You don’t hear too much about immigration these days. My view has been, for a long time, that immigration cannot be divorced from the economic policies being imposed, largely with the leadership of the U.S. on other countries. If you insist on continuing to ram so-called "free trade" deals down the throats of countries whose workers, then, suffer from the consequences, then, of course people will have to pick up and move to find work that pays something slightly better than what they can’t find at home. I used Mexico and NAFTA as an example in the past.

   Which is why the principles from the Drum Major Institute are welcome:

•    Our nation’s current immigration policy is not working for the American middle class – or for low-income workers trying to earn a middle-class standard of living.  Immigration laws ignore the fact that our economy relies on immigrants. At the same time, current policy makes it easy for unscrupulous businesses to exploit undocumented immigrants, which threatens to drive down wages and working conditions for everyone.

The Middle Class Relies on Immigrants

•    Current and aspiring middle-class Americans benefit from immigrants’ economic contributions as workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers and consumers.  Our economy is dynamic and the presence of immigrants contributes to its growth. Contrary to popular myths, immigrants do not “steal” jobs. They generate economic activity that creates new jobs that wouldn’t exist if they were not part of our economy.

 

•    Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, pay taxes. Immigrants pay sales and property taxes like everyone else. Three quarters of undocumented immigrants pay payroll taxes. On average, immigrants pay more in taxes each year than they use in government services. Undocumented immigrants alone pay nearly $7 billion a year in federal taxes, although these revenues are not always shared equitably with local governments.

The Exploitation of Undocumented Workers Undermines the Middle Class

•    It is not the presence of undocumented immigrants that harms the middle class, but the fact that they can be so easily exploited in the workplace. If undocumented immigrants try to speak up for themselves at work, employers can threaten to deport them. Employers can take advantage of their precarious status to cut wages and benefits or downgrade workplace safety.

•    The current recession increases employers’ incentives to cut costs by taking advantage of undocumented immigrants. Employers may then be less willing to hire American workers if they demand better wages and working conditions. Workers are left to either accept the same poor conditions as immigrants living under the threat of deportation or be shut out of whole industries.

•    All workers will benefit from a strengthening of workplace rights for immigrants workers.  Once empowered to exercise rights at work, undocumented workers’ efforts to improve their own working conditions would benefit all workers by making jobs more desirable. This means more jobs that can support a middle-class standard of living. Recognizing the shared economic interest between immigrant and U.S.-born workers also makes it easier to build coalitions that strengthen and expand the middle class.

What It Means for Policy

•    Because immigrants are so important to our economy, enforcement-only legislation harms the middle class. Trying to enforce immigration laws that are fundamentally at odds with the nation’s economic reality is expensive and unworkable. Since the early 1990s, spending on border enforcement has tripled, yet the number of undocumented immigrants has also nearly tripled. We should fix immigration laws first and then work to enforce them.   

•    Legalizing the undocumented immigrants who are in the U.S. now would maximize their economic contributions and prevent the exploitation that threatens the middle class. It is important that the legalization process not be so burdensome that many immigrants find it impossible to change their status and a large population of undocumented workers persists.

•    A guest worker program for future immigrants is not in the interests of the middle class because it makes the two-tiered labor market official. The temporary nature of guest workers means they will always be more vulnerable than the mainstream of American workers. Allowing the workers our economy needs to be here permanently would make them more secure, preventing the exploitation that undermines the middle class.