Nevada Eager to Fill its Classrooms with Illegal Immigrant Teachers

Nevada’s AB27, a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to qualify for teaching credentials, is under consideration in the state assembly. The Nevada Department of Education requested AB27 in anticipation of a region-wide teacher shortage. Last year, Denver passed similar legislation.

Citing the tedious, blanket rational for giving aliens entitlements that should be reserved for citizens or legal immigrants, Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, who is also a teacher, dismissed detractors. Diaz said: “These are individuals that were basically raised and educated through our public education system and have paid for their college, and they’re not able to fulfill that dream of becoming a teacher.”

Will your child be taught by an illegal immigrant?

Advocates for teaching vacancies with unlawful immigrants or foreign-born H-1B visa holders need a refresher course in labor market supply and demand economics. Using Nevada as an example, the starting teacher salary is between $27,000 and $28,000. On the other hand, a new Las Vegas casino employee makes a $14,700 base salary, but when tips and other company benefits like meals are included, earnings can reach $58,000 annually.

A job candidate can choose to work for the school district where he will earn less, deal with unruly students, and cope with haughty parents, demanding principals and the overbearing superintendent’s office. He’ll arrive early and leave late, often following mandatory after-school meetings. Although his vacations may be longer, he’ll likely have to work during the summer to supplement his meager school income. Or he can work at the casino where the demands are fewer and the paychecks higher.

Before employers plead “shortages,” they should consider evaluating the salaries they offer, and the working conditions new employees would have to put up with. In 2013, the Economic Policy Institute found that unemployed workers far exceed job openings in every major category, including education. There’s no rational argument to hire illegal immigrants or import more overseas labor.

Senator Orrin Hatch has introduced a bill that could more than quadruple the 65,000 cap on H-1B visas to as many as 300,000. Please go to the CAPS Action Alert page here to tell your Senator that, in the jobs’ market, Americans come first.