Immigration Conundrum and Scare Tactics

Supposedly, more than 1.2 million immigrants, both legal and illegal, disappeared from the labor force since the start of the year, according to preliminary Census Bureau.

Immigrants make up almost 20% of the US. workforce, and that data shows 45% of workers in farming, fishing and forestry are immigrants. About 30% of all construction workers are immigrants, and 24% of service workers are immigrants.

To the writers of this story, I would ask, why be disingenuous? Your numbers include legal immigrants as well as illegals. Is it to inflate numbers to make Trump look like Darth Vader? Is it to make people fear they will lose access to food and housing? I’m guessing it’s both.

Lidia (no last name) is a farm worker in California’s Central Valley. She fears ICE could upend her life more than 23 years after she illegally crossed the southern border at the age of 13. “The worry is they’ll pull you over when you’re driving and ask for your papers. We need to work. We need to feed our families and pay our rent,” she told the Associated Press via an interpreter.

So let me get this straight. She came here as a teenager, has been here for 23 years, and still required an interpreter for the interview? Seriously? How does one live somewhere for two-plus decades without learning the language? That’s insane! I would never move to Mexico… and not become proficient in Spanish. I forgot to mention, she has three children... and still can't speak the language.

Enter the inflated numbers factor: Allegedly, immigrants fill 50% of all new jobs created. Note that the percentage includes both legal and illegal immigrants. Obviously liberals choose to include both since using only illegals wouldn’t make Trump’s crackdown look Evil Empire enough.

Enter the fear factor: In McAllen, Texas, corn and cotton fields are about ready for harvesting. Elizabeth Rodriguez worries there won’t be enough workers available for the gins and other machinery once the fields are cleared. In other words, crops may not make it to market, and prices will soar.

The story then goes on to scare us about potential loses in the construction industry. “Construction employment has stalled or retreated in many areas for a variety of reasons,” said a chief economist. Adjusted for inflation, so have construction wages. I know. My entire work life was construction-based.

Contractors report they would hire more people if only they could find more qualified and willing workers, and tougher immigration enforcement wasn’t disrupting labor supplies. There is one, usually unnamed reason, contractors and other industries, have a hard time finding workers – and it’s self-imposed. They don’t want to train anyone like they did decades ago. They expect perfect employees from Day One, and AI hiring algorithms will only make it worse. Instead of hiring actual citizens at good wages and risking a loss if the worker can’t develop the skills, companies hire illegals at cheap hourly minimum wages, which basically equals a full day’s pay in Mexico and many other countries.

It’s another way to interpret the old saying, “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

Source used: Associated Press