“The [Department of Homeland Security] decision to issue 20,000 more visas with 6,500 specifically allocated for workers from Northern Triangle countries and Haiti is a good start, but not nearly enough.”
— Wall Street Journal, Feb. 8, 2022
Amid its cheerleading for the latest boost in low-skilled H-2B visas, the WSJ editorial dodged the obvious question: “How many will be ‘enough’?” For the Bible of Business, it’s simply “more.”
Robert Law, at the Center for Immigration Studies, counters, “There are no jobs Americans won’t do. There are only wages and working conditions they are not willing to accept for the work. Nor should they. By refusing to offer higher wages or conditions to entice Americans to work for them, employers create a mirage of a labor ‘shortage.’”
It is no coincidence that average U.S. wages have flat-lined over the past four decades, when adjusted for inflation. While factors such as automation and globalization play a significant role in this phenomenon, this period of stagnation also coincides with the historic surge of immigration into this country.
The WSJ’s editorialists parrot the same wage-depressing dogma as the mass immigration booster-squads on the editorial boards of The New York Times and Washington Post. The only difference is that the Journal, in recent years, has come to object to illegal immigration. But the line between “legal” and “illegal” blurs when the executive branch routinely usurps Congress’ immigration authority.
“Employers want to flood the market with labor supply to drive down wages and companies that rely on cheaper, foreign workers have a flawed business model,” Law asserts. “This is hardly a free market economy but it seems like the WSJ is willing to look the other way on government handouts as long as executives can maximize their profits.”
Americans see what’s happening, and don’t like it. Public opinion polls, including voter surveys conducted by FAIR, show large majorities favored continuing the worker visa restrictions ordered by President Donald Trump.
All the editorials in the world will not repeal the iron law of supply and demand in the workplace. A nation that undercuts its citizens with exploitative immigration policies is destined to “die in the darkness” (apologies to WaPo).