Submitted by Chris Roberts, Aug 29, 2008 01:41

They may be "willing workers" and "willing employers," but they were doing their thing on our property - the property of the citizens of the United States of America - without our consent. If we decide that their actions are not in our best interests then we have the right to say "no." And that's exactly what the American citizens have done. They have never consented to the presence of the 15 million people here illegally, and Congress knows it. That's why amnesty failed. As for your paper's claim that "it's hard to make the case that these immigrants are taking jobs away from native-born Americans at a time when our national unemployment rate is a relatively low 5.7%"? Well the number of jobs in any nation is variable. What illegal immigration effects is the wages employers are willing to offer. If labor is in greater supply then employers can offer jobs at lower wages - which is exactly what they've been doing for the last 6 years. That's why the 2002-2007 economic boom - a legitimate boom, by the way - did not coincide with wage growth among the bottom half of earners. That's why economic inequality grew rapidly during that time. Instead we saw soaring profits but stagnant wages and yet claims, by industry, of labor shortages. When you see claims of labor shortages but stagnant wages, you know the business lobby is lying through it's teeth. There is no valid argument to be made - none - that mass immigration is good for the US or its economy. The increasing rates of immigration since 1965 have only coincided with growing government budget deficits, growing trade deficits, growing economic inequality, growing personal debt, declining personal savings rates, increasing need for two income families, and decreasing satisfaction of Americans with their governments at all levels. Robert Putnam's research on the harm diversity does to civic-mindedness and personal satisfaction has a lot to say on the latter point.

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