Immigration reform is a no lose deal for Obama and the Democrats. First of all it’s the right thing to do. It will prevent 5 million people who live and work here, have families here, from being deported. It will also cement the Latino vote in 2016 and the Republicans have little chance of winning without a decent chunk of the Latino vote. As the Republicans complain and talk about impeachment, this will only make Latinos hate them even more than they already do. Any attempt to impeach Obama for something totally lawful and correct, will further destroy Republicans just as the impeachment of Bill Clinton did.

So there really is no downside to Obama acting by executive action on Immigration. As I had mentioned in my last column, the next two years must be executive orders and veto’s and that’s it. There is no negotiating to do with Republicans, not anymore. Been there for six years, done that for six years. You can’t negotiate with neanderthals. They don’t have the brains nor the heart to do what is right for the American people that are not in the top one percent. On the Keystone pipeline Obama must use his veto pen. Obama must show that America will take the lead on global warming. Funny how a party that hasn’t cared one bit about creating jobs, all of a sudden cares about a thousand short term jobs that would lead to about 50 permanent jobs. The over 200,000 jobs that Obama has been creating every month, they won’t talk about of course.

There is nothing more to talk about. Obama must now finish carving his legacy. A legacy that is about taking us out of a recession, ending two wars, finishing Bin Laden, bringing affordable health care to over 10 million people, a stock market that hits record highs daily, gas prices that continue to plummet, cutting the deficit in more than half, and so on and so on and so on.

Republicans will scream and shout, they will have tantrums and curse and threaten. Too damn bad. They have and will continue to misread this past election and overplay their hand. Obama must use this against them and continue to watch the infighting within the Republican party. Let them continue to have to answer impeachment calls from the Tea Party members, let them continue their infighting over this and other issues. Let them fight over shutting down the government. The more resolute he is the more infighting there will be as they try to figure out what to do with this newly defiant President that they are certainly not accustomed to.

I’m cautiously optimistic.  Obama has had these opportunities before and has squandered them. However maybe with Immigration reform, the great climate deal with China, and his recent comments about the Keystone pipeline, we are indeed seeing a new Obama. An Obama that has finally realized what the agenda of the Republican party is and has been since January 20, 2009. They couldn’t prevent him from being elected twice, but they still believe they can control his destiny.

They can do so only if he allows it. He is the President. He has the moral high ground and the law on his side. He has the veto pen. He cannot allow Republicans to hurt this country anymore than they already have. He cannot allow them to destroy all the good he has done and take us back to 2008.

He must forge ahead. All they can do is cry about it. He has all the power. They know it. Let’s hope he does as well.

The post Time for Obama to Declare War….On Republicans appeared first on Madness & Reality.

With proposed immigration reform legislation receiving pushback from the usual suspects. You know, ignorant right-wingers and their clueless minions? Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has presented what at first glance seems to be an absurd argument in support of immigration reform. Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference in Washington, this week, Jeb Bush called immigrants “more fertile,” at the annual conservative gathering. Jeb Bush, himself the husband of a Latino woman, may know something his buddies may not.

This from MSNBC:

Jeb Bush and family

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush called immigrants ‘more fertile’ during his speech at the annual conservative gathering of the Faith and Freedom Coalition convention in which he praised the role of transplants in America.

No joke. As part of his pitch for immigration reform to the conservative, evangelical-leaning audience on Friday, Bush said immigrant labor is crucial to the U.S. economy, especially because immigrants are “more fertile.”

“Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” he said, adding, “Immigrants are more fertile, they love families, they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population. Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”

As I mentioned before, at first glance, Jeb Bush’s argument sounds purely ridiculous. If anything, to the ear of those opposed to immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country. Jeb Bush’s argument would sound like the very reason to oppose immigration reform. After all, the common belief is that newly documented immigrants would become a burden and place a strain on society. Yep, and of course you know there are only so many food stamps to go around.

