NumbersUSA



American Jobs in Peril: The Impact of Uncontrolled ImmigrationCongressional ForumNov. 19, 20092237 Rayburn House Office BuildingTestimony by Roy BeckPresident, NumbersUSA Education & Research FoundationKey Numbers Point to Policy Changes That Could Quickly Save Large Numbers of Jobs for Unemployed AmericansThank you, Congressman Smith and other distinguished Members.For more than a decade, I have periodically been testifying before the House Immigration Subcommittee about the role of federal immigration policy . . .in depressing wages of U.S. workers, in collapsing entire occupations out of the middle class and in contributing to some of the worst economic disparity in our nation’s history.But those were the GOOD TIMES!Wage stagnation and retarded upward mobility were what we had when the economy was booming. It is important to note that BEFORE this Jobs Depression began two years ago, the working classes of this nation were already in bad shape.Now, the problem is much worse. It no longer is primarily about bad jobs – it’s about NO job for millions of Americans.Congressman Smith, nobody in Congress has paid attention longer or more steadfastly to the close relationship between immigration and the jobs of vulnerable Americans than you. Your hearing today is a flicker of hope that somebody up here cares enough to pay attention to a few key numbers that tend to say all that needs to be said about the necessity of changing immigration policy immediately.I believe that my written testimony outlines convincingly that perhaps hundreds of thousands of additional Americans could be in jobs a year from now if Congress immediately passes a few simple changes in immigration law.A few key numbers make the case.FIRST NUMBER The Pew Hispanic Center estimated last spring that 8 million illegal foreign workers held U.S. jobs at that time. Pew said only 4% of them were in agriculture.Since that report, many illegal aliens’ jobs have been eliminated. But it is likely that more than 7 million construction, service, manufacturing and transportation jobs are still currently held by illegal foreign workers. Those are 7 million jobs being sought by more than 7 million less-educated Americans who are currently unemployed and actively seeking a job.Members of Congress and this Administration need to look at those numbers and come to understand that immigration enforcement is about creating jobs for unemployed Americans. In general, when a government action results in an illegal foreign worker leaving a job, an unemployed American gets to go back to work.Congressman Smith, the 920,000 members of NumbersUSA in every congressional district of our country wholeheartedly support your efforts to promote far more immigration enforcement as one of the most effective JOBS programs the government can have. SECOND NUMBER75,000It appears that American workers’ own federal government in October issued permanent work permits to about 75,000 working-age immigrants -- 75,000 new LEGAL immigrant workers in just one month.THIRD NUMBER190,000In October, 190,000 U.S. jobs were eliminated. Our government added 75,000 more permanent workers to compete with 16 million unemployed Americans for 190,000 FEWER U.S. jobs.Since Jan. 1 of this year, it appears that our government already has issued nearly three-quarters of a million new permanent work permits to immigrants.CREDIBILITY OF THESE KEY NUMBERSCongress has created an immigration system on auto-pilot so that the unemployment rate of Americans has virtually no effect on the numerical levels. Consider these numbers from the Department of Homeland Security:Federal records show that two years ago – before the recession began – the federal government issued around 830,000 Green Cards (permanent work permits) to working-age immigrants. 830,000.Last year during the first year of the recession, the government gave away around 875,000 permanent work permits to immigrants. That was an average of around 75,000 per month.Without any evidence to suggest a significant change this year, it is safe to assume that our government has continued to crank out around 75,000 new permanent work permits to immigrants every month without any regard for how that might affect American workers.750,000 NEW FOREIGN WORKERS vs. 990,000 JOBS SAVED/CREATEDBased on last year’s rate, it appears that the hand extended by the federal government to unemployed Americans THIS YEAR has already given them nearly 750,000 new immigrants to compete with them for the dwindling number of jobs.That number is particularly interesting when compared with another number that the White House proclaimed on Oct. 30. The number was 990,000.The White House announced that the $159 billion of Stimulus money spent thus far, plus the $189 billion of tax relief this year, had created or saved 990,000 jobs.Putting aside charges by critics that the estimated number was far higher than was credible, compare the 990,000 jobs with the 750,000 new working-age immigrants given permanent work permits during the same period. It would appear that the majority of the $348 billion of Stimulus and tax relief went for jobs needed to just keep up with the workers brought in by our immigration system. (Please note that I am not even counting the hundreds of thousands of brand new temporary foreign workers during this period.? Temporary visas deserve their own consideration but I want to limit my remarks to giving permits for foreign workers to hold U.S. jobs not just this year, but for every year the rest of their lives.)Of course, not every new immigrant takes a job from a U.S. worker. Many find themselves standing in the same unemployment lines. The U-3 unemployment rate for immigrants has increased from 4.1% in 2007 to 9.7% in 2009.Congress might ask itself why it is importing an increasing percentage of immigrant workers only to become dependents on government unemployment and social service programs. The 75,000-a-month new permanent worker number is challenged by groups that support the status quo of labor importation. They point out – accurately – that a high percentage of those 75,000 were already in the country at the time they received their Green Card. For example, an estimated 9,000 to 20,000 each month are illegal aliens who are being granted legal work authorization for the first time. Other new Green Card recipients have been in the United States a short time on temporary visas for students, workers, tourists and others.The fact that those foreign workers were already