Recession interrupts immigration trends
In an op-ed published today on the chances for immigration reform legislation, Doris Meissner notes that the recession has interrupted a 20-year trend:
The recession has interrupted historically high immigration levels – legal and illegal – that had been underway for almost two decades, and has sidelined the public controversy generated by large-scale immigration for the moment.
The question, says Meissner, is whether the labor market will soon return to pre-2008 conditions and again exhibit high demand for unskilled workers from abroad. Or whether the Great Recession will leave the country with permanently reduced labor needs in this department. In other words, has the historic 1990s and 2000s immigration wave ended? Not because of a border fence, or enforcement, or changes abroad– but because of a major fundamental downshift in the U.S. economy?
The current decrease in illegal immigration does bode well for a climate conducive to reasoned talk on immigration reform since there is less alarmist sentiment in the air, as Meissner also notes.
Angela M. Kelley, who analyzes immigration policy for the Center for American Progress, has put it this way: “You don’t fix a bridge at rush hour.” In other words now that immigration’s “rush hour” is past, it’s a good time to revamp the system.
But opponents of streamlining immigration or legalizing undocumented workers will read things differently. They’ll argue that now’s the time to focus on enforcement and border build-ups to deter future immigration.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
It was refreshing to see your article separate legal and illegal immigration. Far too many writers conflate the two, which does a disservice to people like me.
I oppose illegal immigration, legal immigrants are just fine. I opppose measures to “legalize” those here illegally because I believe it sends the wrong message; that all you have to do is wait long enough and you can become legal. Where’s the incentive to do it legally?
And I oppose “legalizing” them because there is no way we can absorb everyone that wants to come here. If we can’t stem the tide of illegal immigration, all the efforts to legalize people and bring them into the sunlight will be overwhelmed.
There was a “high demand for unskilled labor from abroad” because illgal immigrants skew the labor market, often undercutting wages for legal immigrants and American citizens. There’s no shortage of Americans willing to do hard dirty work. The problem is that employers don’t want to pay what the work is worth, not when they can hire illegal immigrants for pennies on the dollar.