He was blunt. He told it like it was. He said: There is a competition in the labor market. and the large increase in lowskilled immigration that we have seen over the last 20 years has had a substantial negative effect on the employment and earnings opportunities of lowskilled American workers. He goes on to add: The large increase in lowskilled immigration has had the effect of decreasing the wages and employment opportunities of lowskilled workers who are currently resident in the United States. We have some Members on the other side who want to bring in five times as many lowskilled workers as we bring in today. Do they want to dispute the professor from Chicago? He goes on to say: The last amnesty [in 1986] actually encouraged additional lowskilled immigration in anticipation of further amnesties. I went back and saw the summary of the debate in 1986. People who opposed that amnesty predicted that we were going to be driven inevitably to future amnesties and we should stand on principle and fix the system in 1986.
Keywords matched
immigration