'Complementarity' & 'Circularity': New Words Fuel Immigration Debate
New America Media, News analysis, Marcelo Ballvé Posted: Dec 29, 2009
With a national debate on the impact of foreign workers on jobs and the economy heating up for 2010, it’s time to brush up on some relevant policy jargon. Two words in particular – “complementarity” and “circularity” – seem to have caught the attention of experts, as legislators prepare to consider a new immigration reform bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill.
“Complementarity” refers to an immigrant workforce that fills niches and roles that complements rather than competes with what U.S.-born workers are offering. For immigration advocates, it’s a fancy way of saying that, even in economic hard times, immigrant workers perform jobs that Americans prefer not to do.
Another piece of specialist vocabulary, “circularity,” refers to the ability of immigrants to travel back and forth between nations. Former Mexican foreign minister and New York University professor Jorge Castañeda has centered his prominent critiques of U.S. immigration enforcement on how border crackdowns and raids have severely curtailed circular migration in the last two decades. The counterintuitive result, he maintains, is more Mexicans settling illegally north of the border.
Circularity is a contested concept. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that wants lower immigration levels, has written that the circularity argument is “so comically absurd it deserves a place in The Onion.”
Undocumented immigrants decide to stay in the United States for a variety of reasons, not just to avoid tougher border enforcement upon their return, he wrote.
But it’s the notion of complementarity that has become particularly important in the current socioeconomic context, which combines a fragile recovery and widespread unemployment (above 10 percent nationally, and over 14 percent in Michigan) with deep unease about where future jobs growth will come from.
Advocates of an immigration reform that would legalize undocumented workers and create more flexible pathways for entry into the United States for foreign workers cite complementarity as one reason why it makes sense to revamp immigration policy even with a weak economy.
“There is complementarity between the foreign born and native born workforce,” said Craig J. Regelbrugge, co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.
"Immigration reform and economic recovery go hand in hand," he added.
Regelbrugge used the word “complementarity” several times in a conference call with reporters earlier this week as he described the interdependence of U.S.-born and immigrant workers in agriculture. In fact, immigrant labor on farms creates thousands of jobs for U.S.-born agricultural workers, Regelbrugge said.
In Wisconsin, the prototype dairy state, immigrant laborers are some 40 percent of the dairy workforce and fill the “least desirable” roles such as night shift work, Regelbrugge said. He also cited the case of a Colorado dairy farm that had lost experienced hands after an immigration audit and had afterward seen calves’ mortality double.
But complementarity is hardly a settled issue. There is evidence that workers lacking a high school diploma do compete directly with immigrant laborers, and some economists dispute the overall notion of a mutually beneficial dovetailing of the native and immigrant workforces. On his blog last year, George Borjas, a Harvard University economist, said this about an oft-cited academic study supporting complementarity: “Things that seem too good to be true usually aren’t.”
However contested, both concepts will most likely help frame the debate set to swirl around the new immigration bill introduced by Rep. Gutierrez.
The proposed legislation, HR 4321, would allow undocumented immigrants, estimated at 12 million in number, to apply for legal status and it would also significantly expand legal work opportunities for foreign workers—agricultural laborers in particular.
Gutierrez’s bill gives a nod to those promoting circularity by opening the channels through which laborers can enter and exit the system. Whether that would be enough to significantly curtail the problem of illegal immigration will only be known if the bill, or something similar to it, is passed.
And the entire bill’s shot through with the concept of complementarity, transforming the immigration system into a funnel through which foreign workers are brought in to fill jobs in areas of the economy where they’re needed.
It gives significant concessions to the agricultural industry in the form of a broad agricultural worker program. To protect American workers it also establishes a commission to render decisions on which parts of the economy are in need of foreign labor to shore up the workforce, and which aren’t.
It creates a program called “American Worker Recruit and Match,” a kind of Internet jobs site where employers post job opportunities in fields that have traditionally relied on unauthorized labor and American workers can apply for jobs traditionally filled by undocumented immigrants.
Critics of the bill see it as an economically ruinous and misguided amnesty for those who choose to enter the country illegally and promise to fight it tooth and claw.
“The Democratic amnesty bill is almost like something I'd write as a parody,” wrote Krikorian.
