An Injury To One

If you like to see politicians act out of character, then immigration is your issue. Witness George W. Bush defending the poor huddled masses against xenophobia, while the “conservative” wing of the Republican Party, a group that never met a pro-worker law they didn’t hate, speaks out for the American working class. Meanwhile, the Democrats stammer and shuffle and hope nobody notices them. Well, I guess not everybody acts out of character.

The Republican split on immigration makes sense. Some Republicans get their money and support from people who like picking on immigrants and others are funded by people who like hiring them. The split between economic conservatives and social/racial conservatives is nothing new; it just becomes strikingly apparent when this issue comes up.

The Democratic split on immigration, pundits claim, is identical to the Republican’s. According to a Washington Post article, the immigration issue pits working class Democrats, who fear that loose immigration policies will hurt their livelihood, against “liberal lawmakers,” who support immigrant rights. The problem, according to the Post, is that illegal immigrants lower working class wages. Democrats who go easy on “illegals” pose a direct threat to American low wage workers.

The Post relies heavily on Harvard’s own George Borjas, an economist who has spent much time showing that immigrants lower the wages of American workers, claims current immigration trends will produce “an astonishing transfer of wealth from the poorest people in the country…to the richest.” Borjas’ findings have been challenged by David Card, a Berkeley economist, who argues that immigration raises average wages by increasing the amount of availabe capital. He also claims that the least skilled workers—those who Borjas says are the hardest hit—suffer no loss of wages as a result of immigration. Card’s basic findings are echoed by other economists.

At the least, we should be suspicious of those who claim that the rights of immigrants conflict with U.S. workers’. The economic evidence is too complicated and inconclusive to draw such a conclusion. Even Borjas admits that, under certain fairly common assumptions, immigration has no effect on the wages of the average worker. On the other hand, as the Post article shows, the popular perception that immigrants are a threat to U.S. workers continues to be politically potent. Democrats have a long way to go to convince their constituency—low wage workers—that new immigrants are a natural ally.

First, Democrats cannot give in to the bastardized populism of xenophobia. The “conservative” option—hunting down immigrants, putting more guns on the border—puts a heavier burden on an already marginalized population. If the Democrats go this route, they will alienate Hispanic voters and any other group that remembers what it is like to be told “you’re not welcome.” The best option, morally and politically, is for Democrats to build alliances with immigrants. The modern Democratic Party has stood for the dispossessed, and marginalized groups have responded by supporting Democratic causes. Democrats, if they hope to appeal to the more diverse U.S. currently being built, must continue to be a party of tolerance, not a party of protectionism and xenophobia.

But to unite U.S. workers and immigrants, Democrats need to change their pitch. First, they need to stop claiming that immigrants only take the jobs that Americans don’t want. Not only does this argument manage to combine xenophobia with condescension towards low wage workers, it severely undermines the potential for solidarity between low wage workers, regardless of citizenship. Democrats should admit that immigrants compete for the same jobs and face the same hardships that American workers face. This doesn’t mean that the U.S. should try to get rid of immigrants. This would be impossible, inhumane, and unnecessary. Immigrants pose no threat to American workers unless their vulnerability is exploited to drive down the price of their labor. The way to protect native workers is to protect immigrant workers, and this must be done through strong policies for all workers. Both immigrants and natives need strong, democratic unions to represent their interests. Both need strong workplace protections that are actually enforced. And both need a political system that serves the interests of workers, not just their politically powerful bosses.

This may be tough, but there is no alternative. We couldn’t get rid of the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. All of the money we’ve spent trying to “secure the borders” has not kept immigrants out, though it has caused a shocking number of them to die in the desert. American workers need help, but cracking down on immigrants won’t do this.

Employers want immigrants because they are vulnerable. But the solution is not to get rid of immigrants; it is to get rid of their vulnerability. Illegal immigrants must be legalized because only then will they have the power to fight for the respect most U.S. workers take for granted. But Democrats need to reframe this legalization as one of many steps needed to protect all workers. It won’t be easy, but the Democrats do best when they fight tough battles on behalf of those who need help most. Si se puede.



Samuel M. Simon ’06 is a social studies concentrator in Eliot House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.