Amy Traub

Filling the Immigration Vacuum

Along with thousands of other New Yorkers, I didn't have my letter to the editor published in the New York Times last week. I was responding to this editorial lamenting the lack of constructive national leadership on immigration issues. Since I took the time to write the letter (and edit it down to the Times' very challenging 150-word limit), I thought I'd share it with you:

To the Editor:

"Immigration Vacuum," (editorial, Jan. 16) illustrates how the lack of national leadership on immigration encourages bad local legislation.

Local lawmakers react to their constituents' fears that undocumented immigrants threaten their jobs and reduce quality of life by overcrowding housing and congregating for day labor jobs. While their legislative response is gravely misguided, the underlying concerns cannot be easily dismissed.

As long as the immigrant workers our economy depends on can be threatened with deportation whenever they attempt to get a fair deal in the workplace, employers will be able to take advantage of their vulnerability, undermining both the immigrants' wages and what American workers would earn for the same job.

No surprise that when undocumented workers are paid miserably, their standard of living becomes a quality of life problem for their more prosperous neighbors.

The solution? Recognize that immigrants are integral to our economy and strengthen their rights in the workplace.

Amy Traub: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 9:56 AM, Jan 25, 2006 in Immigration
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