system in place to keep employers honest and make sure there's a level playing field."
Here's what I'm wondering: Why do anything at all?
The state's population has grown at roughly twice the rate of the nation since 1970, largely because of the influx of foreign-born residents and a higher birth rate among Hispanics.
Because immigrants are younger, they also offer a counterweight to the aging baby boomer generation. Texas ranks as the second-youngest state, thanks to immigrants, and this demographic trend boosts labor markets, consumer sales and the housing industry.
But the federal government has intensified its campaign against illegal immigrants, primarily in the name of national security. It has become much more difficult for undocumented workers to get driver's licenses and do their banking.
Rumors of raids on big employers have sent a chill through the immigrant community, and workers fear mass deportations.
"Illegal immigration was working before, because we weren't enforcing the laws, and people lived almost as if they were legal," Orrenius says. "Now we've changed the rules of the game, so we need a more comprehensive solution."
Which leads to the current debate in Washington. A guest-worker program would make life easier for many immigrants, Orrenius says, but the rules can't be too complex or they'll be sidestepped again.
Some current restrictions are confounding. We allow a steady flow of low-skilled, often illegal, immigrants into the country, and they do many jobs that natives shun. But they generally take in more in public benefits than they pay out in taxes -- usually in the form of schooling for their children and medical care.
(Low-skilled natives also use more than they pay for, because skills, not nationality, most closely correlate with income.)
The workers who put more into the pool than they take out -- those with high skills and high income -- are restricted by federal policies.
From 2001 to 2003, we temporarily allowed 195,000 H-1B visas a year. Often used by engineers and scientists, almost all H-1Bs have bachelor's degrees, and half hold advanced degrees.
The annual cap is back at 65,000 visas, and it's not nearly high enough. In 2004, the cap was reached five months into the fiscal year, says the latest Economic Report of the President. In 2005, the cap was reached on the first day. In 2006, the visas were gone two months before the year began.
Orrenius says the current debate over immigration is similar to past conflicts. In the 1850s and early 1900s, there were backlashes against immigrants from Germany, China, Ireland, Italy and Poland.
Today, it's Mexico and Central America that account for 37 percent of immigrants, followed by Asia (25 percent) and Europe (14 percent).
People often complain that immigrants can't speak and write English, and Orrenius says that's reminiscent of the literacy laws that were proposed for newcomers almost a century ago.
She doesn't see much difficulty in our economy absorbing immigrants. They total about 36 million people, with fewer than 30 percent undocumented. Our total population is almost 300 million.
The bigger challenge is helping immigrants develop skills more quickly, so they can earn more and have better prospects. That puts the onus on education, because high school dropout rates remain twice as high for Hispanics, even in subsequent generations.
Texas has been confronting this problem for years, dealing with chronic underfunding in many poorer school districts.
Maybe immigration reform could help.
Many immigrants, especially illegals, pay payroll taxes and never collect from Social Security. The government keeps track of those numbers, and the pool was valued at $463 billion in 2002.
Imagine what some of that money could do on the local level.
Do you know what case did this?
If the economic impact of 11 million illegal workers is grounds to alter law and public policy, when can we have a public discussion about the economic impact of aborting millions of legal citizens?
The number of people who would be working today, contributing taxes today and helping to build our society today, would be 20 million more had it not been for the fact they were aborted.
See Post #21 in link below for a comprehensive list of what "harm" illegals do:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1620323/posts
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/wanted/
and they are called white males
And government agencies that do business with companies who hire illegal aliens are to blame as well.
"The current estimates show there are 1.5 million illegal aliens in Texas. The costs when broken down comes to a total of $725 a year per taxpaying household to cover the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens throughout the state. "
Above everything, and before anything, THE BORDER MUST BE CLOSED. If that means a fence, a wall or both, then it must be done, but the flow MUST BE STOPPED. Bush won't do it -- and most of Congress won't do it -- where does that leave the American citizen??
Talking about the clout, and assets ( i.e Money) that they bring to the economy and speaking of them in a blurred fashion ( not addressing their illegality )is all short sided thinking.
Their influences on culture and especially politics and entitlements will grow exponentially, eventually driving this nation farther to the left.
I have no problem with legal immigrants, in fact we need them to grow. That said we need them at a controlled rate one which allows us to do things such as background checks. One that allows the immigrant to realise how special this experiment is and to be absorbed into our culture not us into theirs. It's in fact unjust to allow them to explode upon the scene and in doing so destroy, the very dream they seek by their shear numbers and lack of assimilation.
Plus the monetary cost. And the fact that they hate all Americans so they disrespect our laws, our National Treasures, and they takeover while invading our streets!!
What does that mean? We have been providing them an education and in their own damn language! The problem is that the illegals come from the most uneducated and lowest class. Mostly ignorant Mexicans and they stink at helping their children learn anything because they are uneducated themselves. This drags or school systems down.
Vincente Fox and the families that own Mexico are doing what Castro did to Florida except they are not using boats!
The first thing we need to do is change the law that allows ANYBODY born on US soil to automatically be a citizen. That's just stupid and suicidal.
I appears that the idiots in Washington are hell bent on making the illeglas legal. As soon as this happens and the wages and benefits match what real Americans are paid then ALL the costs for any good or service will inflate because of all the new overhead business must take on to fund this. Then essentially what you will have is that "legalization tax" being passed on to the consumer. Just the fact that Congress is thinking about making them legal has made illegal border crossing jump like crazy recently.
Oh, by the way, I'm not aware that an Texas library requires proof of citizenship before they provide a library card. So, as far as your "better education" comment any illegal that wants to learn anything has access to all the knowledge they can consume. And it's basically free.
Nice rhetorical flair. There are essentially three primary stages for dealing with threats, whether they be personal health issues or national security: prevention, detection & resolution.
Once illegals aliens make it over the border, then yes, we're stuck with resolution, which means carrying the load in terms of education, health & welfare. Perusing Calif's state budget illuminates the details of the hidden costs of hiring cheap gardeners quite nicely.
But the operative term is prevention & detection. However, if, as a national policy, we're not going to pursue these options, then what it's telling us is that politicians don't really believe (as opposed to the people) that we have rights to national sovereignty.
That's ok too, because it just means the resolution stage is going to be that much more interesting. (Queue the Chinese proverb.)
Exactly. Infanticide leads to national suicide. It's better to do your own work.
Knowing that public schools are available for free child sitting services is one of many inducements drawing the flood of illegals crossing our largely undefended borders.
You forgot the barf alert on this one.
Are you serious? You believe the drivel and propaganda that the government schools "provides" (how quaint), is education? Schools that teach kids that the US is evil and behind every unpleasant thing in modern history? That we "stole" the southwest from Mexico?
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