NumbersUSA Reminds President that Guestworker Talk is
Affront to Millions Already Driven Out of Job Market
Black Men and Less Educated Americans Especially Hard Hit By Current Foreign Labor

WASHINGTON, DC – As President Bush is expected to again promote amnesty and a guestworker
program in his State of the Union Address tonight, NumbersUSA urges him to recognize that large-scale
importation of foreign workers will further depress wages and deny job opportunities for the most
vulnerable Americans -- destabilizing the overall economy; frustrating efforts to fight terrorism; and
imposing significant costs on taxpayers while subsidizing cheap labor.

“President Bush’s constant push for his guestworker proposal is a direct affront to the American
worker, particularly the 25 million less-educated Americans who currently do not have a job,” said Roy
Beck, Executive Director of NumbersUSA. “I hope that the new Democratic leadership in Congress will
not sell out to the cheap labor lobby of big business, but stand up for their Democratic ideals to protect the
working American.”

Mass immigration has the greatest impact on the most vulnerable Americans. For example, 40% of
the decline in employment for Black men is linked to immigration, according to findings of a new study
from Prof. George J. Borjas of Harvard University, Prof. Jeffrey Grogger of the University of Chicago and
Prof. Gordon H. Hanson of the University of California, San Diego. The study concluded that the federally
driven and ever-larger flows of immigration since 1980 have been a crucial factor in the plight of the Black
lower classes.

Both unskilled and skilled Americans would be hurt by the President's past immigration proposals
to match willing workers from other countries with willing employers here in the United States at the cost
of the American taxpayer. While official unemployment remains relatively low, more and more American
workers are completely getting out of the job market as more than a million foreign workers move in and
take jobs each year. Severe outsourcing, uncontrolled illegal immigration and government-mandated
immigration four times higher than the traditional average have worsened underemployment and wage
stagnation among Americans on both ends of the employment spectrum.

Enforcement of our immigration laws is absolutely necessary to ensure Americans' economic and
physical security and a successful struggle for living-wage jobs. Without full-scale efforts in mandatory
workplace verification, implementation of the entry-exit system, and increased cooperation between state,
local, and federal law enforcement officials, the continued importation of foreign workers will further erode
the economy and our national security.

“Granting amnesty and loosening immigration rules is a dangerous game to play when our
immigration system has already been gamed by terrorists, and new evidence of plans for terrorists to breach our immigration system is uncovered almost daily," said Beck. “It’s high time to stop paying lip service to the American people and instead take real action to protect our borders and keep Americans safe and secure, physically and economically.”

###