Parody or not, it’s the opening shot in next year’s immigration debate, the “You Lie!” shout by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., during President Obama’s health care speech notwithstanding.
In any case, if the immigration debate captures the public’s attention next year, “circularity” and “complementarity” may very well be pieces of wonk speech that briefly enjoy their day in the sun.
Related Articles:
ICE’s Secret Holding Pens
Fearing New Law, Arizona Immigrants Forego Health Services
What is Driving Latin Americans’ Desire to Migrate>
Page
1 of 1
|
User Comments
nativessayno on Dec 31, 2009 at 11:29:52 said:
Mocking one's resentment over 25-30 million "new" arrivals? I recall you stating last year or in '07 that you were not a citizen...no matter.
If you disagree with someone call foul or denigrate their POV that always wins the argument...except when you are wrong.
Cite an example of reaching out.....hypocrisy?; far from it. Stay in your cocoon of self-righteous entitlement...that really makes for an engaged, enhanced debate.
nezua on Dec 31, 2009 at 07:19:59 said:
"nativessayno" have the courage to stand for what your cause without pretense and manipulation, the tools of a coward. Complaining that nobody "reaches out to you" is a joke and an insult on our intelligence. You are not here to be convinced or reach out for hands! Please. You are here, as you have been for the last year or so, to slam and smear the undocumented and fight immigrants and immigrant rights and progress. So have some balls and don't pretend.
Secondly, I am a citizen, born here in the USA so do your homework before you start whining about your poor widdle feelings of "resentment." But my critiques, or any critique, of hypocrisy by writers in this thread can stand on its own, and does not need a green card to possess validity, though I know you are wed to such ideas.
nativessayno on Dec 30, 2009 at 21:50:50 said:
Being called to task for having national pride by a non US citizen can only enlist resentments. The fact that Americans do take pride is why we earned our greatness thus far, that, and blood, sacrifice and colossal effort, etc.
15 million of the ones with "national pride" are unable to find a job when 18 million without permission or credentials and a profound lack of national pride (for the US) suck up jobs in the service sector,,,at cut-rate wages. Real fair competition...IN OUR VERY OWN JOB MARKET and during the worst recession in a generation!
Your beloved foreign nationals want it both ways; exercise their entrepreneurial spirit here on this turf, but...not at home? How convenient. I see no evidence of any pride in being here...except maybe a "new rich" pride. They want to benefit from us...but no one can criticize them or disapprove....or race race race, hate hate hate....yeah, that's it, whenever things don't go your way just spout that we are bad, mean, nortenos.
I love my country and always have; warts and all. I loathe anyone living here that judges us with petty, smarmy critiques and qualifies our spirit of opportunity, and patriotism without a shred of context or depth of understanding. Smallness of heart? Love the shallow self-centered feedback...makes me feel really reached out to and, coerced...hardly at all.
Selling this prize for $500.00 is a sick joke...to persons that would resell it if it could benefit them....Gutierrez' "ASAP", a real joke just like The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 fortified our borders and effectively curbed illegal immigration.
It really steams me when people (the elite, the press, foreign nationals, etc) show contempt for today's US citizen blue collar tradesmen...I consider we are actually indebted to them.
nezua on Dec 30, 2009 at 12:02:24 said:
So, Eddie Brown:
" for those who say, "they complement Citizen workers by doing the lowest jobs in these sectors" I ask, Are You implying that illegal workers lack the ability to... learn? Thereby move up the skill levels and over time compete in the more desireable jobs. I was once a day laborer too. It provided Me with a stepping stone into the construction industry. Without that stepping stone twenty years ago, I would have no career today."
You are essentially hoping that no immigrants who find their way here—even if fleeing life-threatening economic meltdown or seeking asylum from violence—find their way to a life-sustaining career such as you have?
Ah...feel the national pride. Smell that spirit of opportunity, liberty, and entrepreneurial spirit that is the clarion call of the USA's exceptionalist patriot marketing pitch! Worst of all, feel sympathy for the smallness of heart and starved spirit ensconced in so many anti-immigrant screeds...
