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Commissioner Statements
81
have been 3.6 percent rather than 8.2 percent.
149
Further, ―Katz says people are putting too
much emphasis on this analysis and the 8 percent figure in particular. 'This was a back-of-
the-envelope simulation at the end of the papers,' [according to Katz].‖
150
With Katz's
revision of his figures to be in line with Card's, the challenge to Card is substantively
eviscerated.
151 152
The Card analysis, as has been noted, received little to no attention by the majority either in
the preparation of the hearing or this report, despite its abundant acceptance and citations by
scholars and the media.
153
The majority's omission of significant, highly respected scholarly
work which is directly on point certainly calls the majority's objectivity and agenda into
question.
Scapegoating is the tried and true method of dealing with all new immigrant populations,
legal or illegal. The fact is that the true civil rights issue that is raised by anti-illegal
immigrant discourse, such as that published by the majority, is discrimination against those
native groups that bear the characteristics of the population targeted for enforcement – in
other words, racial profiling of Americans.
154
But that is not, apparently, a concern for the
majority.
149
Porter, Eduardo, ―Lowest U.S. Wages Have Fallen But Illegals Aren't Solely to Blame,‖ Denver Rocky
'Mountain News (CO), April 22, 2006, p. 2C.
150
Pender, Kathleen, ―Labor's Complex Situation,‖ San Francisco Chronicle (CA), April 26, 2006, p. C-1.
151
Borjas has also been involved in research that found a minimal impact on low-skilled native workers similar
to what Card has determined. Borjas served on the Committee on Population of the National Research
Council's Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. This group issued a 1997 report,
―The New Americans: Economics, Demographics, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration,‖ Borjas' committee
found that ―[T]he wages of these [low-skill] native-born Americans may have fallen some 5 percent over the
past 15 years. Yet even in local labor markets with high numbers of new immigrants, overall job opportunities
and wages for the native-born are not significantly affected by immigration. The effects may be minor because
natives who compete directly with immigrants may be moving to other areas, and because immigration brings
overall benefits to most Americans.‖ Galvin, Molly, ―Overall U.S. Economy Gains From Immigration, But It's
Costly to Some States and Localities,‖ News From the Academies, May 17, 1997, retrieved May 24, 2010 from
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=5779.
152
It is interesting to note that both Card and Borjas are immigrants to the United States. David Card was born
in Canada and George Borjas was born in Cuba. Cowen and Rothschild,
supra
.
153
On the Fence: Are Illegal Immigrants Good or Bad for the U.S. Economy,
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=175
. Retrieved May 24, 2010; Will Illegal
Immigration Offset a Wage Hike? MSNBC, Jan. 10, 2007,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16541091
.
Retrieved May 24, 2010. See also ―Cost of Illegal Immigration May Be Less Than Meets The Eye,‖ New York
Times, April 16, 2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/business/yourmoney/16view.html
. Retrieved
May 24, 2010; Q&A: Illegal Immigrants and the Economy, NPR, March 30, 2006,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5312900
. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
154
The most obvious, and immediate, example is the law recently enacted by Arizona empowering law
enforcement officers to stop people who they have a ―reasonable suspicion‖ of being undocumented persons.
See, e.g., Michael Yaki, ―Why the Arizona Law is Anti-Immigrant, not Anti-Illegal Immigration‖
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/yaki/detail?entry_id=6219
. Retrieved May 24, 2010, and Michael Yaki,
―Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law: How A Law That Is ―Neutral‖ Can Be Racist,‖
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/blogs/yaki/detail?entry_id=6243
. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
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