Nativist Group Recycles Discredited Economic Arguments About Immigration

In a report released late last month, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) rehashes a number of tired, discredited arguments about the impact of immigration on wages and job opportunities for native-born workers. The report, entitled Poverty and Low-Wage Earners, tries to discount the findings of numerous studies in recent years which have found that immigrants tend to complement rather than compete with native-born workers in the labor market, and that immigrant workers do not undermine wages for their native-born counterparts. FAIR pretends to refute these studies by misrepresenting their findings and their methodologies; creating caricatured “straw men” that can easily be knocked down. Behind that charade, however, a growing body of economic and demographic literature remains which demonstrates that immigrants do not “steal” jobs from natives, and do not create ruinous labor-market competition that drives down wages.

One of FAIR’s primary targets is a 2009 series of reports by Rob Paral & Associates, which found that unemployed natives and employed recent immigrants cannot simply be “swapped” for one another because they tend to have different levels of education, live in different parts of the country, have experience in different occupations, and have different levels of work experience in general. As a result, the reports found little apparent relationship between recent immigration and unemployment rates at the regional, state, or county level. FAIR distorts these findings, saying that Paral was claiming that immigrants and natives “do not compete for jobs.” In fact, Paral never says that. Rather, he concludes that “the substantially different characteristics of immigrant and native workers mean that the two populations are not simple substitutes for one another.”

FAIR also takes aim at studies by Giovanni Peri and Heidi Shierholz which have found that immigration results in a slight wage increase for native-born workers. This wage increase occurs in two ways. First, because immigrants and natives tend to have different levels of education, work in different occupations, and possess different skills, the jobs they perform are frequently interdependent and complementary. This increases the productivity of natives, which increases their wages. Second, the addition of immigrant workers to the labor force stimulates investment as new restaurants and stores open, new homes are built, etc. This increases the demand for labor, which exerts upward pressure on wages.

http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/06/17/nativist-group-recycles-discredited-economic-arguments-about-immigration/

FAIR is not going to let that hard-fought mindset slip away easily. They will fight it tooth-and-nail.

They are against immigration (not just illegal immigration, all immigration) so have to work hard to make sure that folks never question the belief that immigrants are bad for YOU - no matter how many studies show the opposite. After all, any one who conducts a study can be dismissed as a pointy-headed liberal, out-of-touch bureaucrat, limousine liberal or some such term so that "real people" stay comfortable with their gut feeling that you can't trust immigrants.

They are, unfortunately, quite successful at what they do.

The most influential anti-immigration network in America (FAIR) tries to convert liberals to its cause.

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=guilt_by_association

New York Times: John Tanton - The Anti-Immigration Crusader

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html

Is that OK with you? I hate the rich, and I hate their flunkies, their bots, their soldiers, etc.

So, no, under no circumstance is that okay with me.

They actually serve the rich very well by making people like you believe Mexicans are the problem and not the policies they pour millions of dollars into to rip off both you and Mexicans.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is almost certainly the most-quoted immigration restriction organization in America. In just the last few weeks, its leaders have enlightened cable viewers with their views on such topics as “American ‘Intifada’ in Our Future?” “Driving While Illegal,” “Should ALL Illegal Aliens Be Deported?” and “Economic Impact of Migration.” In the past six years, FAIR officials have testified at least 30 times to Congress. Day in and day out, FAIR is taken seriously as a mainstream commentator on the immigration debate.

It shouldn’t be. The founder, chief ideologue and long-time funder of FAIR is a racist. Key staff members have ties to white supremacist groups, some are members, and some have spoken at hate group functions. FAIR has accepted more than $1 million from a racist foundation devoted to studies of race and IQ, and to eugenics — the pseudo-science of breeding a better human race that was utterly discredited by the Nazi euthanasia program. It spreads racist conspiracy theories. Its political ads have caused numerous politicians, Democratic and Republican, to denounce it.

Much of this has been known for years. But last February, underlining the way that FAIR does business, its leaders met with the leaders of Vlaams Belang — a hastily renamed Belgian party that under a prior appellation, Vlaams Blok, was officially banned by the Belgian Supreme Court as a racist and xenophobic group. It was, for some, a final straw — the Rubicon of hate, as it were. When FAIR officials met with Vlaams Belang leaders to seek their “advice” on immigration, we decided to take another look at FAIR. When our work was done, it was obvious that FAIR qualified as a hate group. Early next year, when the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual hate group list is published, FAIR will be on the list.

The results of our investigation are contained in an article being published today in SPLC’s Intelligence Report and on the Web. In addition to this evidence, the Report in 2002 published a major investigation of John Tanton, who founded FAIR and remains a key player on its board today. A 2001 Report article also included brief profiles of immigration restrictionist groups, including FAIR.

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/12/11/fair-crossing-the-rubicon-of-hate/