Illegal Aliens

Hans ~ Sennholz ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH unemployment at chronically high rates in nearly all countries, it is not surprising that the number of explanations and interpretations is on the rise. In less developed coun tries, we are told, the high birth rates and population growth rates exceed the ability of agriculture and indus try to absorb the new population, with the result of increasing unem ployment. In the industrial coun tries, where the rates of growth of population are much lower, the ex planations cover a wide spectrum from the Marxian exploitation doc trine to the Keynesian inadequate spending theory. In the United States, the oldest explanation ofthem Dr. Sennholz heads the Department of Economics at Grove City College In Pennsylvania. He is a noted writer and lecturer on economic, political and mone tary affairs. all is coming to the fore. Rooted in the fear and resentment of foreign ers, many of whom are illiterate and poor, more· and more Americans are pointing at the newcomers as the cause of their difficulties. Labor leaders, especially, are quick to vil ify "the illegal aliens" for the chronic unemployment that is plaguing or ganized labor.

Their explanation is almost 300 years old. The descendants· of· the original English settlers used it, viewing with alarm the influx of Germans and Scotch-Irish. And they in turn later protested the arrival of southern and eastern Europeans. Their intellectual descendants now are pointing at millions of "illegal aliens" from Latin America who are blamed for our high unemployment rates, for lowering our enviable wage 131 132 THE FREEMAN March rates, for corrupting our political and social institutions, and their reluc tance to conform and "Americanize." The estimate of some 8 million il legal aliens in the United States suggests a simple solution to our un employment problem. Let us expel the 8 million aliens after we have inflicted appropriate punishment for illegal entry, and our chronic un employment will cease to exist. Now every native American will cheer fully find his job. In reality, unemployment is a cost phenomenon. There is always em ployment for anyone whose produc tivity exceeds his employment costs.

And unemployment is awaiting anyone whose costs exceed his use fulness. This is true whether or not he is a citizen. Rendering Useful Service Noone can possibly know how many illegal aliens actually have entered the United States. But we do know that they are earning a liv ing through rendering services in agriculture, commerce and indus try. You may find them in the fruit orchards of California, Oregon and Washington, on the farms and ranches of Arizona, Texas, Louisi ana, and Mississippi, in the hotels and motels in our cities, and in other service industries from coast to coast. They are working because their ser vices are useful and economical. Eight million Americans are unemployed because their employment costs consisting of wages and social benefits exceed their usefulness. How would they become more productive and economical through expulsion of foreigners? Would a black teenager in New York City whose employ ment costs exceed $5 an hour (mini mum wage $3.35 plus fringe bene fits) and whose labor may be worth only $1, find employment more eas ily after a Latin chambermaid at the Park Hotel had been arrested and deported? The expulsion of eight million foreigners would not vacate eight million jobs for deserving Americans. In fact, it is likely to cre ate even more unemployment.

Productive alien employees can not forcibly be replaced by native la bor that inflicts losses on employers. They can be removed and deported, which would withdraw useful labor, restrict service and production, in flict losses on employers, and thus cause a contraction of economic ac tivity. The hotel and motel industry, for instance, would be severely ham pered in service and capacity. The fruit orchards would harvest less fruit, which would cause prices to rise and the industry to contract. And the American people would suffer a sig nificant reduction of living stan dards through the loss of wholesome fruit in their diets. Economists readily admit that in a stagnant economy the influx of new labor, native or foreign, tends to re1983 ILLEGAL ALIENS 133 duce wage rates. The given amount of capital is distributed over a greater number of workers, which reduces individual labor productivity and wage rates. But this admission does not apply to labor markets in which generous unemployment compensa tion, multiple benefits, and liberal foodstamps keep millions of workers from seeking employment. The in stitutional benefits that are creating the unemployment are not reduced when aliens illegally enter the United States.

Not Welfare Recipients In constant fear of detection and deportation, few illegal aliens, ifany, are seeking the social benefits that induce so many natives to prefer un employment. There are no jobless benefits, no foodstamps, not even public assistance for illegal aliens. They live, and in many respects are like those old-fashioned Americans before the dawn of the New Deal and its redistribution programs. While the fear of detection may prevent illegal aliens from collect ing transfer benefits, it is more dif ficult to escape the taxes that are levied on labor. Surely, there are many who by arrangement with their employers pay neither income nor social security taxes. But this makes employers accomplices to illegal em ployment and tax evasion, which is a risk no large employer can possi bly take. Therefore, it is likely that most illegal aliens suffer tax with holdings like anyone else. They are probably paying "their share" in the expenses of our social institutions.

And yet, illegal aliens stand ac cused of corrupting our political and social institutions, favoring political and social radicalism, agitating for more transfer programs, and so on. All of this may be true. But we won der about the political and ideologi cal dangers of a California fruit picker or an Atlanta chambermaid who, in constant fear of detection and deportation, timidly inquires about membership in a labor union. Surely, every native newspaper publisher, editor, commentator, writer, or pro fessor can be, and probably is, im measurably more effective in prop agating radical ideas than is an illiterate alien. The illegal alien stands accused of refusing to conform and "American ize." But he may be at a loss about the standard to which he is to con form and about the meaning of "Americanization." As there is no standard, and cannot be one in this nation of refugees from all corners of the world, he, the illegal alien from Latin America, must be acquitted of this charge. It must suffice that he conforms to the only standard of a civilized society, that he is a human being who was born with inalien able human rights.

The festering problem of illegal entry to the United States and the 134 THE FREEMAN social agitation that is besieging an estimated 8 million illegal aliens concern us all. We must therefore reject old fallacies and seek amiable solutions. But such resolutions may be beyond the bounds of possibility in the present institutional setting. It is futile to stem the human flood of immigrants with dikes of laws and regulations from the armory of the police state. If the causes that are generating the migration continue to be active, rio fine or imprisonment of "illegals" or their American em ployers, no government-issued iden tification card or work permit can arrest it. To confer citizenshi p to all illegal aliens may promptly add several million workers to the unemploy ment and public assistance rolls. To make the aliens legal is to subject them to the minimum wage law, the wage and hours legislation, and countless fringe regulations that boost labor costs and cause chronic unemployment. To make them le gal, therefore, is to sever their pro ductive employments and send them to their ethnic welfare centers, the metropolitan areas. Like many thousands of Puerto Ricans before them, many legal aliens would dis cover that, after all, there was no job for them in the country of opportu nity. A few who would survive the purge following the bestowal of citi zenship would be tempted by their newly acquired welfare. eligibility to join their idle brethren in the cities.

And once again, the farms and ranches, hotels and motels, and many other service industries would have to curtail their production because of lack of labor. Nothing but the right can ever be expedient. In the cause of individual freedom, we must defend the rights of all people, including illegal aliens. But if the political rights of Ameri can citizenship entail the denial of the human right to work diligently for one's economic existence, and if we are forced to choose between the two, we must opt for the latter. The right to sustain one's life through personal effort and industry is a ba sic human right that precedes and exceeds all political rights. It is an inalienable right of all people, in cluding illegal aliens. For millions of European immi grants who reached our shores, the Statue of Liberty signaled the prom ise of personal liberty. As long as its torch is still burning we have no choice but to live by its light. i New Revised Edition DEATH &TAXES by Hans E Sennholz 109 pages $5.95 Order from: The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 THE IDEA of a legal system for a free society might appear to be a contra diction of terms. The existence of a legal system implies that there are laws; there are rules of conduct; there is authority; there are penalties for disobedience. Law necessarily in volves the application of some kind of force to some fellow human beings.