Unemployment Drops in Alabama: Was it H.B. 56?

http://standwitharizona.com/blog/2011/12/21/alabama-miracle-dramatic-drop-in-unemployment-continues-after-crackdown-on-illegals/

The numbers are dramatic, although you shouldn’t expect to hear it trumpeted on your evening news. It simply doesn’t fit the media’s narrative about “traumatized Latinos” and “crops rotting in the fields” that we heard all Summer long after Alabama’s Governor Bentley signed their tough immigration law H.B. 56.

What was really happening in all that time is nothing short of an economic miracle. As we reported last month, in the wake of tens of thousands of fleeing illegal aliens from Alabama, thousands of Alabamans were being hired – producing a sharp drop in the unemployment rate – particularly in comparison with neighboring states.

Then in October, after Federal District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn upheld most portions of H.B. 56 – there was a second wave of departures of illegals from Alabama, who had stayed on in the hopes that the law would be blocked as it was in Arizona in 2010. This wave produced an acceleration in job creation, as the November statistics revealed.

The results speak for themselves – particularly in Marshall County, Alabama’s “known hotbed of illegal immigrant labor”, which had among the highest percentage of illegal alien workers in the state...

This blog entry smacks of dishonesty. For one, the unemployment rate looks like it was sharply dropping BEFORE the bill was passed. Secondly, there was a drop in all four states when the federal court upheld most of H.B. 56.

So this smacks of more dishonest Republicanism that is just outright racism.

Am I wrong? If so, why. Am I right? If so, why?

How is it "outright racism" to tell illegals to piss off? I don't want illegal immigrants in my nation, period, particularly when they're unskilled workers depressing the wages of the poor while enriching the elite at the top. And then, on top of it, their kids vote Democrat. (The nerve!)

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
How is it "outright racism" to tell illegals to piss off? I don't want illegal immigrants in my nation, period, particularly when they're unskilled workers depressing the wages of the poor while enriching the elite at the top. And then, on top of it, their kids vote Democrat. (The nerve!)

It's quite lucky that their children, being American citizens, can vote for whatever they want in their nation.

Lets not even address your dumb lie of illegal immigration depressing wages.

Originally posted by Bardock42
It's quite lucky that their children, being American citizens, can vote for whatever they want in their nation.

Lets not even address your dumb lie of illegal immigration depressing wages.

Yea it is a shame about the jobs through. 🙁

Originally posted by Bardock42
It's quite lucky that their children, being American citizens, can vote for whatever they want in their nation.

Lets not even address your dumb lie of illegal immigration depressing wages.

Incorrect, if farmers/growers paid say $10.00 an hour instead of the $4.25 they do to illegals to pick crops, hard-working Amurcans would be out in those fields happily toiling and picking them fruits and veggies. /fact <--- that mean's it's true

Originally posted by Robtard
Incorrect, if farmers/growers paid say $10.00 an hour instead of the $4.25 they do to illegals to pick crops, hard-working Amurcans would be out in those fields happily toiling and picking them fruits and veggies. /fact <--- that mean's it's true

I love your sarcasm, you complete me.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
Yea it is a shame about the jobs through. 🙁

For a nation that has thrived and grown completely due to immigration (and some slavery), Americans are ridiculously against the concept.

Lets not even address your dumb lie of illegal immigration depressing wages.

(edited)

I love that the writer doesn't bother to point out that it ridiculous to think that all anti-immigration people are Nazis. More of a "Yes I think Hitler was right but so what?" attitude going on.

In any event I tend to agree with the content of his arguments. On another level I just have a problem with the policy of pretending to have open borders while actually not having them. You just end up rewarding people who violate the law and punishing the people who don't.

That's an official warning for that direct flame, zeal. Another and you will be banned.

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
(edited)

So I take it you won't be crying when your apples cost $3.75 a piece?

Cos shit rolls down-hill, not up; I know you realize this, the corporations won't be sucking up the increase in overhead, should all these illegals be kicked out and the cheap labor force is lost.

I shouldn't have been so absolute, nor so antagonistic in my earlier reply to you. I apologize.