When you look at his argument through the lens of race, one can see that the benefit argued by Jeb Bush makes a lot of sense. Let’s face it: Though white folks are still the strong majority demographic, their numbers are declining. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012, more white people died than were born for the first time in a century. At that rate, unless white folks start drinking malt liquor, eating tacos, and eating watermelon, they will one day become the minority. Which is pretty weird when you think about how many of them are opposed to Affirmative Action policies for college applicants. Once that white privilege thingy is lost and colored privilege kicks in, things might get a little weird.

This from The New York Times:

Deaths exceeded births among non-Hispanic white Americans for the first time in at least a century, according to new census data, a benchmark that heralds profound demographic change.

The disparity was tiny — only about 12,000 — and was more than made up by a gain of 188,000 as a result of immigration from abroad. But the decrease for the year ending July 1, 2012, coupled with the fact that a majority of births in the United States are now to Hispanic, black and Asian mothers, is further evidence that white Americans will become a minority nationwide within about three decades.

Over all, the number of non-Hispanic white Americans is expected to begin declining by the end of this decade.

“These new census estimates are an early signal alerting us to the impending decline in the white population that will characterize most of the 21st century,” said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution.

[…] The transition will mean that “today’s racial and ethnic minorities will no longer be dependent on older whites for their economic well-being,” Dr. Frey said. In fact, the situation may be reversed. “It makes more vivid than ever the fact that we will be reliant on younger minorities and immigrants for our future demographic and economic growth,” he said.

In 2010, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, more non-Hispanic whites died than were born in 11 states, including California, Florida and Pennsylvania. White deaths exceeded births in a majority of counties, including Los Angeles, the most populous.

Given the apocalyptic possibility of yet another white woman (or man) having a child with a Kenyan who may somehow become POTUS, Jeb Bush’s argument makes perfect sense. I mean, who wants to have a mulatto baby these days. right? Oh, you don’t believe me? Just ask the racists who “let their color show” in reaction to a new ad by Cheerios. The ad features a bi-racial couple — a black man, and a white woman — and their adorable mixed daughter. As the following interview with the biological parents of the child actor shows, much of the backlash shows the ugly side of our now post-racial society. I suppose it’s okay to eat Cheerios in the comfort of your home if you’re white and have a child with a black person. However, to talk about your love for the cereal or even mention its health benefits on television, is clearly unacceptable to some.

The post Jeb Bush: Support Immigration Reform Because “Immigrants are more fertile” appeared first on Madness & Reality.

As an immigrant and advocate for immigration reform, nothing upsets me off more than when I hear people who look like me complain and say, “President Obama is doing immigration for Latinos, but has done nothing for Black people.” It’s a rather myopic view of what is in fact a very complex situation. Sadly, many are of the ill-formed opinion that becoming documented is just as simple as going to the DMV and waiting in line.

If only the process was that simple, but it’s not. This type of rhetoric frustrates me. But I’ve come to realize that this country is chock full of ignorant people, who are easily influenced by the racist anti-immigration movement. And what’s even more frustrating when I hear this garbage? That said ignorance belittles the collective efforts of grassroots activists intent on seeing change; many of whom are undocumented themselves.

These are people who are willing to put their lives on the line who risk deportation and possible separation from their families. These are people like Verónica Bayetti Flores, an immigrant and queer woman of color, who was arrested in New York City recently. What was her crime? Standing alongside undocumented youth ion hopes of Governor Andrew Cuomo implementing New York’s version of the DTREAM Act. A measure that will at the least give people brought here as children a temporary respite from fear of deportation and a life of American normalcy.

Here is what Veronica had to say:

I am a queer immigrant writer, activist, and artist. I’ve worked to increase access to contraception and abortion, fought for paid sick leave, demanded access to safe public space for queer youth of color, and helped to lead social justice efforts in Wisconsin, New York City, and Texas.

Verónica Bayetti Flores

Today, I stand as an ally to undocumented youth in the effort to demand the passage of the New York State DREAM Act, which has the potential to radically transform undocumented young people’s access to education in New York. In preparing for today’s action, I re-read the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail; the powerful lessons of this open letter remain relevant today. In it, Dr. King assures us that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, and that it must be not only demanded by the oppressed, but demanded now. That, although those who have not suffered from racial injustice too often claim that the time is not right, “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Justice has been denied to undocumented immigrants for too long. I am doing this today because I am a reproductive justice activist, and I know that education impacts access to health care. I am doing this today because I am queer, and I know that queer youth of color in New York are disproportionately poor and unable to afford housing, much less the rising costs of higher education. I am doing this today because, as an immigrant who was not eligible for financial aid when I applied for college, I know that most will not have the luck and the privilege that I had when I was still able to access the education has been integral to my success and happiness.

