[Vision2020] Bashing the Immigrant While He Feeds Us (Marty Trillhaase)

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Spokesman Review.

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Bashing the immigrant while he feeds us
By Marty Trillhaase

Just as soon as Rep. Raul Labrador jumped into Idaho's 1st Congressional
District campaign, the illegal immigration issue jumped right in there
with him.

Labrador, R-Eagle, is challenging Iraq War veteran Vaughn Ward in next
year's GOP primary for the right to face U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho.
Labrador is an immigration attorney, and one of Ward's supporters, state
Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, was only too happy to point that out.

It remains to be seen whether Labrador's professional stance on illegal
immigration is at odds with his public views. But Jorgenson is throwing
red meat to the nativist element of the Republican Party. It immediately
puts Labrador on the defensive.

What you won't hear - from Labrador or anyone else running for office - is
the brutal truth about undocumented workers in this country.

We need them.

Our economy - even as recession-battered as it is - can't survive without
the 11 million to 13 million people working and living in the United
States illegally. Among them are an estimated 40,000 in Idaho and 225,000
in the state of Washington.

Agriculture would collapse. The Pew Hispanic Center says one of every four
farm workers is undocumented.

Elsewhere, the Pew Center says people living illegally in the U.S. account
for:

19 percent of those who maintain buildings and grounds.

17 percent of construction workers.

12 percent of food preparation and service help.

10 percent of production employees.

7 percent of transportation workers.

5.4 percent of the overall civilian labor force.

The idea that anyone is going to locate, detain and then deport that many
people is ludicrous. Even anti-immigration critics say they'll settle for
a policy of attrition in which the border is sealed and the number of
undocumented workers slowly recedes.

What happens if these workers do so? It doesn't follow that American
citizens - even those who are unemployed - are willing to take their
places in lower-paying, physically-demanding jobs.

What's more likely to happen is another economic shock wave.

Cited by Americans for Immigration Reform, a study conducted by The
Perryman Group says kicking illegal immigrants out of the country would
cost the economy $551 billion in annual sales, $245 billion in annual
output and the jobs of another 2.8 million citizens and legal
residents.

In Idaho, the loss of undocumented workers would cost the economy $1.3
billion. In Washington, the loss would come to $46.2 billion.

Advocates of legitimate immigration reform - from former President George
W. Bush to former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig - have focused on some path
toward citizenship for the millions already here. That's anathema to
people who believe reform would reward lawbreakers.

Nevertheless, the status quo means more people living in the shadows,
subject to exploitation and abuse at the hands of unscrupulous employers.
It means more depressed wages for other workers. And it exposes vulnerable
segments of the economy to disruptions and labor shortages.

Which is where we'll remain if working as an immigration attorney remains
a punching bag in Idaho politics.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Because the truth is, today's immigrants, as they have for generation
after generation, work the longest hours at the hardest jobs for the
lowest pay, jobs that are just about impossible to fill."

- Luis Gutierrez