A good question from California on immigration

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
By Paul Mulshine
The Star Ledger

I’m visiting California at the moment. The state has a very sharp divide between the lower classes and those above middle-class status.

Unemployment is a big problem here, much bigger than in New Jersey.

The same goes for immigration, both legal and illegal.

A logical question is: Why do we keep permitting legal immigration when so many Americans lack jobs?

To that end, I came across the following release on the CAPS website.

Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) has launched a TV campaign in Los Angeles calling for lower levels of legal immigration and temporary foreign workers until Californians are working again. The ads are launching as President Obama continues to allow more than 1 million legal immigrants and temporary workers a year to come to America and take jobs despite the country’s highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression.

Marilyn DeYoung, Chairwoman of Californians for Population Stabilization commented, “President Obama had no problem circumventing Congress and invoking Executive Privilege to suspend deportation of 300,000 illegal aliens. Maybe it’s time he used his Executive Privilege to help unemployed Americans? He needs to reduce tomorrow’s legal immigration so Californians here today can get back to work.”

In Los Angeles, the unemployment rate is currently more than 11% but several areas of California have topped 16% within the last year. The national unemployment rate is around 9%.

More legal immigrants settle in California than any other state in the country. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is second only to New York in highest number of legal immigrants settled annually. Yet, at a time when millions in California can’t find jobs, the Federal Government continues to flood California with legal immigrants and temporary foreign workers. The policy is having a particularly insidious effect on states like California, where the state has been forced to borrow $40 million a day from the Federal Government to pay unemployment benefits.

“Even if you haven’t lost your job, you’re paying a price for the flood of legal immigration. It’s coming out of your paycheck in the form of unemployment benefits for our fellow Californians,” commented Marilyn DeYoung, Chairwoman of Californians for Population Stabilization. “But you can’t blame legal immigrants. Blame our country’s leaders for continuing policies that are simply antiquated, stale, out of touch and unrealistic.”

Recent studies by the Pew Hispanic Center and Northeastern University of Boston indicate that new immigrants are landing American jobs while Americans are losing jobs. African Americans, Hispanic Americans and new immigrants have been disproportionately affected by the bad economy, with unemployment rates twice, even three times unemployment rates of the general population.