NumbersUSA: Biden’s New Immigration Policies Threaten American Workforce

Hours after President Biden was sworn into office, his Administration provided an outline for their immigration plans. In short, the President aims to give amnesty to over 11 million illegal aliens, increase legal immigration, and ultimately shift immigration enforcement's focus. The Biden Administration has already taken what steps it can to advance its policy goals, namely ordering a 100-day halt to all deportations.

At face value, this is a temporary measure, a pause in operations, to determine which deportations will take precedence and which will go by the wayside. Upon closer examination, this is a crucial first step in giving foreign visitors an all-access pass to the United States and creating an open border "paradise."

Each month, roughly 4 million foreign citizens enter the country with legal visas. Approximately the same number decide to exit the country each month. Thankfully, this relative balance helps keep the U.S. job market from collapsing.

But what happens when those 4 Million exits no longer have an incentive to leave?

Biden's immigration plan reprioritizes immigration enforcement to focus only on violent criminal aliens. That means that visa overstays and other illegal immigrants would receive a free pass. The Administration also wants to provide lifetime work permits to the more than 11 million illegal aliens who were in the country on or before 1 January 2021.

There is also a plan for a massive increase in legal immigration to include:

- Increasing the Visa Lottery to 80,000 per year (up from 55,000)

- Providing green cards to all international students who graduate from U.S. universities or colleges with an advanced degree in a STEM field.

- Increasing the annual cap for non-nuclear family members of U.S. citizens (also known as chain migration)

- Admitting over 4 million backlogged employment-based or family-based green card applicants.

To learn more visit: https://www.numbersusa.org/numbers/legal-immigration

House Republicans, as they should, have already begun opposing such a plan. Former Gang of 8 member Marco Rubio (R-Fla) had this to say:

"Before we deal with immigration, we need to deal with COVID, make sure everyone has the chance to find a good job, and confront the threat from China. America should always welcome immigrants who want to become Americans. But we need laws that decide who and how many people can come here, and those laws must be followed and enforced. There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn't going to be one of them."

-- Sen. Marco Rubio

The situation is indeed dire. Millions are out of work due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Biden's plan would make it even harder for them to find a job. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) probably puts it best.

"The coronavirus and government-imposed lockdowns have left millions of Americans unemployed and small businesses shut down. Our immediate national priority must be to help Americans get back to work. Instead, the first legislative priority we get from the new Administration is not one aimed at lowering unemployment for Americans or reopening our economy, but a radical immigration bill granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.

"Not only does it undermine our rule of law and encourage more illegal immigration, it tells our fellow Americans their misfortune isn't our nation's top priority. Will this proposal help Americans get back to work? Most certainly not. And until that happens, the Biden Administration must focus on helping our own citizens first."

-- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Biden's dream of ending all deportations of non-violent illegal aliens would be devastating to the American worker. However, one thing would prevent such a calamity: an E-Verify mandate for all employers with stiff penalties for violators and additional provisions to reduce fraudulent use of the system.

Mandatory E-Verify would ensure that even if non-violent illegal aliens are not deported, they have fewer incentives to stay. The inability to secure work provides a significant disincentive for illegal immigrants to stay in the country. If Biden's plan removes the stick that deportation represents, a mandatory E-Verify will remove the carrot for staying.

Without such a mandatory system, which is conspicuously absent from all Biden plans, his halt in deportations would pose a clear and present danger to American workers. They can expect even more competition from increasing numbers of foreign workers attracted by the promise that illegal jobs will remain available and that there is no threat of deportation.

The lack of mandatory E-Verify and the effective decriminalization of illegal immigration will only compound the economic impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Businesses have been shut down, and millions of Americans are out of work. If the American workforce continues to be undercut and millions of foreign nationals can illegally compete for jobs, how is the economy to recover?

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This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes