In Prez. battleground OHIO, Americans doing the jobs?

Traveling around Ohio — a state that either Obama or Romney likely has to win in November — I can’t help but notice that the people cleaning my motel rooms, planting the flowers, running the cash registers at gas stations and other stores, and working the fast-food restaurants are NOT immigrants.  Unfortunately, when I look at the NumbersUSA Immigration-Reduction Grade Cards, I see that both of Ohio’s Senators usually vote to try to make Ohio like California and New Jersey where the flood of immigration makes it very difficult for Americans to get these kinds of jobs.Admittedly, my eyes are picking up very narrow anecdotal evidence.  But every summer when I make broad swings through the Midwest, I see exactly the same thing.I recently sat in the office of a Texas Congressman who argued with me that there are many job occupations that black and white Americans simply won’t step forward to fill (he wasn’t talking about agriculture).I told him that I believed his analysis was based on living too long in an economy corrupted by immigration law-breaking and more so by the fact that congressionally coerced high immigration floods Texas labor markets more than most.Look at much of the rest of the country where immigration hasn’t pooled excessively, I said.  I argued that if Americans in Ohio and Iowa, for example, are willing to work in all occupations, what is it about Texas citizens that would cause them to be unable or unwilling to do the same jobs.  My plea was to reduce the flow of foreign workers and see if the jobs in service, manufacturing, construction and transportation won’t be filled by Americans.In Ohio, though, the U.S. Senators nearly always work for more foreign labor to compete with Americans. And although immigrants have tended to avoid Ohio, that won’t last forever if Congress keeps giving out another 1 million permanent work permits to immigrants each year. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown earns an F-Grade for nearly always favoring foreign workers and those who hire them over American workers.Republican Sen. Rob Portman does only slightly better with a Career D+ Grade, the 5th WORST Republican in the Senate.It’s as if Sens. Brown and Portman resent the fact that Ohio citizens are doing the work in the hotels, restaurants, etc.One of the issues that Ohio voters need to consider very seriously is which of Obama and Romney is more likely to make it more difficult for workers to have those jobs by backing continuing high levels of immigration.ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA