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A post by Pat

Looks like illegals are thinking, I’ll stay. Remember all those media stories about illegals high tailing it out of here because an economic downturn and a crackdown by law enforcement were making life miserable for them? The Migration Policy Institute reports those stories may be more anecdotal inference than fact. It is unlikely the recession will drive away illegals. The “good news” is new illegal immigration is no longer rising precipitously.

Why would they leave? The prospect for legalization has never been better. Returning to Mexico doesn’t look like a good idea considering the country could collapse overnight. Why give up all you have only to come back in the rush? The economies in other countries aren’t any better. Obama and Congress will help them adjust their subprime mortgages so they can keep their houses. The new jobs talked about in the stimulus plan are construction jobs, the kind of jobs illegals were doing because Americans allegedly wouldn’t. They can always underbid an American worker for some kind of job. They can avail themselves of the best medical care in the world. In fact, the revised $32 billion SCHIP legislation* just passed by the House and released from the Senate Finance Committee will no longer require proof of citizenship. The SCHIP program applies to incomes 200% – 300% above the poverty level so some illegals must be doing pretty good I’d say.

Return Migration, Though Probably Up, Is Not Yet a Definitive Trend

• While there is anecdotal evidence that return migration to some countries, including Mexico, appears to have increased there is no definitive trend so far that can be tied in a significant way to U.S. economic conditions.
• Suggestions that increasingly strict enforcement of immigration laws by federal, state and local officials is responsible for increased return migration appear to be premature. With enforcement differing from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, selective enforcement strategies are likely to first divert unauthorized immigrants to other destinations within the United States where economic opportunities exist rather than induce them to leave the country.
• Return migration appears to correlate more closely with economic, political and social developments in countries of origin than with economic conditions in the United States.
• While immigrants on average share the demographic characteristics of the workers who are most vulnerable during recessions (including relative youth, lower levels of education and recent entry into the labor force), they also may be able to adjust more quickly than native-born workers to fluctuating labor market conditions because they are more amenable to moving and changing job sectors. [and taking less pay --- pat]
• The lack of access to public benefits and family obligations (such as sending remittances to relatives in the country of origin) may force immigrant workers to go to extraordinary lengths to remain employed or find new employment quickly, possibly pushing some into dangerous working conditions or informal work.

[What lack of access to public benefits? --- pat]

• Legal immigration appears least tied to U.S. economic conditions because most legal immigrants in recent years have been status adjusters who already live in the United States and tend to have strong labor market ties; there is a pent-up demand for employer-sponsored visas; about two-thirds of legal immigrants are coming to reunite with family on visas that, in many cases, took years to secure; and refugee and asyle [sic] flows are largely independent of the economic climate.

This is the place to be even in difficult times. Maybe especially in difficult times. Why go home where you can never match what you have and on top of all that wear the halo of being God’s children?

* To add insult to injury on the SCHIP news:

Republicans, however, said the new documentation process was an invitation to fraud.
“This will be a magnet for more illegal aliens coming into this country, because it’s going to provide a mechanism for illegals to get coverage under this bill,” said Dan Burton (R-IN).
Still, in the end, 40 Republicans voted for the measure, a larger proportion than voted for the measure in the last Congress.

We’re in for a tough haul getting through an economic downturn while battling a spendthrift government intent on giving the country away. We’re not going anywhere either. This is where we make our stand.