The Congressional Black Caucus Doesn’t Get It On Immigration

by Joe Guzzardi
March 4, 2011

One of the mysteries in the endless immigration debate is why the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has turned its back on its African-American constituents in favor of immigrants.

Every time an unskilled illegal immigrant comes to the United States, he’ll seek a low wage job that puts employed Americans at risk. Black Americans, the very people the CBC should protect, hold most of the jobs at the lower end of the income scale.

But a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement meeting held on March 1st showed that black U.S. Representatives are more interested in promoting comprehensive immigration reform than they are in improving working conditions for unemployed African-Americans.

During the hearing, titled “Making Immigration Work for American Minorities,” three prominent African-Americans testified on behalf of tighter immigration enforcement which they agreed would lead to better job prospects for blacks.

In light of devastating black unemployment statistics, Vanderbilt law professor Carol Swain, Dr. Dr. Frank Morris from Progressives for Immigration Reform and Wade Henderson, Chief Executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights took strong pro-enforcement stands.

Since the U.S. recession began in December 2007, black unemployment has jumped from 8.9 percent to 15.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even worse, blacks are more likely to drop out of the labor force altogether as many have become so discouraged about their prospects that they have stopped applying for work. Accordingly, the black labor force participation rate has fallen from 63.4 percent of adults in December 2007 to 61.7 percent today.

Teenage unemployment, especially among blacks, is at crisis levels. African-American teen unemployment data stands at a staggering 41.3 percent, nearly twice that of whites. Nearly half of all black teenagers of both sexes cannot find a job or have lost one. For African American male teens, the results are devastating; more than 50 percent cannot find a job.

Not only are the current black teen unemployment statistics at a crisis point, their long-term implications could be ruinous. Professor Andrew Sum of Northeastern University and the Center for Labor Market Studies found that even upper-middle-class black teenagers are less likely to be employed than low-income white teenagers. Sum claims that: “These people who work a lot when they’re teenagers not only benefit when they’re teenagers, but they also will work more and earn more when they’re 25 years old. The more you work now, the more you work tomorrow."

Faced with this statistical evidence and having heard Chairman Lamar Smith’s opening statement that if immigration laws were enforced, illegal aliens would voluntarily return home and thus more minority jobs would open up, the CRC turned a deaf ear.

Smith said “Each time ICE arrests, detains or deports an illegal worker, it creates a job opportunity for an American worker.” Yet ranking member John Conyers (MI-D), whose state has the nation’s second highest unemployment rate at 11.1 percent, incredulously replied: “That’s the most preposterous thing I’ve heard all morning.” To Subcommittee Vice Chairman Steve King’s statement that “a tighter labor supply improves the wages for everyone, Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-D), responded “This hearing is the dead on point for comprehensive immigration reform.”

Adding that worksite enforcement has “plummeted” during the Obama administration, Smith concluded that “With millions of Americans unemployed, it is hard to imagine a worse time to cut worksite enforcement efforts by more than half.”

The CRC response to the grim African-American unemployment data should be to restrict legal immigration. But, to the detriment of black workers of all ages, the CRC hasn’t gotten the message yet.

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Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1990. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].