Elana Levin

DMI’s immigration paper gets warm reception in Maine

Even though its only 41 degrees there today I suddenly find myself warming up to the cold state of Maine. The Bangor Daily News ran a wonderful op-ed by a Professor at the University of Maine in support of DMI's immigration report. The clearly brilliant (especially since he discovered our report on his own) Prof. Michael W. Howard writes

The first DMI principle requires that immigration policy "should bolster - not undermine - the critical contribution that immigrants make to our economy. ..." Why should we support this? Because immigrants as a group provide useful goods and services, they account for about 12 percent of the consumer demand, they pay taxes, and according to 44 out of 46 economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal (April 13), illegal immigration provides a net gain to the U.S. economy....

...An immigrant who depends on a particular employer for work, who is in fear of being reported and then deported, who does not enjoy the same workplace rights as citizens, is vulnerable and exploitable by employers. Many employers willingly employ such workers because they can get away with paying them little and ignoring workplace safety.

This lowers the standard in the entire labor market and worsens the condition of native workers...

Read the rest here.
Prof. Howard gets it.
Not everyone does. Of course I'm not done getting our immigration paper into everyone's hands yet...

Elana Levin: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:31 AM, Apr 28, 2006 in Immigration | Media | Middle-class squeeze
Permalink | Email to Friend