EckerNet.Com

Ok I’ve decided to declare myself the officially immigration blog of the MOB, since I’m apparently able to find an immigration angle to damn near every piece of angle.

In an article addressing the myth of that American students lag behind the rest of the world,

…math, science, and reading test scores at the primary and secondary level have increased over the past two decades, and U.S. students are now close to the top of international rankings. Perhaps just as surprising, the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands.

More than the market demands??

…the new report showed that from 1985 to 2000 about 435,000 U.S. citizens and permanent residents a year graduated with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in science and engineering. Over the same period, there were about 150,000 jobs added annually to the science and engineering workforce.

One of the reasons repeatedly cited for increased immigration is that we need more high-tech workers to fill our positions. However, if we don’t create enough jobs for all the local talent, why is it necessary to import even more?

Combine this with the faulty claims about unskilled workers. Many of these unskilled jobs could be made obsolete by technology. And those that cannot can and have been easily filled by Americans. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that illegal aliens do not account for a majority in any industry, so clearly there are Americans willing to do this jobs, despite the claims of President Bush. This is even more clearly demonstrated when every time there is an INS raid, the next day there are lines of Americans outside ready to apply for the vacated positions.

Considering this information, one should view with great suspicion any claim that immigration is absolutely necessary for America without supporting evidence. I certainly don’t dispute that it might very well be in some areas, but it’s clearly not a given default answer. And it’s certainly true that we would like to attract the best and brightest from around the world. However, it’s unlikely that there are 12 million undocumented geniuses in this country today.