Norski on Dec 30, 2009 at 07:32:19 said:
Let's talk farm labor for a moment. There are a quarter million people who do this back breaking job which, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, pays a median wage of $8.64 per hour. Meanwhile, in Construction Work, Laborers work equally hard and are comparably skilled earn median wages of between $11.23 per hour and $13.19 per hour. And the lowest skilled Loggers earn a median wage of $14.66 per hour. Even Parking Lot Attendants have higher wages than do Farm Laborers at $9.04 per hour.
This is a great example of the devastation that Illegal Immigration has wrought. And the sad part is that even if farm wages were to increase to the level of Laborers and Loggers, say to $13.50 per hour, since the cost of farm labor only makes up 7% of the cost of food, the result would be a mere 4.5% increase in food prices. This is not much more than what inflation hits us with every year.
I think Cesar Chavez said it best when in 1979 he testified to Congress “when the farm workers strike and their strike is successful, the employers go to Mexico and have unlimited, unrestricted use of illegal alien strikebreakers to break the strike. And, for over 30 years, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has looked the other way and assisted in the strikebreaking. I do not remember one single instance in 30 years where the Immigration service has removed strikebreakers. … The employers use professional smugglers to recruit and transport human contraband across the Mexican border for the specific act of strikebreaking”
When are the supporters of Illegal Immigration going to wise up? Complementarity is nothing more than a buzz word cover-up for exploitation by driving down wages pure and simple. And farm labor wages are a great example of the goal achieved.
Ali on Dec 30, 2009 at 05:29:06 said:
Mr. Gutierrez' claim that illegal aliens only do the jobs that Americans don't "want" to do is BULL. If illegal aliens "wanted" to work in the fields, there'd be no "shortage" of workers. After all, we have more than 20 million illegal aliens, roughly 8 million in the workforce, while there are only about 1 million agricultural jobs according to USDA. So, obviously, we have 7 million illegal aliens who don't want to work in agriculture and are in jobs such as construction where Americans DO WANT and ARE DOING the jobs--when they're not being displaced by illegal aliens who will work for less and not care about labor or OSHA laws.
nativessayno on Dec 29, 2009 at 20:30:23 said:
More wonk speech? What does that have to do with submitting a bill on behalf of countless persons that stole through our border; work with fraudulent documents;....take jobs that should go to citizens...and then expect parity with citizens for $500.00??! Buying American citizenship for the price of a mattress!! A sickening proposition that is appalling.
The poster Eddie deserves any trade job here....any foreign national that just squats on our territory has got to go...and NO job!
Complementarity & Circularity are meaningless terms, jazz it up all you want with some high-concept jargon or drivel. It does not change the factual issue or make 30 million foreign nationals "deserving".
Gutierrez is very focused on his Raza and leaves out considerations of all of the non-Raza.....how very non-complementarial of him! These two words fuel no debate except to charm the MSM that love red herrings and relish in sidestepping the meaning of these important issues.....the "people" know some words too. Here's one: No!
Brittanicus on Dec 29, 2009 at 18:32:53 said:
Now they are going to urge another travesty of COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM OR "AMNESTY." on the overtaxed American people. It almost defies any rational logic for these morons introducing immigration reform, when 15 million Americans are out scouting for a job. Due to neglect of decades of pandering politicians to non-enforcement of our undermanned, poorly constructed border fence or the 1986 immigration law. It is my decision to pas it along to all readers, otherwise it may not get the necessary publicity to show the disintegration of a society, culture and even our language.
These people must live in a bubble that think illegal immigrants do not have an impact on American citizens.
You have watched an economy tank, with outlandish reasoning, but no one is talking about the facts:
The main serious issue is irreversible Overpopulation:
It is imperative that we realize that if we keep on allowing the importation of foreign nationals on the scale that is happening today. The consequences as stated by the [United States Population Projections: 2000 to 2050 by Jennifer M. Ortman and Christine E. Guarneri of the Census Bureau]“… a greater number of migrants arriving in the United States will correspond to a larger increase in the size of the total population. Under the assumption of a high level of net international migration, the population is expected to grow to 458 million by 2050. … “ The the late U.S. Senator Teddy Kennedy, the United States added 100 million to its population via immigration. Before that time, we enjoyed 194 million in 1963. Today, we slog forward with 309 million on our way to 438 million in four decades, said Frosty Wooldridge, an acknowledged columnist. Poverty and hunger is rampant now in America, with shortages of drinking water and electricity outages are our dismal future, if we don't halt illegal immigration. For the record thousands of Vietnam warriors are homeless, veterans of other wars , fatherless Mothers with children and Senior citizens on low income, worrying about sharing their pitiful pensions with Bush's Social Security funds, that are on-hold for totalization with the corrupt government South of the border.
