The Cost of Enforcement Only Immigration Reform - A New Study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
According to a study published in Business Week’s on-line April 25, 2008 edition, the Administration’s effort to get tough on immigration enforcement (perhaps in an effort to get everyone back to the table to agree on comprehensive immigration reform) (see my posting of April 22, 2008 here) will cost U.S. employers more than $1 billion a year and U.S. workers $billions in lost wages. These numbers are not from some left-wing think tank—they are from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
According to the study, the Administration’s proposed "no match" rule (which will effectively require employers to fire workers when a social security number mis-match cannot be resolved in time) will impose a heavy cost on employers.
By the Department of Homeland Security’s own admission, two percent of legal workers a year will lose their jobs because they can't resolve the mismatch. Translated, that means between 37,000 to 137,000 legal workers will be unable to get work and lost wages will be from $8 billion to $37 billion.
Hopefully studies like this in combination with the constant news of ICE workplace raids will get all sides to agree that somehow, either before or soon after the presidential election, work on comprehensive immigration reform has to be a priority.
