Migrants Come Because Jobs Are Plentiful. Business interests oppose E-Verify

Border crackdowns won’t solve migration issues

Hein de Haas, a professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam, a founding member of the International Migration Institute, and the author of “How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics” in The Wall Street Journal:

“The dominant narrative on the right has compared illegal immigration to an invasion, facilitated by criminal cartels and accepted by “open borders” liberals. On the left, an alternative narrative is that the surge in immigration is essentially driven by poverty, violence, and other misery in origin countries, portraying migrants as refugees in need of protection. But both narratives ignore the real reason for the border crisis: a hypocritical immigration system that refuses to acknowledge the U.S. economy’s persistent need for lower-skilled labor. The rise in illegal immigration is mainly driven by unprecedented labor demand and the absence of legal channels to accommodate it. Tougher enforcement at the border is no solution to this mismatch. In fact, it is a big part of the problem.”

“…The clearest evidence of this hypocrisy is the laughably low level of workplace enforcement in the U.S., where inspections and routine checks of immigration status and other papers would serve as the most direct deterrent.”

A minuscule number of employers are seriously prosecuted for hiring undocumented immigrants. “Workplace enforcement was as much a joke under Donald Trump as it was under previous presidents.”

E-Verify to Block Undocumented Immigrants From Employment: Business Interests Oppose It