The comprehensive immigration reform being discussed in Congress will not address many of these concerns, and will leave much to be desired. State efforts like the New York DREAM Act remain critical in to the path toward justice for undocumented youth. Today, I demand that Governor Cuomo make this bill a priority. He needs to know that he does not have Latinos and immigrants in the bag if he has his eyes set on a presidential run in 2016: we need action, and we are watching.

Listen to her in her own words:

… immigration reform benefits the country.

When immigration reform does indeed become a reality and the ink that is the signature of President Obama has dried. It would be because of the hard work of people dedicated to change. It would be because those of us involved were able to build consensus by telling our stories. It would be because the people like Veronica were able to humanize an undesirable underclass of people in this country, also in pursuit of the American Dream.

As our political leaders debate and wrangle with the task of immigration reform. It’s important to know that while there is no shortage of ignorant talk when it comes to the issue. There are m,many courageous individuals who get it, who are standing up and speaking out in the interest of social justice. Not just social justice, but also human rights. Because believe it or not, immigration is indeed a human rights issue as well.

Still don’t get it?

Watch the following:

The post Immigration: Queer Activist Arrested at #DREAMAct Protest appeared first on Madness & Reality.

So, don’t cry after reading this; instead, call your congressional representative and voice your displeasure. Why? Because the following report may be of concern to you; and, hopefully enough of a concern to motivate you to call your Congressional representatives. That is unless you’re supportive of the idea of kicking children out of the country after keeping them in detention centers with adults. Of course these are the very individuals who would qualify for the DACA which was signed by President Obama.  If you’re not onew of those people, you should call them.

The House passed a homeland security spending bill on Wednesday that sent a message to immigrants in the country without authorization: we don’t want you here.

Nearly all House Republicans voted to add an amendment to the bill that would cut funding for an Obama administration program that allows young undocumented immigrants to live and work in the U.S.

[,,,] The reason immigration came up during the discussion of homeland security funding is because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security oversees federal immigration programs, including the aforementioned initiative, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

“I think it sends a very interesting signal to the Latino community because this motion would essentially invalidate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for DREAMers,” said Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, at a briefing for Hispanic media. “It will be interesting to see what the reaction is in the community.”

The vote is largely symbolic. It’s very unlikely the Democrat-controlled Senate would support a bill containing that provision, or that the president would sign it into law. (source)

Aside from that, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) recently discovered through a 2010 FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request, that from 2008 to 2012 the Department of Homeland Security maintained the practice of detaining children in adult immigration detention facilities. Can you imagine that? I’m not sure, but isn’t this a serious human rights violation?

Watch the following:

A young child and his mother wait in a US border detention center before being returned to their home country. Bill Gentile/Zuma

The report determined (click here to read it) that from 2008-2010 children under the age of 18 were cumulatively held for a total of 36,598 days in 30 different adult detention centers here in the United States. Four children were detained between 1,000 and 3,600 days, with one child being held for a decade after being detained at the age of 15. Did you hear that? One child was detained for a decade in an adult immigration detention center.

The NIJC also alleges that the data has been under-reported.  Given this fact, there is no way of actually knowing how many undocumented children are being caged nationwide.What we do know, however, is that Congress voted unanimously to deport individuals brought here through no fault of their own. Of course being held in an adult immigration detention as an undocumented child is a lot better than being gunned down and having your life innocently taken away. But the sad truth is that the deportation of said youth is much like a death sentence.

