It Takes Two to Tango; Head’s Up!
One topic that continues to arise in the immigration conversation is undocumented immigrants and whether or not they take jobs away from Americans. But beyond that question, what about the people hiring these undocumented workers? As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. We’ve looked at almost every angle of this question, except that of the role of employers. Today we sourced an article from The Economist that examines the other side of the job issue:
The logic is simple. Economic migrants are looking for work; if employers were not hiring them, the incentive to cross illegally would be a lot smaller. And many bosses, benefiting from the supply of cheap labour, have been less than careful about inquiring after the legal status of their workers.
So employers definitely play a role in the presence of undocumented immigrants in our labor force. The question then becomes, what do we do? With so many piecemeal bills and laws being introduced, will this solve anything? Or is the answer comprehensive reform? The article puts a pretty strong stake in the ground:
The moment may be propitious for a coherent federal response. The mid-term elections, having shifted the balance of power in many states as well as in the House of Representatives, have set off a scramble to hammer out new approaches to immigration and enforcement…Calls for comprehensive immigration reform are becoming harder to ignore.
As we’ve said before, we don’t know what the answer is–we’re learning with you as we go, and our goal is to provide information and stories that will help all of us better understand immigration issues.
What do you think–where should the onus lie when it comes to undocumented workers? Is a specific bill or law regarding jobs the answer, or do we need something more comprehensive?
We’ve had a couple milestones this week, and we have some great content coming up next week, so take a look at what you’ll be finding on the Homeland website over the next several days.
Today — 11/23:
Mike Bauhof tweeted our 1000th tweet! If you’re not already following us on Twitter, you can find us @ExploreHomeland. And also be sure to fan us on Facebook.
We’ll also be posting our first interstitial for Homeland. An interstitial is a short piece of content that is broadcast between programs by public television stations. Interstitials often aim to inform the community about important topics–for example, in future Homeland interstitials we will define what a refugee is and we’ll also look at who’s here in St. Louis and why. You can take a look at the first Homeland interstitial on www.explorehomeland.org today.
Tomorrow — 11/24 :
In honor of the upcoming holiday, the Homeland team put together a special video. Each team member shares something they’ve learned from working on the project. As I noted above, we’re in this with you and learning as we go, so be sure to check back tomorrow to see what the team has to say.
Next Week — 11/29-12/3:
We have a lot of exciting content coming up next week. Evan Godt takes a look at refugees–what it means to be one, how the process works, and what being a refugee in the U.S. looks like. We’ll be rolling that series out next week. Kate Shaw will also be producing a video to complement Evan‘s blogs. In addition, the young refugees we’ve had working with us since July have been working on blog posts ranging from how they learned the English language to some interesting (and sometimes funny) cultural differences between their native countries and America.
We’ll also be posting a series of Roundtable videos–Charles Bryson, director of public safety for the city of St. Louis, gathered a few of his constituents to talk about how they feel about immigration. Specifically this will cover the relationship between African Americans and immigrants in the St. Louis region.
Category: Economy
