Mayor Dave Bing of Detroit was asked what he thought of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's suggestion that new flows of immigration to Detroit would revitalize the city. Mayor Bing made it clear that the problems in Detroit don't stem from a shortage in the labor force, but rather a shortage of jobs.
Detroit, Michigan has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Earlier this year, it ranked No. 15 on Forbes' list of the 20 most miserable cities in America. The Motor City needs a boost and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg both believe immigration can provide it. But does anyone seriously think that more immigrants can cure Detroit's 30 percent unemployment rate?
Donald Barlett and James Steele, authors of the best-selling "America: What Went Wrong," are revisiting their economic series with a fresh look at policies that contributed to the current economic crisis. Their "Offshoring" entry - which should be required reading for every 2012 presidential hopeful - examines programming jobs. Once thought as the key to our economic future, IT jobs have been declining for two decades even as the tech industry has demanded more visas for foreign workers.
Though it may surprise 25 million jobless Americans, the Chicago Tribune's editorial board believes there aren't enough available workers to meet the economy's demand.
Two enterprising Reuters reporters tracked down a few of the recently-fired illegal Chipotle restaurant workers who admitted that they committed identity theft and/or fraud to land a job at the fast-food chain. Since illegal employment and identity theft have been linked before, these confessions aren't surprising. What the fired workers told reporters next, however, is more newsworthy.
Dan Rather Reports, with the help of Policy Map, has put together an impressive database where you can search for companies that applied for H-2B foreign worker visas through the year 2009. The H-2B visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals for non-agricultural labor or service jobs where they can't find enough American workers, but Dan Rather reports that, "many of the companies that petitioned for H-2B guest worker visas were located in counties with particularly high unemployment."
According to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, immigration policy reduces American employment opportunities and lowers existing workers' wages. Following the April jobs report, major newspapers assured us that the economy is improving. The devil, however, is in the details.
High tech companies use legal guest worker programs to displace American workers and eventually move many Americans' jobs overseas. Although this harmful practice that has cost hundreds of thousands of skilled Americans their jobs has been ongoing for more than 15 years, it has received scant attention in Washington D.C. or in the national media. But because of testimony given at a recent House Subcommittee hearing on H-1b visas and a whistle-blower scandal from within one of the largest users of the H-1b program, Americans are about to become enlightened.
The NBC Nightly News' segment, "Can America Keep Best, Brightest Immigrants?" asks a seemingly-straightforward question: "Many foreigners come here, get educated, and want to stay, but can’t. How can the U.S. take advantage of their potential?" The report takes a look at the H-1B (non-immigrant) visa program, which was created in 1993 to allow skilled workers - particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields - to enter the U.S. on a temporary basis. The "temporary" part of the visa has NBC and the featured personalities in this story concerned. Their thesis is simple: "America's visa restrictions lead to reverse brain drain," depriving the U.S. economy of the job creators it desperately needs.
Poll results can vary widely, depending on how the questions are worded. Nowhere is this truer than when the subject is immigration. A recent poll conducted by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune is no different. Not only did a question regarding Birthright Citizenship mislead those being asked, but it also misrepresented the 14th Amendment.