1. Emergency room closures
a) There was once a superb safety net for emergency healthcare to indigent Americans, that has dried up in many communities, because the hospitals could not afford to service them any longer, some would have us believe that illegal immigration had nothing to do with it, when hundreds and thousands of undocumented residents flooded the doors, and in many cases as a source of primary care.
b) American born women under the age of 50 are no longer offered mammograms because of the cost, even though it is factual that more women under the age of 50 are being detected with suspicious findings, but rather then taking illegal residents off the rolls of CDP and other grants to detection, they cut off Americans.
2. Welfare
The vast majority of illegal parents to citizen children, flock to another safety net dedicated to protecting Americans from physical and financial detriment, where billions of dollars flow in, and do not circulate in the US because many of the dollars are shipped to their native countries to support the poor people there. Huge numbers of illegal immigrants file tax returns using phony Social Security numbers to cash in on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, thanks to lax government management said Ed Rubenstein, a financial analyst and economist. "As a result, illegal aliens actually receive the EITC at even greater rates than legal immigrants,. The IRS makes little or no effort to verify the authenticity of Social Security numbers, or existence of Dependant children. This makes it possible for illegal immigrants to claim children still living in Mexico as dependents and for parents living illegally in the U.S. to file separate returns claiming the same children as dependents under the EITC. The EITC was created to boost work incentives for poor families with children. Childless households received a maximum $438 payment in 2008, while the maximum available to families with two or more children was $4,824. From a distance, the EITC looks like a winner,” he said. “The devil is in the details. For starters, the program is dominated by fraud. Illegal immigrant households are more than three times as likely to receive EITC than native-born American households." Rubenstein said
3. Education
American children that should be preparing for the global competitive market, are being held back educationally because primary education is now catering to bring children that are further behind up to speed. Class room overcrowding, results in the hiring of under staffed, under qualified teachers to manage a baby sitting sector rather than educating.
4. Housing
The media did not cover the facts that thousands of illegal immigrants owned homes that went into the red, and they were allowed to simply walk away, while Americans in the same situation had to undergo financial ruin, bankruptcy, and other unfortunate situation. Non profits and other organizations like NACA helped these people get in the door, and tax payers are footing the bill.
5. Infrastructure
With any degree of logic, any individual will understand, if you design a freeway, bridge, building, house, etc. designed to support a certain number of people, will accelerates structure corrosion, if you add more abundantly. Place your attention on the History International TV cable channel. Starting this week , they are showing "THE CRUMBLING OF AMERICA" .Our country is 12 trillion dollars in debt, because we support the rest of the world. Our nation is progressively turning into a third world ghetto and no longer a creditor nation.
6. Traffic
What used to take Americans a few minutes to get to and from work, has been doubled if not tripled which takes quality time from families, drives up cost of oil, and gasoline, because of the buy and demand nature of business, adds more pollution to the air, and reduces spending in local shops because of the time lost.
7. Crime
The cost of housing convicted non citizens would have paid for the border fence twice, added more border personnel on the northern and southern borders to boot. which would be an added protection considering America is a marked nation.
ID theft, is the number one violation, because it defrauds the federal government when non existent socials are in play, and drastically affects the quality of life for Americans that are victimized, because there is no legislation to protect American citizens from the consequences of the governments failure to protect them from collection agencies, dept collectors, credit card companies that did not have secure networks, and the social security administration that did not flag socials used twice or more times for employment, which pays more on the back end. Even I was--NOT --Immune to ID theft, as somebody in Dallas Texas was using my Social at a some kind of private investigative office. I contacted the SSA passing on these details, so they could clear up this mess.
8. Assimilation
Many illegal immigrants have no desire to assimilate with American culture, I mean look at Mr. Gutierrez, who fights harder for the rights non citizens then he does for his native constituents. Many fly non American flags, which is a basic slap in the face to Americans that would support reform otherwise.
