The Economics of Illegal Immigration: Everything You Need To Know

h1-b visa workers wages have risen five times faster than those of american workers

FAIR Reports Illegal Immigrants Cost America $135 Billion Annually

This article was first published on American Greatness.



tax contributions by illegal immigrants to state and federal governments

cost of illegal immigration into america







Illegal Immigration Decreases Wages & Increases Unemployment

Ever hear of the law of supply and demand?  It’s how the free market determines prices: when demand increases, prices increase (more people bid-up the price); conversely, when supply increases, prices decrease (less scarcity means less urgency), and vice versa.  Supply and demand underpins the price of everything from gasoline, to apples, to the value of a person’s labor—surgeons command high prices because there is a limited supply of surgeons, whereas store clerks make minimum wage because anyone can be a store clerk.

According to Pew Research, illegal immigration has flooded America’s labor market with at least 12 million new workers.  This has dramatically, and rapidly increased the labor supply and therefore decreased wages for American workers.  The evidence for this fact is overwhelming.

For example, before Hurricane Harvey President Trump’s crackdown on illegal aliens had already caused wages for construction workers to rise by 30 percent (half of Texas’ construction workers were illegal aliens). In light of recent events, their wages will likely rise even higher—but we can still attribute a significant portion of said rise to labor market constrictions.

Likewise, towns in Maine were forced to hire American workers after the availability of visas for temporary foreign workers declined. What happened? Unemployment decreased, wages increased, and working conditions improved in order to attract American workers—all good things. Illegal labor has completely undermined America’s labor markets, and hurt the bulk of our population; the only people benefiting are the very rich.

And if this were not bad enough, many illegal aliens also work under-the-table, making less than minimum wage and foregoing expensive employer-provided healthcare plans.  This undercuts the labor-market’s mandated floor, pulling the rug out from under American workers.  For these reasons, the impact of illegal aliens on American wages is far larger than that of legal immigrants—who also negatively distort wages for natives.

Illegal immigration also causes unemployment for American citizens.  Why?  Because employers often prefer to hire illegals because they have leverage over them: aliens have no recourse for termination without cause, and must tolerate poor working conditions.  This leverage, combined with lower wages, prices many Americans out of the labor market—how can a citizen earning minimum wage who has legal protections compete with a legal ghost making 2 bucks an hour?  They can’t.

This is part of the reason the youth unemployment rate is so high—the service industry used to be worked by teenagers, they have been replaced with illegals.  The same goes for Americans without college degrees, particularly blacks and Hispanics.

Debunking Liberal Economic Myths About Illegal Immigrants

Liberals often justify their fetish for illegal immigration along economic lines, arguing that: “we need illegals to do the jobs Americans won’t do”, and “the economic benefits of illegal immigration outweigh the costs”.  Of course, neither of these refrains rings true.

The first myth is easily debunked by the simple fact that America’s labor market is far from saturated.  In fact, fewer than 150 million Americans (out of a population of 320 million) are employed—either part or full time.  Furthermore, there are 23 million Americans currently looking for work, that is, twice the number of illegal aliens in the country.  Even if we assume that every illegal aliens was employed, replacing them with American workers would still leave 11 million Americans unemployed.

labor force participation chart



The second myth, that “the benefits of illegal immigration outweigh the costs” is also absurd.  Why?  First, illegals are a massive net cost to taxpayers.  Not only do they cost the government $116 billion annually, but these additional expenditures result in higher taxes and more borrowing—taxes and debt impede economic growth far more than the “cheap labor” may spur it.  Second, illegals transmit some $38 billion abroad every year as remittances, which has the same economic impact as a federal tax.




Japan vs USA GDP per capita

Perhaps because illegal immigration is not an advantage.

Perhaps the elites are lying.

University professors, Silicon Valley CEOs, senators, and news anchors are not losing their jobs to illegals—they are hiring them as gardeners, nurses, and cheap coders.  It is the common man who pays the price for their decadence: construction workers and sales associates are losing their jobs—ordinary folk.

I guarantee you that if all illegal immigrants were Pulitzer Prize-winning writers that the country would look like the gated communities in Washington DC or Beverly Hills—it would have a wall and a security detail.

It’s time we got illegal immigration under control.


About Spencer P Morrison 140 Articles