PrintFebruary 3, 2008
The Elephant In the Immigration Room
The ignored elephant in the immigration debate is the negative impact of illegal immigration on job opportunities for unskilled, uneducated, native-born U.S. workers -- particularly young African-Americans, but also native-born Hispanics. In their Hollywood debate, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton refused to admit immigration "hits poor and minorities hardest" as the cliché goes.While some proponents of a liberal immigration policy admit to anecdotal evidence of the elephant's existence, they typically discount a causal relationship between employed illegal immigrants and unemployed citizens. Granted, it's hard to document employers hiring illegal immigrants over legal applicants; after all, it's against the law. But it's not necessary to film it happening to know that it is. Statistics tell the story. First, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, from December 2006 - December 2007...(Read Full Article)
