The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The Cost of Illegal Immigration

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The Spectacle Blog

The Cost of Illegal Immigration

By W. James Antle, III on 5.26.09 @ 9:32AM

Contra Richard Nadler, no one of any significance has argued that people's human value should be determined by how much they pay in taxes versus what they get in government services. What people, whose immigration-policy views look suspiciously like Nadler's, have argued is that low-skilled immigration -- legal and in some cases illegal -- will help the government's fiscal situation. This does not appear to be true.

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PolishKnight| 5.26.09 @ 10:49AM

While I agree with much of Richard's analysis, it appears to be incomplete and misleading. He says that Republicans are falling for a Democrat red-herring of evaluating people via their usefulness to government as taxpayers. I agree with him.

On the other hand, he uses illegal apologist rhetoric "they do work Americans won't do". He says: " most adult American workers don’t do “seasonal.”"

This is a massive red-herring. Of course most adult American workers don't do "seasonal" when the work is dominated by low paid illegals just as working class Americans used to do restaurant and hotel work until it became unreasonable for them to do so.

He then uses a half-full glass argument that low-wage yard work helps to increase the value of real estate by thousands of dollars. Has this guy been talking to my lawn-obsessed ex-girlfriend? Unless you're selling your home next week, blowing money on lawn care isn't going to make a difference in the long term bottom line. None. On the other hand, good luck selling your property if crime is up in the area due to MS-13 and the Mexican mafia.

If conservatives shouldn't fall for the liberal position of judging people by their usefulness as welfare state dupes to buy votes or taxpayer wage slaves, they also shouldn't fall for becoming ruthless cheapskates. That gave conservatives a bad name. I remember so-called small business conservatives defending minimum wage based upon the argument that, hey, the businesses wanted to make money so to hell with treating their labor decently. These were often small mom and pop operations. They said that they cared only about the bottom line. I responded, great, I'll take my business to wal-mart, thank you.

I personally don't mind spending a few extra dollars for decent and ethical service. If a college student or working class man wants $12 an hour to mow my lawn, I'm ok with that. If that means maybe only mowing it only every other week, that's ok even if Hank Hill doesn't approve.