Debunking An Economic Myth of Illegal Immigration

A recent NY Times report is casting doubt on the claim that illegal immigrants undercut the wages of Americans. Below is the first four paragraphs:

California may seem the best place to study the impact of illegal immigration on the prospects of American workers. Hordes of immigrants rushed into the state in the last 25 years, competing for jobs with the least educated among the native population. The wages of high school dropouts in California fell 17 percent from 1980 to 2004.

But before concluding that immigrants are undercutting the wages of the least fortunate Americans, perhaps one should consider Ohio. Unlike California, Ohio remains mostly free of illegal immigrants. And what happened to the wages of Ohio's high school dropouts from 1980 to 2004? They fell 31 percent.

As Congress debates an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, several economists and news media pundits have sounded the alarm, contending that illegal immigrants are causing harm to Americans in the competition for jobs.

Yet a more careful examination of the economic data suggests that the argument is, at the very least, overstated. There is scant evidence that illegal immigrants have caused any significant damage to the wages of American workers.

Aside from the economics of it all, how the US should deal with its illegal immigrants is a complicated question, that will require a complicated solution. One thing it cannot do simply ignore it because it will create an American underclass, a 'shadow society'. In the end those illegal immigrants will eventually become citizens by marrying or having children in the US. In the mean time, the more we simply adopt an 'ignore them' policy, it will create a problem when they are legal citizens because then they will carry the resentment of being ignored and distance themselves from American civic society.