What I am trying to say is that immigration (illegal or not) is not such an easy issue to judge, there are good and bad sides to immigration, in some cases they may be more negative in others more positive. On top of that many of the negative aspects of illegal immigration could be avoided by giving an easier and more reasonable path to citizenship.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5312900

There are places in the United States where illegal immigration has big effects (both positive and negative). But economists generally believe that when averaged over the whole economy, the effect is a small net positive. Harvard's George Borjas says the average American's wealth is increased by less than 1 percent because of illegal immigration.

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/05/does-immigration-cost-jobs/

Do immigrants take American jobs? It’s a common refrain among those who want to tighten limits on legal immigration and deny a "path to citizenship" — which they call "amnesty" — to the millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. There’s even a new Reclaim American Jobs Caucus in the House, with at least 41 members.

But most economists and other experts say there’s little to support the claim. Study after study has shown that immigrants grow the economy, expanding demand for goods and services that the foreign-born workers and their families consume, and thereby creating jobs. There is even broad agreement among economists that while immigrants may push down wages for some, the overall effect is to increase average wages for American-born workers.

From what I gather our immigration system is horribly inefficient and many "real" American citizens would fail the tests that prospective legal immigrants must take.

Meh.

I think at this point amnesty for most of the eleven million illegals (not all, obviously, some of them are actual criminals with no legitimate business being here) seems the only working option that doesn't involve Naziesque relocation/extermination.

Amnesty and serious immigration reform.

Totally gonna agree there Omega.

There are a lot of problems with illegal immigration but there are also a lot of really good people behind those numbers and they end up getting a bad name because of the ones who come here to commit crime.

Serious immigration reform is very necessary.

Curiious to see if K-12 student population went down too, as well as services for the so called poor, food stamps and healthcare.

The hidden social costs of unlawful immigration.

I thought NAFTA was supposed to open investments into Mexico so they would be no need for unlawful immigration. Although it would help if MEXICO had the same social programs we do.

It's probably less important what the truth is on the matter than it is how the various parties will use it to their advantage. Obviously this is a bit of a straw man for the country's unemployment though, whether it's a legit problem or not.

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
How is it "outright racism" to tell illegals to piss off?

The racism is not telling them to leave when they are illegal. The racism is the overall attitude of the article writer. He seems to think that getting rid of immigrants is the solution to all of Alabama's economic problems (and implies it would work for the US) and he supports that position with what appears to be misleading information. As Marius pointed out, there are bad and good to immigrants.

Overall, I think it is slightly to moderately bad for illegal immigrants; It is really good for the US if they do it legally. Disclaimer: That's my opinion based on some facts but it is not entirely factually supported.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
That's an official warning for that direct flame, zeal. Another and you will be banned.

Originally posted by Robtard
So I take it you won't be crying when your apples cost $3.75 a piece?

Cos shit rolls down-hill, not up; I know you realize this, the corporations won't be sucking up the increase in overhead, should all these illegals be kicked out and the cheap labor force is lost.

PROTIP: I wouldn't pay $3.75 for an apple. And neither would most anyone else. Ergo, demand would drop and prices would lower until they were acceptable to the consumer.

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
It is the inevitable conclusion of our interactions.

This is what I love about leftists. They cry and whine about evil Republikkkans ruining America for the sake of corporate profits...and then they go on about how cheap labor costs for large corporations are good for everyone else. Doublethink, how does it work?

PROTIP: I wouldn't pay $3.75 for an apple. And neither would most anyone else. Ergo, demand would drop and prices would lower until they were acceptable to the consumer.

What I don't get is right wingers foaming at the mouth over immigrants stealing jobs that no one else wants.

I saw a news report where an American woman was paid $11 an hour (2-3 times what illegals would be paid) to harvest crops in Alabama and said that it just wasn't worth it and that she couldn't possibly do that every day given the physical demands of the job.

Demand would drop and price would drop but so would production...which would mean a contraction in spending and industry. Ergo, not a good thing.

I saw a news report where an American woman was paid $11 an hour (2-3 times what illegals would be paid) to harvest crops in Alabama and said that it just wasn't worth it and that she couldn't possibly do that every day given the physical demands of the job.