Hopefully 1804 Kept this Guy Away

[perspicuity85]

1804 is bad for business.  Simply put, it's a domestic policy that attempts to govern the foreign trade for human capital.  The legality of immigrants' citizenship has nothing to do with the fact that the immigrants are a commodity in the US economy.  The fact that something is illegal does not mean it's not a part of the economy.

To be crude, illegal immigrants are a product the US imports.  Just like other imported products, immigrant labor is cheaper than domestic labor.  Textiles, for example, are usually not produced in the US anymore because it's simply not profitable.  The same can be said for certain types of jobs that are undesirable to US citizens.  It simply isn't profitable to hire US citizens for some jobs.

So, the issue: which is the greater economic detriment?  Is it dramatically rising labor costs for US companies, which often results in offshoring?  Or, is it illegal workers that do not pay taxes for public services they receive?  I do not know the answer to that question.  People have been studying it for decades and continue to study it today.

I do have some hypotheses, though:

Scenario 1: We kick out all the illegals (which is really impossible), and the jobs follow them to Mexico.  We lose is the sales taxes the illegals would've paid for goods purchased in the US.

Scenario 2: Open door policy.  This obviously poses a threat to national security if everyone is allowed entrance.  But sticking to the economics, we end up with a much higher quantity of illegal labor supplied than the quantity of illegal labor demanded.  This situation causes wages for crappy jobs such as cutting heads off poultry to decrease even further!  Eventually, illegal immigration actually trails off to decreasing numbers.

Scenario 3: Current Status Quo.  Scenario 3 is really just a combination of the first 2.  Basically, it is what the country is doing now.  We kick out some illegals, but we obviously turn a blind eye to others.  Honestly, I think this situation is better than the first 2.  I agree that the "say one thing, do another" policy kinda sucks, but economically speaking, we're still waiting for a better idea.

And on a side note:
This whole 1804 thing has become an interesting issue in the Republican party, which typically prides itself both on secure national borders and pro-business policies.

Sorry for the marathon post.

[custosnox]

IMO 1804 is the start of something that could be good, but is currently being billed as nothing more then a racist bill.  If we opened the door to legalize imigrants in a more expediant, and efficient manner, which would include background checks (what can be done given the circumstances), and a basic US educational status (as in, knowledge of the laws, and a basic working knowledge of the language of the land), then those who remain illegel have no more excuses.  I do understand that our current process for legalized immagration is a sham, but on the other hand, illegel immigrants are still here illegelly.