Watch the video:

The post Immigration: Undocumented Children Held In Adult Prisons? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

More from Cutaia:

You don’t have to be a member of the KKK to be racist, but not being a member of the KKK does not mean you aren’t racist. Slavery may have been outlawed 150 years ago, but the Civil Rights Movement was less than 50 years ago. Fifty years ago blacks were still sitting in the back of the bus, drinking out of separate water fountains, being sprayed by fire hoses for peacefully protesting, and living in extreme poverty with substandard education.

To this day, there are still a lot of negative stereotypes about blacks. I can’t think of any negative stereotypes about white people, other than we can’t dance. When you are the people in power, negative stereotypes roll right off your back. But for the people who are not in power, even stereotypes we think are harmless can have terrible consequences.

Ever hear whites make fun of black names? Names like Lakeesha and Jashon? Did you know that when potential employers are presented with two identical resumes, one with a white name and one with a black name, the white person gets the interview, hands down. Not so harmless now. And when “undercover” black and white employees interview for jobs, when they both have the exact same qualifications, guess who almost always gets called back? Yeah, that’s right, the whites.

So with the obvious advantage of being white in America, it’s be puzzling to me as to why there’s a need for an organization to secure and protect, well, whiteness in America. *I suppose it may have something to do with the challenges of being white in a post-racial America. After all, when the black voter turnout for the first time in history is overshadowed by that of black voters in 2012, I suppose there’s a cause for concern. So much so that there’s a need for commercials to promote whiteness.

Enter the National Policy Institute:

From African-Americans to illegal immigrants—from lesbians to left-handers—every ethnic and interest group has its own lobby or cultural foundation.

The exception is White Americans—our country’s historic majority and founding population—the people that bears [sic] the unique heritage of Europe, Christianity, cultural excellence, and the scientific awakening.

And there are our peculiar folkways—holidays, traditions, and customs—that make us both uniquely European and uniquely American.

Only we are who we are.

So why isn’t there an organization that has our interests at heart? Or maybe the question should be, Why isn’t there an organization that has our children’s interest at heart—as well as those of our grandchildren and generations yet to be born.

Don’t they deserve to live in a country akin to that of their ancestors’?

The above screed is from the following NPI commercial:

Jason Richwine, the co-author of a controversial immigration study released this week by the Heritage Foundation, tells Post Politics that he has resigned his position with the organization.

“Yes, that’s right,” Richwine wrote in a brief e-mail. Heritage confirmed that he resigned.

The study written by Richwine and Robert Rector argued that the immigration reform bill would cost $6.3 trillion, but it was widely panned by conservative groups pushing for immigration reform as not accounting for the economic benefits of immigrants.

Complicating matters were a series of revelations about Richwine, including that he had written a doctoral thesis at Harvard University arguing that the United States shouldfocus its immigration efforts on those with high IQs and that he had written for a Web site that describes itself as “nationalist.”

Richwine’s departure was first reported by Slate’s Dave Weigel.

Watch the video below:

Why is being white so powerful? It probably has something to do with the whole slavery thing. Yeah, I said it. Slavery. Why can’t blacks just get over it, right? I mean it was such a long time ago. And the minute that slavery was declared unconstitutional, former slave owners and former slaves had a great big party, where the former slaves invited their former owners over for dinner in the houses that the former slaves owned. Oh wait, that doesn’t sound right . . .

Whites don’t like to talk about slavery because we think blacks blame us for it. Unless you actually owned slaves, and I’m pretty sure that you haven’t, no one is blaming you for slavery. However, if you turn away from the racism that still exists today as a result of slavery; if you promote that racism; if you argue that it does not exist, you should absolutely feel guilty, because you are guilty — not just of hurting your fellow citizens, but hurting our entire country.

The post National Policy Institute: Privilege, Politics, & Protection of “Whiteness” appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Yep, no need for me to go back and rehash those arguments. Heck, I won’t even link to them in this post. Instead, I’ll just let the following video speak for itself. The video was put together by the good folks over at Cuéntame. You may not know about their organization; but, if you’re an advocate for immigration reform, you should definitely get to know them and “like” then on Facebook. In the following video (which is one of many at their site) they expose the California Coalition for Immigration Reform. Yep, a haven for racist Nativist types.

