Periods of crisis in societies, tend to produce scapegoats. Usually, these people are the most vulnerable, and they are targeted simply because they do not have sufficient power to fight back to the general majority who gang up against them. With unemployment as a top issue in American society, many have found a scapegoat in undocumented immigrants who are accused of draining the country's job resources.
One tangible manifestation of this scapegoating act against undocumented immigrants is E-verify, a federal online database that can be accessed by employers to investigate the legal status of their employees. It is a system that has gained prominence over the years, especially with the growing number of people without jobs. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Employers that refuse [to use E-verify] risk having their business licenses revoked."
While many businesses have complied with E-verify, this does not make the system any more justifiable. E-verify's popularity is fueled by society's general acceptance that the job market is a zero-sum game between undocumented immigrants and natives. Not only is this idea misguided, it also harms society in a way that people may not recognize. E-verify is nothing more than today's version of witch hunts.
Fear of the Unknown and Mass Hysteria
People generally do not like the idea of not being in control of a situation. Knowing what's going is one of the human psyche's coping mechanisms. That is why when something catches them by surprise, people tend to react with panic and resistance. Scapegoating is the most convenient way to provide an answer because all it requires is an unproven hypothesis about that can be packaged within the context of a social crisis. And since the target is a powerless segment of society, there is really no adequate way to disprove such hypotheses.
Hitler used the economic chaos of Germany to blame the 'greedy Jews' for all that has gone wrong. The McCarthy era in the 50's was no more than a reactionary attempt by one politician against the supposed proliferation of 'Communists' within the government. Of course, history will tell that a lot of his accusations were unfounded and libelous.
But how do the ideas of people like Hitler and McCarthy manage to convince so many people? The answer is simple. Society encounters a state of confusion, leaving a national psychological vacuum that is easily filled by the first person to come up with an answer. The answer need not be sensible or even remotely correct. The only thing that matters is that this person claims to have figured it all out.
Why E-verify is Misguided
E-verify comes from the assumption that illegal immigrants take away jobs from natives and other legal immigrants. However, there is a good amount of research that negates this proposition. In 1994, three economists from Ohio University published a study about the effects of immigrant labor on national unemployment rates. What they found might surprise some people.
According to the study, there was no significant correlation between the amount of foreign-born workers in the country and the unemployment rate from 1900 to 1989. As a matter of fact, the only relationship that was evident was actually a slight increase in the number of jobs available nationally during periods of higher immigration (Riley 62).
Compared to the first 25 years of the 20th century, the following years had relatively lesser amounts of immigration. Yet despite this, unemployment was actually higher by almost 2 1/2% during those years of lower immigration (Riley 62). How is that possible? As it turns out, immigrants are not job killers. "Immigrants expand total output and demand for labor," says economist Richard Vedder.
In addition, immigrants do not take jobs because they simply fill those positions that the labor market cannot sufficiently provide. The trend is that immigrants tend to take jobs that either require highly technical skills or very low-level skills. The middle skill-leveled jobs are usually where the natives seek unemployment (Riley 62).
Of course, it is a known fact that the reason why undocumented immigrants today are frowned upon is that they seem to be competing with Americans who take low-skilled jobs in the market. This is understandable. However, is this really a problem of immigration? Or is it just a result of industries that are suffering from retarded growth?
Manual labor generally does not offer much room for upward growth. Hence, if a person finds himself working in such a job, he must utilize the resources available in order to get out of the position. The problem with competition at the manual labor level is not because there are too many undocumented immigrants, but rather too few natives are taking up measures to earn new skills that would make them more suitable to an ever-changing job market.
E-verify is not a good system because it enables society to think that the best solution to unemployment is exclusion, not social dynamism or constant improvement of one's job marketabilty. If society is keen on solving unemployment, then it is best to follow one age-old advice that many people seem to take for granted nowadays: Stay in school!
Source:
Riley, J. (2008). Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders. New York, New York: Gotham Books
Willon, P. February 14, 2011. Conservative Inland Empire cities crack down on illegal workers.
Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0212-e-verify
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Raymond Aguirre - Hi. My name is Raymond and I am a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. I have experience writing as a news reporter and an editor for ...
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