LA Times: illegals are going home

L.A. Times: Illegals are going home
Fewer migrants mean more benefits
As immigration enforcement takes hold, jobs begin to open up to less-skilled Americans.

By Mark Krikorian
September 24, 2007

Immigration hawks have been on a winning streak lately. An unprecedented surge of public outrage at the prospect of amnesty for illegal immigrants led to the defeat in June of the Senate immigration bill and the probable end of President Bush's dream for comprehensive immigration reform. And that was merely the latest in a series of victories for supporters of tighter controls, including the Real ID Act of 2005, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, proliferating enforcement efforts at the state and local levels and a new package of modest but meaningful enforcement measures announced last month by the Department of Homeland Security.

What of the results? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told The Times that "there will be some unhappy consequences for the economy out of doing this." While the enforcement climate is still too new to show results in government data one way or the other, Chertoff's prediction doesn't appear to be playing out. On the contrary, there is extensive anecdotal evidence that enforcement is actually having its desired effects: More illegal aliens are going home, leading to improved conditions for American workers and communities.

The first consequence of stepped-up enforcement is attrition of the illegal population -- a steady decrease in the total number of illegal aliens as more people give up and go home. Attrition is the real alternative to amnesty, and we're seeing it work.

The Arizona Republic ran a story last month explaining how migrants were leaving the state in anticipation of tough new immigration rules. Public radio station WBUR in Boston reported that "in the midst of the debate about immigrants coming to America, something unusual is happening in Massachusetts: Brazilian immigrants are quietly packing up and leaving." And the Chicago Tribune, reporting on the Pennsylvania town at the forefront of the resistance to illegal immigration, has written that "over the summer, when Hazleton officials created the nation's first ordinance aimed at driving away undocumented residents, thousands of people apparently packed up and left."

Far from having "unhappy consequences," these developments are improving the economic bargaining power of less-skilled American workers. The Rocky Mountain News reported that in Greeley, Colo., "the line of applicants hoping to fill jobs vacated by undocumented workers taken away by immigration agents at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant . . . was out the door." New England Cable News reported that only after a raid on a plant making leather goods for the military in New Bedford, Mass., were Americans and legal immigrants able to get hired. As one new employee said of the raid: "In a way, you know, it's sad, and then in a way it's good because at least it gives people that were not employed for so many years . . . a break to be able to work and support their families."

When illegal aliens were removed from a Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Wall Street Journal documented the benefits to local workers. The plant raised wages significantly, began offering free shuttles from nearby towns and provided free rooms in a company-owned dormitory. For the first time, Crider sought applicants from the state unemployment office and began hiring probationers and men from a local homeless mission. And, as the Journal noted, "for the first time since significant numbers of Latinos began arriving in Stillmore in the late 1990s, the plant's processing lines were made up predominantly of African Americans."

Better enforcement doesn't result only in economic improvements. While there is an ongoing scholarly debate about the overall crime rates of immigrants versus the native-born, there's no doubt that tougher enforcement has had a notable effect on gang activity. In an upcoming study, my Center for Immigration Studies reports that using immigration law against gangs has helped bring about a 39% drop in gang activity in the Washington suburb of Fairfax County, and Dallas police report a 20% drop in the murder rate as a result of the same initiative.



Of course, the consequence of uncontrolled immigration that most ordinary Americans see is what political scientist Peter Skerry calls "social disorder." Hazleton offers a good example: While cleaning graffiti from her building, a local locksmith told the Tribune that "about the same time the ordinance passed, the whole tone of the street changed. Virtually overnight, it was a totally different place."

As recent enforcement victories are sustained and expanded, we can begin to document the benefits in other areas: less stress on hospital emergency rooms, less-crowded classrooms, slower growth in government social spending. But the results we've seen so far are clear: We can get illegal aliens to return home, and doing so will improve conditions in American communities. Why didn't we start doing this a long time ago?

Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports tighter controls on immigration.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-krikorian24sep24,1,7541630.story?coll=la-news-a

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....will they be taking the WAAAAAAAAAA,....bus?

Great article.  maybe we should copy & send to our senators that are undecided!

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speakengl said: Great article.  maybe we should copy & send to our senators that are undecided!

 

and lets not forget the white house, the great champions of letting our country be invaded by these illegals, and lets be sure to highlight the paragraph where is states that the lines to take the jobs the illegals held was OUT THE DOOR in most cases where companies were raided and illegals forced out!  This 'jobs americans won't do' is a phoney lie and all of our lying elected officials need to know it!  especially the top liar of all!

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Actually, I heard the illegals were heading to Canada by the thousands and the Canadians are pretty much upset about it.  I also heard that a lot of gangs are leaving LA for San Bernardino county.

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That makes sense to me, everytime we start a new jobsite in San Bernardino/ontario/Riverside they get ripped off over night. In ontario, they even stole the fire hydrents out of the ground. You always know by the graffiti on the freeways that your entering anchor-baby territory.

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I can’t tell the difference. 

