America's Voice Blog

Posted 11/18/11 at 11:12am By Mahwish Khan

As Economic Fallout From HB 56 Mounts, Calls Grow to Repeal Alabama’s Anti-immigrant Law

The American Dream Is OverEarlier this week, Mooncat (Sherry) at Left in Alabama reported on the Economic Fallout from Beason-Hammon Immigration Law:

Now the economic fallout from Beason-Hammon is hitting the fan.

Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, which announced earlier this year its plans to build a $100 million plant in Thomasville, "is having second thoughts" about Alabama in light of the controversial law, according to David Bronner, chairman and chief executive of the Retirement Systems of Alabama. 

"They’re not happy," said Bronner, citing conversations with Golden Dragon executives. "They have expressed their concerns to me on numerous occasions."

...  Bronner, who oversees the state’s $29 billion public pension fund, first voiced his concernsabout the immigration law in an interview with the Birmingham News, saying it had caused the Spanish owners of BBVA Compass to cancel plans for an $80 million bank tower in Birmingham.               

That's some serious fallout, especially in these harsh economic times. This is just one of the many consequences from HB 56. Remember, this law is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing according to State Senator Scott Beason, Congressman Mo Brooks, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions and anti-immigrant leader Mark Krikorian.

No wonder there are growing calls, even from some GOP Senators, to change HB 56.  The Anniston Star says that Alabama should just get rid of it altogether:

While politicians talk jobs, jobs, jobs, the state’s economy will contract by nearly $40 million if only 10,000 undocumented workers leave because of the bill. How will changes now help Alabama recover that revenue? (Don’t say unemployed Alabamians will take these jobs, because they won’t, as the latest edition of Bloomberg Businessweek makes clear.)

How will these changes help farmers whose crops were not harvested because there was no labor, or help the family that has to pay more at the grocery?

And will these changes assure China’s Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group that Alabama is not a hostile environment and that it should go ahead with the $100 million plant for south Alabama? Rival states that hope to lure the industry are using this illegal-immigration law to their advantage. Will these changes undermine that strategy?

Unfortunately, what Dial supports will not be enough. Making the law less of a burden on Alabamians can’t make up for the damage done to the state’s economy and reputation. The best thing the GOP can do is admit it was a bad idea, apologize for problems the law caused and repeal it. Anything less will do little to undo the real damage.

Posted 05/24/11 at 10:25am By Mahwish Khan

Labor Unites to Fight E-Verify, the GOP’s Flawed Anti-Immigrant Bill That Would Cost 800,000 Jobs

Labor supports immigrant workersOver the next couple weeks and months, we’re expecting an anti-immigrant piece of legislation -- better known as E-Verify -- to start moving in the U.S. House. Sponsored by Representatives Lamar Smith (TX), Elton Gallegly (CA) and Steve King (IA), a.k.a. "The Three Amigos" on immigration, E-Verify is a mandatory program that would affect every worker in the country, and not positively. The system is deeply flawed, with a failure to detect undocumented immigrants over fifty percent of the time (54% to be precise). 

But the Three Amigos are obsessed with deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants – and if that ruins the economy or causes a dramatic loss of jobs, then so be it. It's seemingly not their problem.

Fortunately, a strong coalition is building to fight E-Verify, and it includes a united front from the labor movement. From the National Journal (subscription required):

The AFL-CIO and its offshoot Change to Win, labor groups that once disagreed over the inclusion of guest-worker programs in an immigration overhaul, can now stand as one in opposition to Republican proposals that push for more enforcement.

Labor will get the chance to flex its unified muscle, along with civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups, as they go into battle against legislation to require employers to electronically verify that their workers are in the country legally.

Other alliances crumble around them. Business groups that were once hand-in-hand with the advocacy community on a sweeping immigration overhaul have this time declined the invitation to the party. They are cutting a deal with Republicans on an employer-verification bill, even though the talks are making some of them squirm.

Click here to read more.
Posted 03/28/11 at 01:50pm By Van Le

Report Analyzes True Economic Effects of Arizona SB 1070

laborersA year ago this April, Arizona passed its now-infamous SB 1070 bill, which has polarized the immigration debate around the nation and spawned both counter and copycat bills.  The law itself yet remains unenforced, due to legal challenges to its constitutionality.  Ahead of the one-year anniversary, the Immigration Policy Center and Center for American Progress last week released a very interesting new report, entitled “A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie: The Economic Impact of Legalization Versus Deportation.”  The report analyzes two scenarios: what would happen if SB 1070 were carried out to its full intended effect and every single undocumented immigrant was purged from Arizona, and would happen if the state instead decided to pursue legalization.

The report points out that the US immigration debate has become so heated that public discussion tends to be lacking in substance, with facts left altogether out of the equation.  It seeks to explore what is best for Arizona economically in this post-recession, and the numbers are significant.

If every undocumented immigrant were expelled from Arizona, it would:

  • Decrease total employment by 17.2%

  • Eliminate 581,000 jobs for immigrants and native-born workers alike

  • Shrink the state economy by $48.8 billion

  • Reduce state tax revenues by 10.1%

However, if all of the undocumented in Arizona were instead legalized, it would:

  • Increase total employment by 7.7%

  • Add 261,000 jobs for immigrants and native-born workers

  • Increase labor income by $5.6 billion

  • Increase tax revenue by $1.86 billion

Why?  The report’s introduction explains:

Undocumented immigrants don’t simply “fill” jobs; they create jobs. Through the work they perform, the money they spend, and the taxes they pay, undocumented immigrants sustain the jobs of many other workers in the U.S. economy, immigrants and native-born alike. Were undocumented immigrants to suddenly vanish, the jobs of many Americans would vanish as well.

In contrast, were undocumented immigrants to acquire legal status, their wages and productivity would increase, they would spend more in our economy and pay more in taxes, and new jobs would be created. Simply put, Arizona’s current approach to immigration policy is economically self-destructive.

Click here to read more.
Posted 11/25/09 at 01:01pm By Dara Lind

Got Milk? Thank Immigrants

We know that immigrant workers are a crucial, though often invisible, part of the American workforce. However, as we sit down to pumpkin pies with whipped cream on top this week, it's important to remember just how many American businesses --dairy farming firmly among them -- rely on immigrants to run.

Just ask the Vermont dairy farmer profiled on Vermont Public Radio yesterday morning. Listen to what he tells his employees (most of whom come from Mexico):

You guys are very important. You guys run this farm. I don't milk the cows here. You guys know the cows.

With the latest round of employment audits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hitting Vermont farmers, the farm owned by the farmer in the VPR segment worries aloud what might happen if he's next:

If all of a sudden my guys were gone tomorrow, it would be really hard to operate.

"It's hard to find people to do the work," he tells VPR, not to mention the time it would take to train a new workforce to become as skilled as his current farmhands.

The farmer, like so many small businessmen who have come to trust and rely on immigrant workers, intimately understands that ICE's current piecemeal enforcement actions aren't a real solution to our immigration crisis-- they are placing many small American businesses in a state of severe anxiety and uncertainty at a time when our economy is incredibly fragile.

As so many of us do, this Vermont farmer hopes to see a system whereby immigrant laborers like the ones who "run (his) farm" can work legally in the United States, to support American businesses and pursue the American dream for themselves and their families.

So, if you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this week, and your Uncle Bill tells you we should kick all the immigrants laborers out, just shake your head and ask:

Got milk?