Flummoxed by Facts, Immigration Lobby Doubles Down on Bad Policy

A new “fact sheet” from the American Immigration Council peddles the shopworn argument that the U.S. economy needs more immigrants. In fact, AIC is spreading dangerous myths that defy logic and undercut American workers.“There is no direct correlation between immigration and unemployment,” the immigration promoters proclaim.Try shopping that trope in Realityville, where most Americans live.Here are four fundamental facts:
- A record 95 million working-age Americans are out of the job market. Many of those millions have been pushed out by stagnating wages depressed by low-cost imported labor and diminished opportunities, particularly on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.
- From 2000-2014, all of the net increase in U.S. employment effectively went to immigrants.
- While AIC plumps for looser immigration laws, it ignores the fact that 11 million working-age immigrants are not working. So much for the notion that immigrants bring skills that are in high demand by U.S. employers.
- The ongoing, massive influx of immigrants comes at increasing cost to the public. In the past two years, Los Angeles County issued $1.3 billion in welfare payments to illegal immigrants, nearly one-quarter of its total payouts.