The post California Coalition for Immigration Reform: Another Racist Organization appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Perhaps someone within the party élite needs to remind Alaska Congressman Don Young of this fact (yeah, where are you, Reince Priebus?). I know trying to forget the fact that 71% of Hispanic-Americans voted for President Obama in November can be hard. But, I’d like to think that America’s shifting demographics — you know, it’s browning? — should make a seasoned politician mindful when speaking on the issue of immigration.

This from The Hill:

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) issued an apology Thursday after using the term “wetbacks” to describe Latino workers on his family farm.

During a sit down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California. I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no disrespect,” Young said in a statement to the Alaska Dispatch.

Young made the comment during an interview with KRDB-FM radio in Alaska about the current immigration reform legislation being debated in Congress. Young said he feared that the country had exported too many vital industry jobs, while agreeing that automation and technological advances had reduced the number of labor positions available.

“My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” he told the station. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

In the statement to the Dispatch apologizing for his remarks, Young says that he believes Congress should “once and for all tackle the issue of immigration reform.”

“Migrant workers play an important role in America’s workforce, and earlier in the said interview, I discussed the compassion and understanding I have for these workers and the hurdles they face in obtaining citizenship,” Young said.

Listen here:

This from POLITICO:

“During a sit-down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California,” he said later Thursday, according to reports. “I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays, and I meant no disrespect.”

Young went on to praise the role migrant workers play in society and called for the country to address immigration reform.

Oh well, it’s not like he “blacked out” like Alabama State Rep. Joe Mitchell did recently (more on that soon). That said, maybe as an act of contrition Don Young makes a strong push for immigration reform by getting his fellow Congressional Republican cohorts in line, yes?

The post Rep. Don Young Apologizes for “Wetbacks” Radio Comment appeared first on Madness & Reality.

The TV spots point out that when immigrants settle in the U.S., their energy use quickly becomes Americanized. As a result their carbon emissions skyrocket.  The result is a quadrupling of immigrants’ carbon footprints compared to the amount of carbon emissions they produced in their home countries.

The TV spot is based on a Center for Immigrations Studies (CIS) report about U.S. immigration and carbon emissions.  While the CAPS TV spot is focused more on future carbon emissions, the CIS study looks at current carbon emissions.  Currently, US immigrants produce an estimated 637 million metric tons of CO2 annually or the same amount of carbon emissions currently produced by Great Britain and Sweden, combined.

Contributing to Global Warming: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., eats a tortilla during a campaign stop at Sombrero Festival following a prayer meeting with Hispanic Evangelical ministers Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

I don’t know about you, but until I saw this commercial the other night, I had no idea why we had such a mild winter here in Tennessee recently. Thankfully, due in large part to those fine folks concerned about the environment, and the possibility of being attacked by polar bears at backyard family gatherings in Los Angeles. We now know that global warming is not a hoax as often believed by right-wing truth tellers. Instead, we now know that thirty Mexicans living in one apartment is as much a threat to the environment and the world at large as is the Obama presidency.

OK, so they never actually mentioned the browning of America in the add, so I can’t actually call them racist. But hey, they’re talking about California; surely they’re not referring to illegal immigrants from Canada. I mean, everybody knows that Canadian illegal immigrants are crossing the US boarder in an attempt to survive and avoid those polar bears I mentioned earlier. Yep, the ones forced to move south to look for food since the polar caps are now melting all thanks in large part to those Mexicans with their foreign language, loud music, lowriders, and that damn activist judge, Sonya Sotomayor.

Check this out via my lefty buddies at thinkprogress.org:

The claim that immigrants have a carbon footprint four times larger in the U.S. comes from a CIS report, which has deeply flawed methodology. The report claims that a person’s CO2 emissions is directly related to his or her personal income — so a person making $110,000 per year will emit 10 percent more carbon than a person who earns $100,000 per year under the report’s methodology. Thus, because the report claims that each Mexican immigrant earns 53.2 percent of the average U.S. resident, it claims that these immigrants must also produce 53.2 percent of the carbon emissions.

