A lot of big government and big business supporters say we have to take in more immigrants for various reasons including the economic benefits they bring. Let's look at immigration and jobs for the last few years and see what the numbers look like.
First, a nation-state has a sovereign right to allow in immigrants as it sees fit and for the purpose of benefiting the host country, not primarily for the benefit of the immigrants.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, in 1990, the immigrant population of the United States was 19.8 million or 7.9 percent of the population. By 2014 it had risen to 42.4 million or 13.3 percent. This chart from the Center for Immigration Studies illustrates the magnitude of the surge, with a historical comparison starting in 1900.
Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2014, the U.S. economy created a little over 31 million new jobs per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
By extrapolating from the Migration Policy Institute's numbers, we see that from 1990 to 2014, U.S. population growth increased over 68 million people, split between over 45 million citizens and over 22 million immigrants. Therefore, 31 million new jobs were produced for 68 million new residents.
In the United States today, there are over 90 million people out of the labor force, who have given up looking for jobs.
The United States has added more people than jobs in the last 25 years. Part of the reason for that is the extremely high immigration numbers. If the immigration numbers were reduced, it would provide more opportunity for people who already live in America to work and produce.
Why wouldn't immigration be reduced by the federal government so as to allow the people already here, preferably citizens, to fill the jobs? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports higher immigration and politicians who support higher immigration. That is presumably because many of the Chamber's influential members can make more money hiring immigrants who will work for less than Americans. Disney, as an example, has been accused of this.
That may be partly why some Republicans support higher immigration. For them, it's follow the money. The Democratic Party likely supports increased immigration also because the majority of immigrants who become citizens will become Democrats. For them, it's follow the power. Notice the percentage comparison between 1980 and 2012 of party registration changes in Table 4 of this article. Immigrants who become citizens overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
Republicans should call for lower immigration to stop the Democrat voter recruitment. But more importantly, all Americans should call for lower immigration in order to offer a better opportunity of finding jobs for those millions of their fellow Americans of all political persuasions who would like to work.
Even if a new administration faithfully enforces border security, the number of immigrants coming in will need to be drastically reduced. That is one obvious way to provide jobs for Americans who currently can't find work. Our elected representatives should be made aware of these facts.
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