The Problem with Comprehensive Immigration Reform

I have no problem with poor Hispanics coming to the United States.  The fact of the matter is that there are lots of jobs that Americans simply won't do.  It's because we don't have to do that type of work.  

The average American can read.  The average American can speak English.  With those two skills alone the average American can become a clerk in a clothing store or a customer service representative or a UPS driver.  These aren't the best jobs (outside of UPS which is actually pretty good) but they're not picking turnips or feeding chickens or working in a 24 hour diner.  

Those are terrible jobs, backbreaking, low paying, non-prestigious jobs that most Americans simply will not do.  We won't even apply for them.  Therefore I have no problem with some brown people coming over the border to make sure the countries basic needs are taken care of.  Who am I to criticize immigration reform when every guy who delivers my food to my apartment is an illegal immigrant?  These people want jobs, they need jobs, we need workers, next question.

However I do have a problem with a little caveat in immigration reform that no one is talking about.

The Obama administration and members of Congress keep talking about importing STEM Immigrants.  This is an entirely different breed of immigrant from the South American crossing the border to simply have a shot at the American Dream.  This type of worker is highly educated, will be highly paid, and will displace the American white collar worker.  

Make no mistake.  We've seen this movie before.  Business leaders of every stripe told the people of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Western Pennsylvania, and the rest of the Industrial Midwest that NAFTA would be good for them.  Let Adam Smith's Invisible Hand of Commerce pave the way.  They were right.  The way was paved. It was a straight road from Middle Class Way to Poverty Place.  Jobs, factories, and solid wages moved South of the Border and across seas at an alarming place.  The Industrial Midwest is still reeling.

Now the same thing is happening again. 

Don't believe me.  Ask the business community. They'll tell you themselves.

Corporations are telling Congress, piggybacking off of the Hispanic populous (which is a shame in and of itself), to open the borders.   Don't just deal with the illegal immigration issue that is currently on the books but open up the ranks of white collar workers as well.  Open the borders to cannibalize white collar wages. 

The infection of outsourcing is moving up the food chain and into the nation proper.  Instead of outsourcing work we are importing workers.  Make no mistake, we are creating a new class of struggling Americans.  Only this time with college degrees.

What happens with H1-B (visa) workers is very simple.  They are in essence indentured servants.  If the employer revokes their employment they are required to return to their home country.  Therefore they will take a lower wage, work under unreasonable conditions, ultimately sacrificing self-respect in order to maintain a visa.  Employers then take liberties with American workers because they can.

Only in America do the politicians and business leaders cut the throats of their own workers in one breath and then ask for their votes and loyalty in the next.

The coming comprehensive immigration reform bill is a Trojan Horse and is the new NAFTA for what's left of the middle class.  Those same Millennials that voted for Barack Obama will be disillusioned in the next ten years.  This will be a textbook lesson in how a voter becomes jaded.  

We often criticize France, Germany, and England.  But try to get a job over there as a foreigner.  It is near impossible.  Yet Americans seem to be the only country where politicians will serve up their workers on a silver platter.  Don't worry middle class.  Apologies will follow.  Your financial security however will be gone forever.