> They're also lowering our income.

Is there any evidence that low-skill workers are making less money than they used to? A quick look at U.S. Census data suggests otherwise.

In 1958 (the first year of data the Census Bureau has on its income Web site), somebody with less than 9 years of education had a median annual income of $15,023 after adjusting for inflation (2004 real dollars). In 2004 that same worker was making $16,173 year, an increase of about 7 percent.

It's a little tougher to look at similar figures for people with some high school or just a high school degree because the questions the Census asked changed in 1991, but since 1991 both categories have remained about constant.

If illegal immigrants were significantly lowering wages, I expect we would notice it among these workers. The median income period has gone up significantly in the last 30 years: from $17,876/yr in 1974 to $23,186/yr in 2004 (numbers adjusted for inflation).

The fact is the market is pretty good at providing jobs for people who want to work. Increases in the labor supply are followed by increases in productivity that help offset the increased labor supply.

> Consider this (true) scenario: A guy at a construction job asks for water, because he's overheated and about to collapse from dehydration. It's Florida. He is immediately fired. "If you don't like your job, I can hire a Mexican for lower than minimum wage and save me some money", were the exact words of his employer.

This specific story is suspect to me. The going rate to hire day laborers around these parts is $10/hr, significantly higher than the minimum wage (California's minimum wage is $6.75/hr). A semi-skilled job like construction is unlikely to find people to work for less than minimum wage. Unless things are much different in Florida I highly doubt this story, even if true, is indicative of a national trend.

> These same things go on every day. Why hire someone legitimately when you can get an illegal immigrant to do it for very little pay? I really don't like that idea, since it takes away money from my wallet, and illegal immigrant workers are taking jobs from millions of American citizens.

If illegal immigrants are depriving Americans of jobs, why is unemployment so low? Unemployment right now is at 4.7 percent, which is pretty good (the lowest it has been since 1960 was 3.5 percent in 1969). This is right around the same number as other industrialized Western nations, e.g. the United Kingdom (4.8 percent in 2005) or Japan (4.5 percent in 2005).

> Personally, I think we should have gone along with the mass-deportation thing. Deport-on-sight.

I am not even sure how you would begin to find all of the illegal immigrants. The estimates as to how many there even are vary pretty wildly, and it's not like they're wearing signs on their backs that let us know they're illegal.

I can understand wanting to stop more people from entering the country illegally, but deporting all or even the majority of those already here is a logistical nightmare.

> Besides, over 75% of prisoners are Black or Mexican. This relieves us of more money.

It's actually at about 60 percent as of 2004 (and Mexican is incorrect -- that number includes Hispanics from all over the world). But what does the number who are black have to do with immigration? 19.2 percent of of prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction were Hispanic in 2004. Compare this to 34.3 percent who were white.

Of course, neither statistic is that telling. What is more appropriate to your point, I think, is the number of prisoners by race compared to the overall population of that race -- a significantly higher percentage of Hispanics in America are jailed compared to whites (per 100k people in the population, the numbers are 463 whites, 1,220 Hispanics, 3,218 blacks).

> Don't get me wrong, I'm not all about money, that's totally not me. However, I WOULD like to be able to grow up, make a decent living, and retire, and the illegal aliens aren't making my job any easier.

I don't really think they're making it much harder, either.

Stephen

References:

Historical income data from the U.S. Census, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/histinctb.html

Unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/, http://www.bls.gov/fls/home.htm

Prisoner data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prisoners in 2004", http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p04.htm