PT-LawMom

The Washington Post’s Sebastian Mallaby has a great op-ed today that exposes the realities behind common myths about illegal immigrants, namely that the numbers just don’t support the claims of job stealing, healthcare draining and wage lowering.

Thanks to intensive enforcement over the past year, illegal immigration from Mexico is thought to have fallen by a quarter. Suppose even more spending could cut the number of illegal entrants from 400,000 to 200,000 a year, so that 2 million arrivals could be prevented over a 10-year period. Add in an aggressive deportation program that ejected 1 million illegals, and you are still only scratching the surface. Even if immigration has driven down wages for high school dropouts by 9 percent, it’s hard to see how truly vicious counter-immigration policies could drive them up by more than about 2 percent.

That simply can’t be worth it. Border security does not come cheap: We could save money on unmanned aerial drones and use it to help high-school dropouts with a more generous earned-income tax credit. And although the concern for high-school dropouts is welcome, it must be weighed against the aspirations of migrants. Is it right to push native workers’ pay up by 2 percent if that means depriving poor Mexicans of a chance to triple their incomes?

Of course it isn’t, and given that the total economic effect of immigration on U.S. households is a wash, the big ramp-up in enforcement spending beloved by immigration hawks is an egregious waste of money. But no politician is going to say that.

According to a report in Hispanic Business, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Congress to approve “comprehensive immigration reform”, such as that in the STRIVE Act proposed by Democrats, instead of the latest proposal from the Bush administration.

[Bishop Gerald Barnes] said that STRIVE deserved support because it promotes family reunification and contains “a realistic plan for bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.”The bishop said, in contrast, that the Bush proposal is not good for immigrant families and imposes heavy fines and lengthy waits for legalization of immigration status, something that interested foreigners will not be able to fulfill.

“As we understand it, the (Bush) administration’s proposal would effectively leave many immigrants seeking to legalize their status in a permanent underclass and would encourage family breakdown in immigrant communities,” Barnes said.

I have blogged on the way the media seized on the VA Tech shooter’s immigration status, but I had no idea how far-reaching the “Blame the Immigrant Game” went. The blog Para Justicia y Libertad has a very detailed analysis of how the media rushed to judgment and pointed fingers at innocent immigrant students:

Even worse, one of the most unfortunate media debacles over the VA Tech shootings was the false accusations levied against Wayne Chiang, a Chinese-American who happens to collect guns and who also attends VT who also recently broke up with his girlfriend. Without waiting for the details from the local authority and going on a unfounded and stereotype-based “tip,” Fox News reporters Geraldo Rivera and Megyn Kelly (video) insisted that Wayne Chiang “might have been the perpetrator” as Fox News not only were searching for his residence but also kept broadcasting his pictures from his Facebook page all over the airwaves.

… on the Fox Network, Geraldo Rivera broadcast Chiang’s Facebook page – though not his name – stating, “people might suspect that this might have been the perpetrator.” Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly then explained how, upon discovery of Chiang’s profile, the channel searched for him.

Sadly, Chiang was not only a victim of profiling, but also a victim of the old stereotype that “all Asians look the same.” Or, as he put it, was “five for five.” According Chiang, he was forced to go public after an Internet lynch mob targeted Chaing throughout the day with “numerous death threats, slanderous accusations, and ….. [a] barrage of [phone] calls.” By the end, his site had over 166,000 page views and on Tuesday, he had over 333,000 people visit his site. On the day of the massacre, his site was quickly filled with hate-filled comments such as: “so u are the asisan that shot up the school. i hate u and your people.” (note: comments are closed now)

In an interview with ABC, Chiang said: “Right now pretty much the internet thinks it is me … I am just interested in trying to clear my name.” One would think that once the gunman was properly identified this was an open and shut case in the court of public opinion, no debate, time to move on, unfortunately, this is not the case for Chaing. According to Chiang’s latest entry, he is still being “misidentified” as the shooter.