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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Jason Riley Examines Whether Illegal Immigrants Take American Jobs

Wall Street Journal (Opinion) by Jason RileyThanks to the endless television replays this weekend, just about everyone now knows that a reporter interrupted President Obama's Rose Garden remarks Friday on his new immigration policy. Less discussed has been what the reporter said.

"Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?'' shouted Neil Munro of the Daily Caller website a few minutes into the president's statement. Under the new policy, some undocumented immigrants under 30 who were brought to the U.S. as children will be allowed to work legally in the U.S.

Misperceptions of how immigrants impact U.S. labor markets are nothing new, and a national unemployment rate above 8% doesn't help matters. Mr. Munro's question suggested that immigrant labor harms the job prospects of Americans.

But if immigrants, legal or illegal, displace U.S. workers, why was there less unemployment in the U.S. during the Clinton and Bush administrations, when we had higher levels of immigration, than we have today, when net migration from Mexico is zero?

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