Why an immigration moratorium would also benefit legal immigrants

Today's legal immigration averages one million a year, much higher than the peak levels of immigration, even including the so-called "Golden Age" of immigration in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The numbers of legal immigrants from 1924 until 1965 averaged less than 200,000 a year. The United States did quite well over those 40 years during which most newcomers were able to assimilate and contribute to their new home land. Drastically lower levels of legal immigration -- resulting in less competition for jobs -- produced an expanding economy, rising wages, benefits, and working conditions for U.S. and foreign-born American workers and created the American middle class, an unprecedented standard of living for all while fighting and winning the Cold War and becoming the envy of every country in the world.

Then U.S. population exploded from 203 million in 1970 to over 305 million in 2009, with immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants accounting for 70% of the increases. In the last 15 years, more than 50 million people, largely low-skilled, have been added to the U.S. population. Due to many of our domestic and foreign policies, the United States changed from being the world's most prosperous nation in the 1960's to the greatest debtor country in human history in the last several years.

Although some immigrants are great assets to the United States, our economy is no longer labor-intensive. We are the greatest debtor nation in the world due to many of our shortsighted domestic and foreign policies.

Presently, more than 15 million Americans of diverse backgrounds, including legal immigrants, are unemployed. In addition, recent immigrants and their U.S.-born children under 18 accounted for over 70% of the growth of the uninsured population in this country according to the 2007 Census data. Our schools and other infrastructure are also overflowing. It is simply irresponsible to keep borrowing from other countries to finance our current and future needs.

Furthermore, according to Forbes Magazine' report released on March 10, 2010, the world's wealthiest person is Mexican citizen Carlos Slim, and the fourth and fifth richest individuals are Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal, both residents of India. China, who now holds the world's largest foreign currency reserves in the world, has 27 billionaires! Many developing countries have many resources to improve life for their own citizens. Shouldn't billionaires abroad work with their own governments to improve life for their own citizens?

For the sake of all struggling American workers, the federal government should seriously enforce our immigration laws across the board, which has been effective according to news reports, and enact some sort of immigration moratorium which only requires an act of Congress. These measures will help reduce unemployment rates and increase tax revenues: Putting U.S.-born and legal immigrant jobseekers, able-bodied welfare recipients and non-violent prison inmates to work will reduce unemployment and welfare expenses and at the same time boost income tax. More working Americans also mean a healthier nation!