New support for killing the Obama-era amnesty for young illegal immigrants is coming from a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who is warning that extending DACA will increase black unemployment and crime.
In a letter to a key senator in the debate over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Commissioner Peter Kirsanow said the impact of legalizing 700,000 illegals on minority employment should be considered.
“Such grant of legal status, without serious, robust immigration enforcement, will likely disproportionately harm unskilled American workers, particularly lower-skilled African-Americans, by making it more difficult for them to obtain employment and depressing their wages when they do obtain employment,” he wrote in a letter to Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford.
“The increased employment difficulties will likely have negative consequences that extend beyond the economic sphere,” added Kirsanow, who was writing on his own behalf, not the commission which has signaled strong support for the DACA program.
The ongoing debate over the fate of DACA has not focused much on the economic impact of permanently adding 700,000 young adults.
Kirsanow, however, said it could be devastating to African Americans, drive more into unemployment and crime and also undermine black families and marriage.
He noted that black unemployment, especially among youths, has remained high but recently dipped when illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border slowed. “The decline happened to occur contemporaneously with a steep drop in border crossings and stepped up interior enforcement efforts. Although this correlation does not necessarily indicate causation, the dynamic is consistent with what would be expected from a reduction in unskilled labor competition from illegal immigrants,” he wrote.
And after citing a study that black unemployment can lead to more crime and incarceration, he said it also impacts family life when jobs become scarce and African Americans have to fight with new immigrants for employment.
“Lower wages and incarceration likely contribute to one of the most serious problems facing the African-American community today: the dearth of intact nuclear families. Married men are more likely to be employed and to have higher earnings than unmarried men, although the relationship between marriage and economic success is complex. However, it is obvious that men who are unemployed or are incarcerated are far less appealing prospective spouses than men who hold down a steady job,” Kirsanow wrote.
He called for DACA repeal, construction of the wall and tough immigration enforcement.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com
