See Jose Work

This article appeared in LIBERTY magazine in April 2003, and later in THE IDAHO OBSERVER and PODERLIMITADO in Mexico.

SEE JOSE WORK
by Jerry Askeroth

"They're taking our jobs. Their new-born babies are automatic U.S. citizens. They crowd our hospitals and fill our prisons." You've heard it all on talk radio and in discussions with friends. When the conversation gets around to the illegal immigrant question, the consensus is to send them all back and seal the borders.

Most Americans believe the flood of immigrants is destroying the nation's economy, as well as corrupting our institutions and culture, but it just isn't so.

Rather than being a drag on the economy, the burgeoning population of working immigrants provides a steady, positive thrust to business activity. These people quickly fill low level jobs and have a work ethic that impresses most employers. They do their jobs, pay income and FICA taxes, save a little and purchase goods and services.

The major political parties stealthily support what is happening for reasons that are patriotic, political and selfish. To be sure, Democrats like the flood of immigrants because newcomers tend to vote for them. Republicans - entrepreneurs and CEO types - favor it because of the cheap labor made available. The politicians are thinking of what's best for the country too - it's a fiscal thing.

The new immigrants produce fabulous results. They do find employment and enroll in the Social Security system. Without this influx of new blood, the system would collapse because it is top heavy in the ratio of retirees to those working. Our nation's birth rate is declining and longevity is increasing, so the burden is mounting on the working contributors in the system. We need an ever-growing work force!

Morover, the nation's economy is driven by demand for consumer goods and services. If some 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants went home manana, we would have a depression in a Tijuana minute. Their significant production would be lost, as would rent payments and all the rest. The economy would go south with them.

Our elected leaders are mum about it, but there is little doubt that those with power and influence in Washington are cognizant of the hard truth.

See Jose sneak across the border. See Jose work hard. See Jose pay into the Social Security fund. He's an outlaw, but a precious one. Jose is important on the home front too. A family man, and more religious than most of us, he is more like we used to be than we are. He thinks conservative although he usually votes liberal.

Congress is allowing 900,000 legal immigrants into the country annually. That equals a new major city each year, and it doesn't count the illegals. With our pillaged and upside-down Social Security program, plus our debt-based monetary system as carried on by the Federal Reserve, our nation needs a steady growth of capital and labor just to maintain the status quo. Heavy immigration helps!

Take an immigrant to lunch and give a wink and nod to your elected representatives.