“Innocent Bystander”: The Illegal Immigration Question
To better understand this issue objectively we must first accept the fact that the illegal immigration question that is now a major political issue has its genesis in economics. Our nation’s decisions and choices, both on a political and personal magnitude over the past decades, have turned illegal immigration into a political debate that has further polarized our nation. As a nation we seem to find it convenient, and to an extent a self denial, to blame the issue on one political party and to view it as a conservative verses liberal issue.
As a nation we must look past our self imposed fog of ignorance and greed to see the issue in a clear and objective view. Our current economic debacle of the past six years has made many Americans forget the fact that in recent years passed, America had a prosperous and growing economy. Nostalgically speaking, we all can remember a time when products were built in America, the unemployment rate was low, and secure good paying jobs with advancement were numerous- we even had manufacturing jobs. Oh yes, the good old days.
But as our nation grew in leaps and bounds in the post World War II days, our nation’s population did not grow proportionally. As America prospered, home economics dictated by de facto (religious beliefs aside) that less children equated to more money to be spread over a smaller family. With two income families on the rise, and now the norm, the American family on the average was reduced to 2.1 children per family. Economically speaking, this guaranteed a better living standard for the family, and promoted a greater chance their children would be successful by sending them to college. It all worked out well for families and the nation alike- for a while anyway – until the reality of economics came home to roost.
In order for a nation to support a growing economy it requires human resources. As our nation’s economy grew the birthrate per family declined, though our nation’s population as an aggregate was growing, we lacked a work force to support economic growth. This short fall of human capital in America, forced us to import our population. The easiest way was via illegal immigration.
To compensate for this short fall created by lower birthrates per family and the abundance of good paying white collar jobs American businesses and home owners realized the need to hire “illegal” immigrants to perform jobs required for the economy to grow; in essence to import our population from abroad.
The reality of this issue is not liberal versus conservative, nor Democrat versus Republican. It is basically the result of exploiting another for self gain. We must be honest with ourselves and as a nation, collectively that we exploited the illegal immigrant to acquire goods and services at a below market salary.
We lied to ourselves by believing that having fewer children would equate to personal and national prosperity, by paying a laborer less his due (believing we were helping them). While we received the better of the deal, feeling comfortable knowing our children would not have to work at menial and labor intensive jobs, and businesses prospered by not having to pay a shabby minimum rate. As we prospered, we failed to see the opportunity costs of our decisions. For the laws of economics never discriminate. Capitalism at times can be brutal, though it is always honest, and in time the economic equation must be balanced.
As a nation we have benefitted greatly from exploiting the illegal immigrant by paying them less than the minimum wage and offering no benefits or healthcare. We thought we were smart and could get away cheap and benefit at someone else’s expense.
But what has been our nation’s true cost? Just as in the past when we believed our nation’s prosperity could be achieved by slavery; a price we still pay today in emotional, financial and economic scars, and regretfully not one lesson learned. As the question lingers, our nation spends billions of dollars to compensate for the financial strains illegal immigration places on our healthcare system, and building of fences around our border. It would be fair to say we spend more per family via taxes for these expenditures than we saved from paying the immigrant his just due. Maybe the price we are paying today is just the deferred payment for past wages due with interest?
Dr. Richard Cirulli is a business consultant, professor, and hosts the weekly cable show The American Condition. He can be reached at profcirulli@optonline.net
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