But this is simply absurd. If such a relationship actually did exist, that would mean that Mitt Romney, who earned $21.6 million in 2010 — or more than 600 times the average annual income according to the CIS report — also must have produced 600 times the CO2 emissions. That’s enough of a carbon footprint to fuel over 2,200 vehicles or power more than 1,400 homes for an entire year. Not even John McCain owns that many houses.

There’s also robust data showing that immigrants produce less carbon emissions than their native-born citizen counterparts. Brookings found in 2008 that the 10 highest carbon-emitting cities have an average immigrant population below 5 percent, while the cities with the lowest carbon footprint have an average immigrant population of 26 percent. And as CAP Senior Fellow Andrew Light told ThinkProgress, even if we could suddenly remove the entire carbon impact created by immigrants, it would only decrease the U.S.’s carbon emissions by 7.32 percent in a good year. Clearly, immigrants are not to blame for the U.S.’s large climate footprint.

Rather than falsely blame immigrants for carbon emissions that have fed global warming, Americans should focus on practical solutions like better land use policies and landscape design to conserve resources. Los Angeles, which has a burgeoning second- and third-generation immigrant population, has seen its water usage decline to a 32-year low despite a population increase of 1 million people. It can be done, but using anti-immigrant sentiment to misplace blame to one section of the population distracts from what the U.S. should be doing to address global warming instead.

I’m going to overlook the fact that I saw this commercial on MSNBC during it’s prime-time left-wing political lineup. But then again, maybe them airing this ad serves as yet another example of that Liberal Bias I often hear my right-wing buddies talking about; yeah, I’ll leave it at that for now.

NOTE:  Click here to read about the Center for Immigrations Studies and it’s racist roots.

The post Right-Wing anti-Immigrant Attack: US Immigration Responsible for Global Warming appeared first on Madness & Reality.

So I’m watching the GOP debate several weeks ago on MSNBC and while on break they ran an ad that completely blew my mind. It was an anti-immigration ad sponsored by capsweb.org, a group based in California. This wasn’t your typical anti-immigration ad, and what struck me, was the fact that the ad had nothing to do with the problem of “illegals” in California. Instead, the ad’s targeted issue was that of too many legal immigrants being in the state of California. Yeah, can you imagine that? I could understand taking issue with undocumented immigrants, but legal documented immigrants? I don’t know about you, but this sounds a bit crazy; especially when you consider the story of the first settlers on American soil. Check out the ad that has been running in recent weeks:

More legal immigrants reside and settle in California permanently than in any other state. The flow of workers has not stopped since the recession hit. The policy is having a particularly insidious effect in states like California, with millions unable to find a job and unemployment rates topping 12 percent. As a result, California has been forced to borrow $40 million a day from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits. At the same time, the Federal government continues to flood California with legal immigrants and temporary workers with no calls for an end to foreign workers in sight.

The TV ad, airing on both broadcast and cable networks, illustrates the lack of attention to legal foreign workers by first presenting the word “illegal”, since illegal immigrants has been the primary media focus. The spokesperson then separates the word “legal” out, saying, “But what about these workers; legal foreign workers?” The commercial ends by combining the letters to form the word “ill” to describe California’s economy and joblessness, partly attributable to legal and illegal immigration.

Now I’ve written about the immigration debate on many occasion. As an immigrant myself, this is indeed something near and dear to my heart. Having said that, it really irritates me when I see this played out in the media. Much of this garbage is in fact rooted in racism, and much of the propaganda is often void of facts. So, me being me, allow me to show you something which kills the noise. It’s something that I’be been saying forever, but yet and still, facts like the following are rarely brought to the table when it comes to any debate on immigration and policy.

According to study conducted by Economist Giovanni Peri, a professor at the University of California-Davis. There has been no negative effect on the wages of native-born Americans given the influx of immigrants, undocumented or otherwise. In fact, according to his study, in a new working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, the addition of highly skilled immigrants have positively impacted the wages of native-born Americans, According to his study, there is no correlation between the influx of immigrants, and poverty as is often believed. He concluded that immigration doesn’t increase the poverty rate by depressing the wages of low-income, native-born Americans and can actually decrease poverty when higher-skilled immigrants enter the workforce.

