Reuters
July 6, 2015
Republican
2016 presidential hopefuls Scott Walker and Rick Santorum are
suggesting a potentially controversial way to boost Americans' job
prospects: admit fewer legal
immigrants into the United States.
The
notion, absent from presidential politics for at least 20 years, could
help them tap into the frustrations of working-class voters who have
struggled with stagnant
wages and reduced job opportunities since the economic crisis of
2007-2009.
It
could also complicate prospects for a comprehensive fix to the nation's
outdated immigration system and tar the Republican Party as
anti-immigrant at a time when it
needs to broaden its support base of Hispanics and Asians, two of the
biggest groups of legal immigrants in the United States.
"This
hurts our efforts. I think people need to tone down the rhetoric," said
Hugo Chavez-Rey, chairman of a Hispanic Republican group in the
battleground state of Colorado.
Since
1989, the United States has been letting in about 1 million new
immigrants per year, a level comparable to the last great wave of
European immigration at the turn
of the 20th Century. The Census Bureau estimates there are now 43.3
million foreign-born residents in the United States and within 10 years
immigrants will account for 15 percent of the population, a record high.
(Graphic: http://reut.rs/1ef8E8Y)
Roughly 2 in 5 Americans think those levels are too high, according to polling by Gallup.
Many
Republican presidential candidates are vocal champions of legal
immigration. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the front runner in the
Republican race, says more
legal immigrants are needed to boost economic growth while South
Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says they can help care for an aging
population.
Kentucky
Senator Rand Paul has said higher levels of legal immigration would
lead to lower levels of illegal immigration, while former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee
said "let's get as many people here as want to come" last month.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz frequently invoke
their Cuban-immigrant parents in stump speeches, and both have called
for expanding guest-worker programs.
PROTECTING WORKERS
Few
national politicians have called for limiting legal immigration since
the 1990s, when Republican candidate Pat Buchanan warned that immigrants
would erode the influence
of white Americans.
That
argument still appeals to voters like Colorado retiree Jan Herron who
see the nation's increasing diversity as a threat to their way of life.
"California
is gone because of the invasion," Herron said, referring to that
state's growing Hispanic population. "The same thing is happening here
in Colorado."
Advocates
of limiting immigration disavow these sentiments and say they bear no
will toward immigrants. The best reason to limit immigration, they say,
is to give U.S.
workers more bargaining power. Blacks, Hispanics and recent immigrants
in particular are vulnerable to competition from new arrivals who are
willing to do menial work for lower wages, they say.
"We
don't have enough jobs for our lower-skilled workers now. What sense
does it make to bring in millions more?" Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a
Republican, wrote in
the Washington Post in April.
Sessions
had been one of the few public officials calling for a decrease in
immigration levels until this spring, when Walker said the United States
should consider restricting
immigration levels when the economy is struggling and raise them when
it is booming.
Walker
has yet to release a formal immigration plan. His campaign declined to
elaborate on his position or make him available for an interview.
But advocates of limited immigration are thrilled that presidential candidates are taking up their cause.
"Walker's
the one who really put this on the map," said Roy Beck, executive
director at NumbersUSA, a group that wants to scale back legal
immigration. "He's said it so
many times now I don't see how he could possibly back out of it."
Santorum,
a former Pennsylvania senator, also wants to reduce immigration by 25
percent as part of a broader agenda to improve the economic prospects of
blue-collar workers.
"I
know this will be termed somehow as anti-Hispanic or anti-immigrant,
but I would just say that immigration policies should be policies that
serve the interest of the
American public," he said at a news conference last month.
HELPING DEMOCRATS
Economists
have generally found that immigration has little to no effect on wages
over the long term. Some argue that immigration has boosted overall
wages because immigrants
create more demand for goods and services and they generally do not
directly compete with U.S.-born workers for the same jobs.
The effect on the political landscape is more clear cut.
Immigrants
favor Democratic candidates and liberal policies by a wide margin,
surveys show, and they have moved formerly competitive states like
Illinois firmly into the
Democratic column and could turn Republican strongholds like Georgia
and Texas into battlegrounds in the years to come, according to
University of Maryland political science professor James Gimpel.
Thus it's a matter of smart politics for Republicans to stem the tide, immigration skeptics say.
"Small-government
conservatism can't survive in the face of continued high levels of
immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for
Immigration
Studies, a pro-restriction group.
The
idea of limiting legal immigration has less support among the public
than it did two decades ago, when Gallup found that 65 percent thought
immigration levels were
too high. That figure now stands at 41 percent.
The
idea is most popular among working-class voters who feel pessimistic
about the economy, Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said. Candidates
like Walker can win their
support by criticizing companies that hire cheap immigrant labor rather
than offering better pay to U.S. workers, she said.
Other pollsters have found less support for this idea when they clarify they are talking about legal immigrants.
A
June poll by ImmigrationWorks USA, a pro-immigration business group,
found that only 13 percent thought that legal immigrants talk jobs away
from American workers, while
twice that percentage thought they take jobs Americans don't want.
Others warn the discussion could further turn off voters who already suspect the Republican Party is hostile to immigrants.
"How
are we going to reach out to more people and be more inclusive?" said
Johnny Cabazos, a Colorado office worker and aspiring Republican
politician. "I just don't think
that helps."
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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