False: CAs do work Americans won't do

The criminal alien debate has been shaped by a number of assumptions, some of which are dubious. One false assumption is that criminal aliens are doing the work that Americans won't do.

This assumption is easily countered by the fact that most Americans would gladly hang dry wall or pick berries for $5M/year. Provably, there is a wage between the current wage point and this fictional $5M/year point which would attract enough workers to meet the labor demands of the market.

The problem is that criminal aliens will work for less than legitimate workers will. Criminal aliens' very status as criminals puts them in a weakened bargaining position. The glut of criminal aliens has driven the labor supply so high that entire sectors of low-skilled work have seen a drop in labor prices. Legal residents tend to work above board--we pay taxes, are bonded and insured, speak the language of the foreman and the customer and have opportunities elsewhere in the economy should the wages in certain market sectors fall below our tolerance threshold.

Criminal aliens are not doing the work Americans won't do. Rather, they are artificially depressing wages in certain sectors making those sectors unattractive to the legitimate labor force. Removing criminal aliens from the labor supply will result in a rise in wages to meet the demands of the legitimate labor supply.

Q.E.D.