Here’s this from his report:

There is essentially no effect of immigration on native poverty at the national level. At the local level, only considering the most extreme estimates and only in some localities, we find non-trivial effects of immigration on poverty. In general, however, even the local effects of immigration bear very little correlation with the observed changes in poverty rates and they explain a negligible fraction of them.

Here’s a more detailed summary:

WASHINGTON — There is broad consensus among economists that immigration has a small but positive impact on the average income of Americans over the long term. But far less analysis has been done on the impact of immigrants on the labor market in the shorter term, particularly when viewed through the lens of the recession and its lingering labor market effects.

In a new Migration Policy Institute report, The Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion, University of California, Davis economist Giovanni Peri finds that immigration unambiguously improves employment, productivity and income but that it also involves some short-term adjustments (such as worker retraining or adoption of new technology).

The paper was commissioned to inform the work of MPI’s Labor Markets Initiative, which is conducting a comprehensive, policy-focused review of the role of legal and illegal immigration in the labor market.

The report, which examines short- and long-run impacts of immigration on average and over the business cycle of growth and contraction, finds that:

• Immigrants do not reduce native employment rates over the long run (10 years), while increasing productivity and average income for native-born workers. Immigration to the United States over the 1990-2006 period can be credited with a 2.9 percent increase in real wages for the average U.S. worker.
• The adjustment process, however, is not immediate. When immigration occurs during a downturn, the economy does not appear to respond as quickly as it would during economic expansions and there is evidence of modest negative impacts on employment and average income in the short run. These impacts dissipate over periods of up to seven years.
• During periods of economic growth, by contrast, new immigration creates jobs in sufficient numbers to leave native employment unharmed even in the short run. This holds true even for less-educated workers. Immigration during economic expansions has no measurable, short-term negative effect on income per worker.

“Adjustments to employment, productivity and income are more difficult during downturns,” Peri said. “This suggests that the United States would benefit most from an immigration system that better adjusts to economic conditions, allowing legal immigrant inflows to be more responsive to the economic cycle.”

In the report, Peri suggests allowing employers’ demand for work visas to play a stronger role in determining the number of visas issued annually, and that a share of the visas be allocated to less-skilled workers, particularly those who perform primarily manual jobs that native workers increasingly are much less interested in filling.

“This report offers further evidence yet of the need for the immigration system to become significantly more responsive to the U.S. economy’s constantly evolving labor market needs, so that the benefits of immigration can be captured more fully and any negative effects neutralized,’’ said MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou. “Establishing an independent executive-branch agency that would make regular recommendations to the president and Congress for adjusting employment-based immigration levels would inject a greatly needed degree of flexibility into the current rigid immigration system.”

Oh well, I can keep repeating this stuff until the cows come home. The truth is, people still won’t believe it. They would rather take commercials like the one above at face value. In doing so, they’ll never ask who or what is actually behind such a commercial. Sadly, they’ll never see it as racist because with the face of immigrants being “those damn messikan fence jumpers,” they’ll seek solace in criminalizing them rather than seeing the economic value of immigration to this country. Bet hey, don’t tell that to the fine patriots who make up Californians For Population Stabilization.

It’s always convenient to blame the foreigners…

The post So “Illegal Immigrants” Are As Bad As “Legal” Immigrants? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Of course this doesn’t make sense to ani-immigration proponents, because they fail to see the value of undocumented immigrant. Instead, said opponents continue to frame the immigration debate around the the criminality. Rather than focus on the added economic value, instead, they discourage immigration reform, by labeling undocumented workers as “illegal” immigrants.

Yep, believe it or not, all those “Messikans” some of you people are bitching about, at one point were actually invited to come here. I know, it’s kind of hard to believe with all the talk of electric fences and alligator filled moats along the southern border, but it’s true.  Yep, it’s hard to believe, but “illegal immigration” was actually encouraged at one point in American history.

SIDE NOTE – The following video is hilarious:

The Mexican migrant worker has been the foundation for the development of the rich American agricultural industry, and the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez border region has played a key role in this historic movement. One of the most significant contributions to the growth of the agricultural economy was the creation of theBracero Program in which more than 4 million Mexican farm laborers came to work the fields of this nation. The braceros converted the agricultural fields of America into the most productive in the planet.