here doesn’t mean that they had to stay. The federal government doesn’t have to adjust the status of most of these illegal or temporary visitors into permanent competitors for U.S. jobs. It could—in the middle of an unemployment disaster -- let the visas run out and the workers, tourists and students go home as they promised when they sought the visas in the first place.NUMBERS ADD UP TO NECESSITY FOR POLICY CHANGEThe questions that most Americans hearing these startling numbers are sure to ask are:Why does Congress continue to order up 75,000 new permanent foreign workers each month at a time of so much suffering by unemployed Americans and the families that often depend on them?And: Why not cut the 75,000 each month as close to zero as possible as long as the overall U-3 unemployment rate remains above, say, 5%?Congressman Smith and other distinguished Members, I suggest to you that these few simple numbers demand immediate attention.The numbers demand the introduction of legislation to SUSPEND the issuance of as many permanent work visas as possible during this Jobs Depression.And the numbers demand tenacious and concerted public education efforts to build support for the Suspension Legislation among the general public.The groups of elected officials who champion this immigration reform boldly will establish themselves in the eyes of American voters as:the true friends of the American worker the true friends of the vulnerable middle classes the true friends of those demographic groups whose unemployment rates soar above the already abysmal average – groups such as disabled Americans, and Americans who have not gone to college, and Black and Hispanic Americans.Congress could reduce the competition among unemployed Americans for U.S. jobs by tens of thousands per month at no cost by simply SUSPENDING most pare zero to $350,000:Zero cost for each job saved for American workers through an immigration suspension.$350,000 cost for each job saved or created by the $348 billion of Stimulus and tax relief, according to the White House’s claims.PUTTING AMERICANS BACK TO WORK WITH 6 EASY IMMIGRATION CHANGES & 1 A LITTLE MORE COMPLEXLet me offer a broad outline of what Congress could do in the next month to change immigration policy so it would no longer be an enemy of U.S. workers and their families.There are six easy changes in immigration law, and one that would be a little more complex, that could result in one million additional Americans having a job a year from now.All of these changes would have broad public support and probably would seem quite reasonable during a good economy and certainly so in a time of an unemployment crisis.The cost should be nominal, especially in comparison to $350,000 per job3 Easy Changes to Keep Illegal Foreign Workers Out of U.S. JobsAn immigration policy that puts unemployed Americans first would immediately begin opening up hundreds of thousands of jobs currently held by illegal foreign workers.We know from the few major worksite enforcement actions of this year that legal workers will quickly come forward to fill meatpacking, janitorial, service and construction jobs that have been vacated by illegal aliens. You can begin reducing unemployment in the first month and accelerate the benefit through the year with just three changes in enforcement law: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 1 – Allow all employers to voluntarily run their entire workforce through E-Verify.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Many of the 160,000 employers currently using E-Verify chose the program because they learned that they previously had been hiring a lot of illegal aliens and decided to clean up their act. But under current law, they aren’t allowed to use E-Verify to clean up the results of their past hires.Give companies that want to ensure they have a 100% legal workforce the ability to use E-Verify on the pre-existing workforce. This will open up thousands of jobs quickly for unemployed Americans.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 2 – Immediately begin the roll-out of mandatory E-Verify.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The system is in place. It is proven. It already is expanding rapidly because of the new Obama Administration mandate on federal contractors. USCIS has shown itself quite capable of rapid expansion of use of E-Verify. To ease the number of new businesses signing up in the first few months but to maximize the likelihood of opening up the jobs most likely to be taken by illegal workers, begin the mandate for employers of more than 25 in the top 10 industries with illegal-alien workforces (excluding agriculture). All of those businesses should be mandated to be using E-Verify for their new hires within 6 months.Because there tends to be rapid turnover in these illegal-alien-prone industries, a lot of extra jobs can be opened up for jobless Americans in a hurry.Provide the nominal amount of extra funds needed for this expansion. Thousands of jobs will open up for the less-educated Americans who are suffering the highest rates of unemployment.Set a 12-month deadline for all other businesses with more than 100 employees, plus all governments.Establish a deadline schedule for the remaining employers.Agree to set aside the question of amnesties and legalizations. For now, Congress should just concentrate on moving U.S. citizens and legal immigrants already here to the front of the jobs line.Are there really many Members of Congress who would look their voters in the eyes and argue that illegal workers should be at the front of the jobs line ahead of unemployed citizens of the District?And if Congress is really serious about helping unemployed Americans, it will require every business in America to run all existing employees through E-Verify during the next year, or a perhaps a somewhat longer time.When I testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration in 2007, I suggested that it might be best to phase in total E-Verify over a few years to give illegal-alien-dependent companies more time to create channels of recruitment and to transition to a legal workforce. But during this time of huge unemployment, experience is showing that businesses will have no trouble finding legal workers to replace their illegal ones.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 3 – Provide full funding so that DHS can quickly train as many local and state police forces as desire to enter into the 287(g) program. