Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/885126
F oreign born workers (almost all from below the border) make up more than 27 percent of the construction workforce. West of the Mississippi, I'd wager they make up half. The Washington Post puts the number of illegal immigrants working in construction at one out of every eight. A lot of angry people on the right are scream- ing for deportation. If they have their way, it could be devastating for the construction indus- try. We already have a crisis-level manpower shortage driving up prices and slowing down project completion dates. When it comes to immigration, the far right has been breathing ether and spitting flames for some time. And with so many of our nation's problems, media-whipped frenzies of emotion have triumphed over facts. But the facts are these: 1. Deportation is a pipedream. There are 800,000 "dreamers" and some 12 million illegal im- migrants in this country now, according to the Pew Research Center. You can put Attila the Hun in charge of the government but no way can we deport this many people. Even if we loaded them on buses at gunpoint, we can't deport 20,000 – a small city's worth – every day, which is what it would take to get them all gone by the next presidential election. 2. Any large-scale attempts to drive these immigrants out of the country would be as big a humanitarian disaster as the Trail of Tears. Even a limited attempt to force Hispan- ics (other than felons) back to Mexico would become a media and public relations disaster of epic proportions. The Republican Party and conservative causes would never recover. 3. Nobody in Washington, D.C., wants to end illegal immigration. To the Democrats, they're future voters. To the Republicans and some businesses, they're cheap and easily exploit- able labor. Congress passed immigration bills in 1965, 1980, 1986, 1990 and 1996. But since 2001, every attempt to pass a new bill has been scuttled. If they wanted reform, they would do it, but they don't. There's no question we need to control who comes into this country, but Congress' inac- tion combined with Trump's jingoism creates a precarious situation for construction contractors. If the illegals are driven deeper underground, they will be more exploitable, undercut wages, cheat on taxes, compete unfairly against your legitimate business and more likely to give up on construction and turn to crime. Before the last election, Jeb Bush co-authored the book, "Immigration Wars" that outlined a rea- sonable approach to this problem. In addition to describing how unreasonable and counter-pro- ductive our immigration policy is, Bush pointed out that unless we actually start importing lots of young, ambitious workers from somewhere, our economy and our Social Security net may fail. There aren't enough young people paying into Social Security to keep it solvent past 2040. Immigrants – or massive tax increases on our children – are the only lifeline. And the final hard fact we have to face is that we've lost two, maybe three, generations of young men when it comes to preparing them for the rigors of a career in construction. Thanks to lax attitudes toward pot, Adderall and other drugs to suppress the natural energy of boys, the defunding of vocational schools and shop class, and the collapse of the Protestant work ethic, most 20-something Americans don't have the mental attributes or physical stamina for con- struction work. If the issue concerns you at all, I suggest you read Bush's book and then use it as a benchmark for all your votes in the future. If there are local immigration advocacy groups, and they're not of the nutty kind, get involved. Talk to your elected leaders. Your future hangs in the balance. October 2017 | EquipmentWorld.com 70 final word | by Tom Jackson Reality on immigration TJackson@randallreilly.com