Mexican peasants were hard-working, highly skilled agricultural laborers. Yet, despite the fact that two million peasants lost their lives in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the government failed to provide them the resources needed to improve their lives. By the late thirties, when the crop fields began yielding insufficient harvest and employment became scarce, the peasant was forced to look for other means of survival.

Have You Thanked Latin America Lately?

The occurrence of this grave situation coincided with the emergence of a demand in manual labor in the U.S. brought about by World War II. On August 4, 1942, the U.S. and the Mexican government instituted the Bracero program. Thousands of impoverished Mexicans abandoned their rural communities and headed north to work as braceros.

The majority of the braceros were experienced farm laborers who came from places such as “la Comarca Lagunera,” Coahuila, and other important agricultural regions of México. They stopped working their land and growing food for their families with the illusion that they would be able to earn a vast amount of money on the other side of the border.

Huge numbers of bracero candidates arrived by train to the northern border. Their arrival altered the social environment and economy of many border towns. Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across from El Paso, Texas, became a historic recruitment site and substantial gathering point for the agricultural labor force.

The following note illustrates the movement:

“More than 80,000 braceros pass through the El Paso Center annually. They’re part of an army of 350,000 or more that marches across the border each year to help plant, cultivate and harvest cotton and other crops throughout the United States”.
(El Paso Herald Post, April 28, 1956)

The bracero contracts were controlled by independent farmers associations and the “Farm Bureau.” The contracts were in English and the braceros would sign them without understanding their full rights and the conditions of employment. When the contracts expired, the braceros were required to turn in their permits and return to México. The braceros could return to their native lands in case of an emergency, only with written permission from their boss.

The braceros labored tirelessly thinning sugar beets, picking cucumbers and tomatoes, and weeding and picking cotton. The braceros, a very experienced farm labor, became the foundation for the development of North American agriculture.

Despite their enormous contribution to the American economy, the braceros suffered harassment and oppression from extremist groups and racist authorities.

By the 60’s, an excess of “illegal” agricultural workers along with the introduction of the mechanical cotton harvester, destroyed the practicality and attractiveness of the bracero program. The program under which more than three million Mexicans entered the U.S. to labor in the agricultural fields ended in 1964. The U.S. Department of Labor officer in charge of the program, Lee G. Williams, had described it as a system of “legalized slavery.”

The following note describes the last day of the program:

“527 Braceros Cross to U.S.”

With the crossing of 526 braceros through the Santa Fe Street Bridge Tuesday night, current contracting of Mexican laborers for work in U.S. farms ended, official of the National Railways of Mexico reported Wednesday. The railroad in charge of transporting the braceros to Juárez from all parts of the state, disclosed the total number of workers contracted amounted to 12,127. Of this number, only a few were sent back after failing to pass their physical examination at the Bracero Center.
(The El Paso Times, May 30, 1963)

The braceros returned home. Unable to survive in their communities, however, they continue to cross the Río Bravo (or Río Grande) to work in the farms and ranches of this country. In the fields of West Texas and Southern New Mexico, you will still find braceros. They are now known as chile pickers and continue to be one of the most exploited labor groups in the U.S.

There’s a strong chance that an undocumented immigrant had a hand in yesterday’s Thanksgiving meal. There’s a strong chance that the undocumented immigrant  who has been in the U.S. for twenty five years that Newt Gingrich spoke of, started out as one of millions to feed yourself and your family. Actually, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but instead, every single day of our lives.

I’m sure this isn’t something you think about daily, and I’m not suggesting that you should. However, on the chance that you get involved in a debate on immigration policy. Do take a moment to think about all that you were thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.

It’s bad enough that we overlook the plight of the indigenous people of America, and just what the holiday represents. But even so, it’s a shame that as steeped in tradition as we are, we fail to realize that the very food we eat, was brought to our tables by the toils of people who we believe, should not be here, because they’re not American. Gingrich is right; we should be more humane…

Have you thanked an “illegal immigrant” lately?

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