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NRO: Sessions: We Need an Immigration Policy that Helps Americans

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NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

The Corner

The one and only.

We Need an Immigration Policy that Helps Americans

By Jeff Sessions

March 29, 2013 12:36 P.M.

Immigration reform is a complex issue that requires significant time andpublic engagement to be handled responsibly and to produce legislationthat will actually work. We need to have open public hearings on everyaspect of this proposed reform visa overstays, exit and entry systems,future flow, chain migration, the public-charge rule, fiscal impacts,worksite security, law-enforcement concerns, etc. For instance, the ICE

officers union has asked repeatedly to be given a chance to participatein White House discussions and to speak with the Gang of Eight, but hasbeen unable to get a meeting even as the special interests reportalmost daily on their access and engagement.

One of the most important concerns and too little discussed is theeconomic impact. The last time Congress considered a comprehensiveimmigration bill, unemployment was 4.5 percent. Today, its nearly 8

percent. 40 percent of those unemployed have been out of work for sixmonths or longer. The labor force participation rate is at a thirty-yearlow. The unemployment rate for teenagers is 25.1 percent. Wages arestagnant. Never before have more Americans been on food stamps andother forms of welfare. Yet all we hear from those interests pushing for

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a comprehensive immigration bill is that we have a labor shortage andneed to import more low-skill workers. An expanded guest-workerprogram will not benefit unemployed American and legal workers. Weshould be trying to help unemployed Americans find good jobs, notimporting cheap labor to take these jobs. A well-planned welfare-to-

work program turning the welfare office into a job placement center is what is needed. There are communities in this country that havebeen plagued by generations of high unemployment. Yet the very jobsthat would be an entry point into the labor force for the unemployed particularly for the young are the jobs that are seemingly beingnegotiated away as part of this comprehensive bill.

Every American worker, union and non-union, is right to be concernedabout a large guest-worker program combined with a large amnesty ofillegal workers. There is no doubt that such a program will reduceAmericans wages and job prospects. Ultimately, Congress mustrecognize that has to be focused on meeting the needs of unemployedand underemployed American workers. The economic impact ofimmigration is the overriding concern about which there has been muchtoo little serious conversation.

Jeff Session represents Alabama in the United States Senate.

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