[Clairity]

“We can raise wages in low-wage sectors of our economy, “

Who is this “we”? Many businesses cannot afford to pay more, because they operate on very low profit margins. If they paid higher wages, they’d be out of business and ALL their workers would become unemployed.

[kabar]

If we hire only legal workers, then that is the logical outcome. I don't care if lawn maintenance or lettuce costs rise. We cannot continue to bring in cheap labor subsidized by the taxpayers just because employers want to increase their bottom line.

The latest data show 22.1 million immigrants holding jobs in the U.S. with an estimated 8 million being illegal aliens. By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent. Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent. The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status.

The Bureau of Labor statistics for August 2011 show a national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, including 16.7 percent for blacks and 11.3 percent for Hispanics. 25 million Americans are seeking full-time employment. Despite the economic downturn, the U.S. continues to bring in 125,000 new, legal foreign workers A MONTH. This includes new permanent residents (Green Cards) and long-term temporary visas and others who are authorized to take a job. This makes no sense

[gogogodzilla]

Traditionally, when industries can no longer afford the cost of labor, they automate.

Robots on the assembly line replaced human workers; the cotton gin replaced the cotton/seed seperators while the automatic cotton picker replaced the cotton-picking slaves after the Civil war; etc, etc, etc.

Illegals prevent this and depress wages.