Illegal Immigrants Depress Low-End Wages

The rising congressional tide against amnesty for some 8.7 million illegal aliens is proof that lawmakers are increasingly skeptical of beguiling statements from people like Frank del Olmo who characterize this controversy as “the INS spending way too much time and effort chasing down Mexican busboys and farm workers” (Commentary, March 17).

The blanket amnesty sought by Mexican President Vicente Fox makes no sense for the U.S. By and large, amnesty applies to illegal Mexican workers who are overwhelmingly unskilled. By increasing the supply of unskilled labor, Mexican illegals have reduced the wages of unskilled American workers who lack high school educations. Currently 8.7 million illegal aliens directly compete with 10 million uneducated and unskilled Americans for the same jobs. All they do is reduce wages for the poorest Americans. There’s no evidence that the U.S. has a shortage of unskilled workers that needs to be satisfied by illegal immigrants.

The past couple of decades have taught us that high-tech countries like the U.S. place a premium on an educated and skilled work force. Such economies don’t create vast arrays of well-paying menial jobs to be filled by the unskilled and uneducated, as exemplified by most illegal immigrants. Mexican illegal immigration acts as a subsidy to businesses that employ unskilled workers--holding down labor costs and preventing plant modernization--while taxpayers pick up the costs ($5 billion annually in California) to provide educational, birth and welfare services to 3.5 million illegal immigrants in this state.

Starting with the certainty that another amnesty will spur on millions more illegal immigrants, there’s not a single issue in this pro-amnesty controversy that makes the slightest bit of sense.

Michael Scott

Glendora

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A Swiss watch that’s still running can’t be repaired, and fixing the INS except with a temporary moratorium won’t work either (“INS on Long Slide Before Visa Fiasco,” March 17). With millions of immigrants, refugees and others who barge in unannounced, the real problem is too many bodies flooding in. The answer is a halt until we catch up with past demands. Then a fair and efficient policy can be implemented.

Michael Papas

Chatsworth