FAIR Op-ed in USA Today: Amnesty is not Immigration Reform



homepage_opedIn an op-ed appearing in the Jan. 14 edition of USA Today, FAIR refutes the idea that amnesty for illegal aliens should be the cornerstone of immigration reform. The op-ed  is presented as an opposing viewpoint the a USA Today editorial supporting amnesty. The FAIR op-ed argues that the attention being given to immigration policy in the presidential debates is a positive development and a recognition that our current policies and recent attempts to legislate immigration reform have not served any identifiable public interest.

The entire op-ed can be read here.

About Author

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Dan is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)'s President after joining the organization in 1982. He has testified more than 50 times before Congress, and been cited in the media as "America's best-known immigration reformer." Dan has appeared on virtually every significant TV and radio news/talk program in America and, in addition to being a contributing editor to ImmigrationReform.com, has contributed commentaries to a vast number of print media outlets.

7 Comments

  1. avatar

    Engineering GLUT in America

    I’ll repeat myself, there’s too many engineers and not enough engineering jobs in America today….take that to the bank. But that would stop the H-1Bs….the open border’s godsends…..God forbid…LOL

  2. avatar

    Well said Leland & another common sense, factual editorial by Dan Stein.

    One wonders though if the politically correct mass group-think that pervades the amnesty-industrial complex will ever be broken.

  3. avatar

    The president claimed in his State of the Union address that immigrants are not to blame for wages not going up and he puts the blame on corporations. Complete and utter nonsense and he knows it. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the fact that immigration suppresses wages.

    Business, as they always have, will only pay what they absolutely have to in wages and benefits. How does he explain the fact that the very corporations he condemns are the biggest promoters of foreign workers. They can find the workers they need in this country, a lot of people are still not working full time, but the companies want visas for cheaper foreign workers that they don’t have to pay SS and unemployment taxes for, as they do for Americans. It’s automatically cheaper to hire visa workers.

    Fact: It was the middle portion of the 20th century that the middle and working classes had their highest economic success in this country. The wage differential between workers and management was far less than it is now. Many of us can remember when mothers could afford to stay home because one salary paid the bills. The top 1% has continued to gather an ever bigger share of the economic pie in the last 30 years.

    Fact: The last 30 years have seen the highest numbers of immigrants in our history. The numbers are there. To pretend there’s no connection is a lie. How many stories have we seen of US tech workers turned out of their jobs while companies like Disney bring in foreigners. It’s not a coincidence that part of “reform” involves massive increases in foreign workers. The president can try to spin all he wants, it comes down to supply and demand. And the corporations demand an unending supply of workers at the price they want to pay them. And no one is hurt worse than the black community.

    • avatar

      The truth is the Obama was telling the truth and lying at the same time – both illegals and corporations are responsible for wages not going up

      • avatar

        Mike would you care to explain how 5% of the population that are illegals NOT IN THE BOOKS can ruin a power?…..please enlighten me…..

    • avatar

      Now maybe Wall Street will fall off the face of the Earth. All the cheap labor. tax breaks and Corporate moves may be the end of the “middle class” and the 70% retail needed to keep the country’s Street value at Wall Street.
      It hasn’t been living off the taxes American workers, the last years, but the credits and benefits of tax credits and benefits to the “so called poor and the under the table cash by the various and nefarious groups.”
      When that credit is greatly reduced because of reduced “middle class” tax payers” and continued “corporate tax evasion” – maybe someone will take notice.
      Is there any Wall Street left anyway? Looks kind of lonely when you see the “floor” on television?
      Congress and our government needs some good actuaries, comptrollers and common sense to overhaul the whole “darned”system. Enough of bad lawyers as Representatives. We have enough of them appointed to the Supreme Court and nationwide.
      I am only sorry there was not some very smart investors in State, City or Federal Government, who could have advised many “pension funds” and other funds to be directed to bank stocks and the like, instead of buying “sexy” looking and expensive real estate. Most of the top banks were less than $1.00 a share in 2008/09 and now are 40 to 60 times that price.
      Will we get a second chance? Or will Wall Street just “fall off the face of the earth,” as the “American worker has.
      Tax credits and poverty programs cannot push a group into the “American Dream” and the “Middle Class.”

      • avatar

        Such an Insightful Blog Sara

        The stock market crash recently affects retirements, but its root cause is diminishing QEs [Quantitative Easing] as it can’t go on forever, in China the same welfare to the banks can’t prop things up forever either. The Wall Street Party is over. Its time to take our licks, hunker down and rebuild our country with fair trade, not free trade. Replacing manufacturing with lower skilled service jobs and a big deficit is a dying dinosaur. Its a road to disaster. Open Border pundits see cheap foreign labor as a way to cut wages as the money dries up. No hope, IOWs.

        I think a good start is to let middle incomes enjoy some deflation with lower oil stabilizing…..I heard it alleged we must wait 5 years for the deflation…..ludicrous. Yes, prices will plummet with oil and wages could then too, without immigration too.