Representing North Carolina’s Ninth District                                                                        

Illegal Aliens Are Hurting North Carolina

This week the U.S. Senate has been debating illegal immigration. 

There are currently 12 million illegal aliens in the United States.  North Carolina has the 8^th largest illegal alien population in the county estimated at 300,000.  There is fierce debate everywhere on what to do with illegal aliens who have sneaked across our borders.

As we engage in this debate, I want to share some statistics that I believe support cracking down on illegal immigration. 

Steven Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies, recently released a report titled “Dropping Out: Immigrant Entry and Native Exit From the Labor Market, 2000-2005.”  This report disproves many of the myths associated with illegal aliens and the workplace.     

This report shows that immigrants (legal and illegal) compose the majority of workers in just four out of 473 major occupations in America.  The other 469 are composed of large majorities of Americans.  Therefore, the argument, that immigrants do jobs that Americans don’t want, is contradicted by the statistical facts.

The report reveals that 83 percent of illegal aliens have no more than a high school education and are overwhelmingly employed in only a few occupations.  In these high-illegal occupations, unemployment for American workers, of the same educational status, averages 10 percent, or double the national rate.  In fact, unemployment for these American workers has increased by 952,000 people from 2000 to 2005.  At the same time 1.54 million immigrants, half of which are estimated to be illegals, with no more than a high school education, received jobs. 

The report even breaks down the unemployment statistics for North Carolina, showing a clear trend.   In 2000, there were 89,000 unemployed North Carolinians who have no more than a high school education.  In 2005, there were 118,000.  At the same time employment for immigrants who have no more than a high school education increased from 145,000 to 267,000. 

The point is, there are 3.8 million American workers, 118,000 in North Carolina, of the same educational status of many illegal and legal immigrants who are looking for work.  The report concluded, “…it is very hard to see any evidence of a labor shortage that could justify allowing illegal aliens to stay or to admit more as guest workers”.

Call me old fashioned, but I believe that American workers deserve the first shot at American jobs.  I believe in our laws.  I believe that we should seal off our borders, and enforce our immigration laws.  That is why I voted for the House-passed Border Security and Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act.  If we can’t control our borders, no immigration laws we pass, or programs we create, will solve our immigration problems.  

Let me be clear.  I do not support amnesty.  Illegal aliens must go home, follow our laws, and apply to come here like all other legal immigrants.  Anything else rewards illegal behavior and punishes legal immigrants.     

I know there is no practical means to send 12 million illegal aliens home.  We don’t have the tools, resources or manpower.  That is why at some point in the future we will have to discuss setting up a foreign labor program that gives illegals incentives to go back to their country and apply to come here legally.  However, we can’t begin discussions on this until our borders are secure and we are enforcing out immigration laws.  Again, no immigration program will work if we can’t control our borders.   

Currently, I support expanding the new Homeland Security online program that allows businesses to check the legal status of potential workers.   This program ensures businesses are in full compliance with the law, and stops illegal aliens from trying to get a job with fraudulent identification.

Many disagree with my stance.  They say that sending illegal workers home would damage our economy because of the void they would leave.

However, I believe if illegals were sent home, businesses would find ways to develop new technology to increase production and lower costs.  In the 1960’s, California tomatoes growers relied on the government “bracero” program that allowed Mexicans to come and pick tomatoes.  Congress stopped the program even though the growers said it would kill their business.  After the program was stopped the growers did 5 times the previous business because scientist developed “oblong” tomatoes that could be picked by a machine.   

In addition, businesses can hire the 3.8 million Americans who are of the same educational status and skill set as the illegal aliens.  Businesses may argue that labor costs may rise as a result.  However, wages for American male high school drop-outs have dropped 1 percent over the past 5 years, and have only increased 3 percent for high school graduates compared to 10 percent for more educated Americans.  It seems that with a growing economy, a slight increase in wages for a small percent of workers is not going to harm the economy.  A 10 percent increase for more educated Americans, a larger set of workers, certainly hasn’t.      

So our economy would not be damaged by obeying American laws and sending

illegal aliens home to then apply through the legal system.  American workers would find jobs, and obtain wages that would help them get off government programs.  Businesses would create new technology that would lower costs, and could actually help our economy expand further.    

I think this debate can be summed up best by the late Congressman Sonny Bono.  When asked about his position on illegal immigration he said “it’s illegal.”  Americans must keep the same focus.  Illegal aliens are here illegally, and we must recommit ourselves to enforcing our laws and securing our borders.

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