 

Allow me to read the police blotter tomorrow and I’ll let you know the status on the east coast. 

 

I think this maybe temporary pandering, with hopes we can be distracted by: droughts, pandemic illnesses, bomb threats, terrorist plots and a number of other things which can occur. 

 

Don’t get me wrong---radical Islamist are a serious threat, but also understand—if our government cared they would have begun building a credible fence on 9/12/01.

The lack of border enforcement makes us sitting ducks for whatever---drug gangs, terrorist, etc..

 

No one mentions this, but Massie in WND –after six years finally said what I have been saying a lot:

  If they are not terrorist—what are they? 

“Twelve of the al-Qaida terrorists who took part in the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. were illegal immigrants. Fadil Abdelghan, a participant in the plot to bomb New York landmarks, was an illegal. Lafi Khalil, who was involved in the plot to bomb New York subways, was an illegal. Had Mohamed Atta been treated like an illegal criminal, it is safe to say that thousands of Americans would be alive today.”

  

I’ll add my comment to his:  That means those killed on 9/11 and the military killed in the Iraq war and the 50,000 plus killed or murdered by illegal invaders---all could have been avoided  had the government not been pandering to the Mexican government, but instead enforced the existing laws regarding illegal immigration.

The 14 years of opened borders prior to 9/11 is not a part of this tally.

 

 

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I'm afraid that's the point.  They're waiting for Americans to get so angry and so scared they will go to the government yelling for respite.  They will say it will cost you some more rights and we will tell them take all the rights you want just make us safe. Funny thing is we aren't safe now.  We will then be total slaves not just partial slaves that NAFTA, CAFTA, NAU etc have brought so far.  EITHER GET USED TO IT OR STAND UP AND DO SOMETHING NOW!

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Leaving Georgia is what they're supposed to be doing now with our mandatory employee ID registration law here. But I'm seeing hordes of them still pouring into Atlanta constantly. My guess is that many unscrupulous employers are simply finding loopholes and tricks around filing them into the "National Data Base" as the illegals steal more info from real Americans anyway. Maybe the REAL ID ACT could have a slight upside in helping stem this raging illegitimate flood of squatters. Small comfort, I know. And if they get another shamnesty bill passed it will trump everthing we do at the local levels because you can't track who sneaked in when and where. The illegals won't really be applying for these programs in mass anyway, they'll most likely keep flying under the radar because they're too suspicious of traps. Yet their blanket of protection from prosecution and deportation will be even more secure. GET PISSED PEOPLE !!!

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They may be leaving Georgia. But with our failure to follow the Federal law here in Illinois, they have an open door, with a welcome sign above it! 

I posted a new thread on this subject today titled "May be coming to your state real soon".  At least Georgia seems to want to follow the Federal Law not like our state.

I have lived in Georgia and I know what you are talking about!  Dalton, in some areas reminded me of TJ.  I had no idea there was any room left in Atlanta.  Cheap labor means more profit for the carpet manufacturer, or for any manufacturer for that matter.

SAVAGE4prez said: That makes sense to me, everytime we start a new jobsite in San Bernardino/ontario/Riverside they get ripped off over night. In ontario, they even stole the fire hydrents out of the ground. You always know by the graffiti on the freeways that your entering anchor-baby territory.

 

Even here in La Verne which is a nice bedroom community in east LA county, the company building a large house on the hill across the street from where I live was just ripped off last week of 30,000 worth of their equipment from the job site.  We live too close to the gangs in Pomona.

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Does that mean there will be no more Latino hookers at large events ? They keep a better eye on scheduled events than most USA citizens !!! Including political rallies by ALL PARTYS .

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this was a letter to the editor, not a LA Times article. opinion, not fact.  chances are that the current crackdown will diminish the flow of immigration but the effect on the american economy will be negative.

 on Oct. 1, the 9th circuit court will rule on a stay on the social security number enforcement rule change. if the rule goes foward,  some people will lose their jobs unjustly due to clerical errors and will be fired along with the undocumented. the effect will be a rise in prices in those industries that hire undocumented workers (food, restaurants, hotels, construction), a closing of many businesses (loss of jobs for citizens as well) and a decline in real estate  values.

becareful what you wish for, for you may get it. 

mudcock said:

this was a letter to the editor, not a LA Times article. opinion, not fact.  chances are that the current crackdown will diminish the flow of immigration but the effect on the american economy will be negative.

 on Oct. 1, the 9th circuit court will rule on a stay on the social security number enforcement rule change. if the rule goes foward,  some people will lose their jobs unjustly due to clerical errors and will be fired along with the undocumented. the effect will be a rise in prices in those industries that hire undocumented workers (food, restaurants, hotels, construction), a closing of many businesses (loss of jobs for citizens as well) and a decline in real estate  values.

becareful what you wish for, for you may get it. 

Oh, don't worry.  I'm sure the 9th Circus will come down on the side of the undeserving as usual.  We want to make sure all those stolen SS numbers can still be used by the illegals, after all. /sarc

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