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Empower the local governments that desire to assist the federal government to work within the limits of the 287(g) program to deter illegal foreign workers from settling or remaining in their jurisdiction. Some localities have found that the illegal worker population decreased merely from the announcement that the local government was PLANNING to enter into a 287(g) arrangement.3 More Easy Changes to Reduce LEGAL Foreign Worker CompetitorsReducing the flow of legal permanent foreign workers means that unemployed Americans will have less competition for jobs as they open up during the economic recovery. In general, they will get a job faster with less competition from the foreign workers.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 4 -- Suspend issuing Green Cards to visa lottery winners. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The lottery randomly selects workers from around the world to compete with U.S. workers without any regard to the immigrants’ education, skills or any other criteria, or how any of that matches the needs of our society. Obviously, Congress would not openly state that these lottery winners are more deserving of U.S. jobs than unemployed U.S. citizens.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 5 -- Suspend the chain migration categories of adult siblings and adult children of anchor immigrants. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------They fill up U.S. occupations without any regard for their effect on the U.S. workers competing there. And we have no control over which occupations they affect the most as they are accepted without regard to their education, skills or job preferences. Anchor immigrants are chosen for their specific qualities. They are allowed to bring in their spouse and minor children but, in accepting the gift of a Green Card, freely make the decision to separate themselves from their extended family and communities in their home country.Congress must choose to give job priority to U.S. citizens and the legal immigrants already here – rather than to extended families of immigrants.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 6 – Suspend issuing work permits to the parents of anchor immigrants.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You can create renewable one-year Parent-Care Visitor Visas that allow anchor immigrants to care for their parents as long as they choose, if they provide proof of non-taxpayer supported health insurance coverage. Visitor Parents would not be given any kind of work permit and would not be allowed access to any taxpayer-supported social services. The cost of the care for foreign parents would be borne by the immigrants.Reduce Employment-Based Green Cards – A Little More ComplexThis one will take a little more thought and some more administrative effort from the Department of Labor. But it should be possible to put the new criteria in place quickly. Until it is in place, perhaps it would be best to just suspend all issuance of employment-based Green Cards to make sure no American workers are hurt in the interim.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No. 7 – Dramatically reduce permanent work permits issued through employment-based categories to take jobs that Americans want.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Last year, 166,000 of these Green Cards were issued.Although there can be considerable red tape, there are not a lot of criteria to protect the jobs for U.S. workers.You will need to wrestle with where to set the numerical cap during the Jobs Depression immigration suspension period.But I believe that if you set the criteria for issuing these work permits so that they don’t hurt American workers, the number will end up at only a fraction of the current ceiling.What should be the criteria for these permanent work permits that are sought for specific jobs?I suggest that you start with the questions to which virtually any business lobbyist or organization would answer, “NO.”For example, if you asked if they were seeking foreign workers in order to avoid hiring qualified U.S. workers, they would emphatically answer NO.Do they want foreign workers so they can avoid having to recruit and hire from under-represented minorities in their field, such as disabled Americans or Black and Hispanic Americans – or an under-represented majority, women? I imagine businesses would answer NO.Do they want foreign workers in order to discourage American high school and college students from pursuing certain careers? NODo they want foreign workers so they can hold down wages, benefits and working conditions? The answer surely would be NO.Do they want foreign workers because they will be more compliant if various labor and safety laws are violated? OF COURSE NOT.Then, create criteria for employment-based permanent work permits that guarantee that all the aforementioned will NOT happen. Everything that follows merely serves this goal.The criteria should leave room for the persons of truly exceptional world-class skills that peers would say exceed 95% of the Americans in the occupation.But if our trade schools, colleges and corporations are capable of training Americans to do these jobs, meet temporary shortages with temporary visas until the Americans are ready to take the jobs. In this kind of economy, it surely will be a rare case to find true shortages in any occupations. Surely during the Jobs Depression, the Labor Department would not want to issue a permanent work permit in any of its categories in which U-3 unemployment is above 5% or real wages have been stagnant or declining.To give unemployed Americans full opportunities, all applications for foreign workers by an employer must be transparent to the public. That would mean posting of all non-proprietary information about the job on a national website and a record of the American applicants who applied and were rejected.There you are: 6 easy changes and one a little more complex that very well could save jobs for Americans at the same pace as all the other job creation programs underway and being considered.Thank you for this opportunity to look at immigration policy, not in terms of how it affects special interests but in terms of how it affects the 16 million Americans who are looking for a job and cannot find one -- and for the millions more Americans and their families who live in daily fear of losing their jobs.# # # ................
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