Tuesday, November 26, 2024

U.S. Public Is Confused About Jobs And Immigration


 



The charts above are from a survey done by the Pew Research Center in August of 2024. They questioned 9,201 nationwide adults, and the survey has a 1.3 point margin of error.

Donald Trump campaigned on carrying out mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if elected, and his appointments show he is determined to carry out that promise. He said two things to justify his desire - that the undocumented immigrants were criminals, and that they were taking jobs that citizens wanted.

Neither of those things are true. Crime statistics show that these immigrants have a far lower crime rate than citizens. They know they will be deported (or imprisoned and then deported) if they commit a crime - and that has been true of all past administrations (both Republican and Democrat).

It is also true that the immigrants are not taking jobs wanted by citizens. The employers who hire undocumented immigrants would much rather hire citizens. That would keep them out of danger of disobeying the law and possibly being subject to large fines. But citizens don't want those jobs, because they are generally dirty or dangerous, low-paying, and low (or no) benefit jobs.

But the same public that wants undocumented immigrants deported would be happy to see more highly-skilled immigrants allowed to enter the country. That is very confusing, because those are the immigrants that would take jobs wanted by U.S. citizens - high-paying jobs with good benefits and good working conditions!
It doesn't make sense that people favor admitting immigrants to take good jobs, but want to deport the immigrants that take bad jobs no one else wants. Isn't that backwards?

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