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Liberal economists claim deportations stall job growth because immigrants “account for half of new jobs.” This is intentionally misleading. Immigrants don’t create jobs, they fill them. A construction site or farm requires a set number of workers regardless of immigration status. When liberals cite payroll declines, the argument is equally dishonest. Illegal workers are usually paid cash, under fake SSNs, or off the books. Bureau of Labor Statistics data captures only legal employment. Declining payroll figures don’t reflect jobs lost, only illegals removed.
Farmers and contractors warn of “worker shortages” and wasted crops, but what they mean is that Americans won’t work for slave wages. It is often cheaper for them to let crops rot and collect subsidies than to raise pay. By the next harvest, however, they will have to pay more. The same applies in construction or other industries claiming shortages at $5 an hour. At $20, they will find workers.
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The claim that there are “jobs Americans won’t do” is a liberal myth. Twenty or thirty years ago, Americans worked in construction, meatpacking, hospitality, and other sectors now dominated by illegals because those jobs paid fair wages. Mass illegal immigration gave employers access to cheap labor, driving down pay and forcing Americans out.
Americans will do any job when it pays at market rates. Even seasonal farm work like fruit picking was once done by Americans when the wages were sufficient. Today, fruit picking may be one of the few exceptions, since we no longer have the old mobile workforce of hobos who followed the harvests. But nearly every other job, lawn care, construction, car washing, cleaning, was done by Americans just twenty years ago and would be again if wages had not been depressed by illegal labor. The real problem is not American unwillingness but employer refusal to pay.
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Liberals also insist deportations cost $96.7 billion in lost tax revenue. That figure is deceptive. Nearly half, about $15.1 billion, comes from sales and excise taxes, which legal workers will still pay. Another $10.4 billion comes from property taxes, also unaffected. Only $7 billion, or about 21 percent, is from income taxes, and even that includes payroll contributions from fake Social Security numbers. The actual loss of legitimate income tax revenue is far smaller than advertised.
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The bottom line is simple. Replacing exploited illegals with fairly paid legal workers increases tax revenue, raises wages, and strengthens the labor market. The liberal “tax loss” argument collapses under basic economic scrutiny. Deportations do not destroy jobs or revenue. They restore them to American workers.
* Original Article:
ICE Crackdowns Are Working: 1.2 Million Immigrants Disappeared from US Labor Force