9. English
Our elected officials have turned a deaf ear to Americans that are blatantly being discriminated against when companies policy hiring bilingual only employees, there are only too populations of citizens in America that are allowed this unfortunate bias, ex-cons, and non dual language speaking Americans.
10. Wages
How many reports do you need, before you realize many unscrupulous employers are using the illegal alien situation to drive down wages and benefits? How many small contractors have been undercut in bids for jobs, only to find that their competitor is using foreign labor?
To every elected officials that puts a greater onus on protecting the non legal rights of non citizens above the legal rights of Americans are in the wrong business, and should consider in the ethical reasoning of national security, populous representation, simply because it was the populous that sent you to office to represent their best interest, to step down, seek office in your hearts respective country, and allow individuals with the same passion you have for your people, to represent Americans with the same tenacity.
Thank you Mario for this fact sheet, along with my contributions. Tell everybody you know who condemns any possibility of forcing on the American people another AMNESTY, to call their ignorant lawmaker. The Capitol Switchboard's telephone number is 202-224-3121. REMEMBER TO SEND IN YOUR 28Cent POSTCARDS NOW! WE MUST DEFEAT THIS IMMIGRATION REFORM PACKAGE. Those who believe in America’s survival, without OVERPOPULATION as stated by the US Census bureau better read facts at NUMBERSUSA not the lies spawned by open border entities. Those who want details of corruption in WASHINGTON and state government go to JUDICIAL WATCH. Overpopulation, traffic chaos, infrastructure erosion should go to CAPSWEB.
Norski on Dec 29, 2009 at 11:24:24 said:
Let’s put this into its proper factual perspective. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Report of December 4, 2009:
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations = 12.1% Unemployment
Construction and extraction occupations = 20.2% Unemployment
Production occupations = 14.0% Unemployment
Transportation, material moving occupations = 11.7% Unemployment
Service occupations = 9.7% Unemployment
Total US Unemployed Citizens and Legal Residents = 15,375,000
The figures above exclude 6,011,000 Persons who want a job but are not included for various reasons.
Total Number of Americans Looking for Work = 21,386,000
Pew Study estimate of working Illegal Immigrants = 7,500,000
The majority work in agriculture, office and house cleaning, construction, and food preparation. Only in Agriculture where the H2A Temporary Worker Program is available but underused does the number of working Illegal Immigrants exceed the number of unemployed Americans.
Meanwhile Management, professional, and related occupations = 4.6% Unemployment
This data shows that complementarity is more myth than it is reality for every industry except maybe farm labor. But even in farm labor employers sometimes forgo using automation because illegal immigration has so badly depressed wages to the point where they make up only 7% of the total cost of food.
Eddie Brown on Dec 29, 2009 at 09:12:17 said:
I'm an American carpenter And find it comical that only the Agricultural sector seems to be brought up by the "reform" advocates. Not a peep about the fact that all the manual labor sectors (construction, culinary, hospitality,factories,ect.ect.) are becoming so saturated with illegal workers that few working class Citizens and legal immigrants can get their foot in the door to even be considered for a job. And for those who say, "they complement Citizen workers by doing the lowest jobs in these sectors" I ask, Are You implying that illegal workers lack the ability to... learn? Thereby move up the skill levels and over time compete in the more desireable jobs. I was once a day laborer too. It provided Me with a stepping stone into the construction industry. Without that stepping stone twenty years ago, I would have no career today.
Carl McGinnis on Dec 29, 2009 at 06:22:22 said:
I am a citizen of the United States and I have a friend that is from
-->Paris, France here on a student visa to finish his degree. Noureddine
Feddane has been here since 2005. His visa is valid until March of
2010, his passport is valid until 2014, and his I-20 is current. He is
not what people call an \\\\\\\'illegal immigrant.\\\\\\\' In 2008, he fell in love
and married a U.S. citizen that just happens to be addicted to
prescription medications. Noureddine knew nothing about this. But he
was arrested due to her mistakes.
He was placed in detention and scheduled for deportation. My friend
has been in detention center in Pompano Beach Florida for 5 months
now. This couple has lost all there savings on lawyers, she lost her
job, and they are in the process of losing their home. All this was
caused because ICE has the wrong person in jail.
I have written many letters to Janet Napolitano, Senator Bill Nelson,
Representative Ginny Brown-Waite and even President Obama. But no one
will listen. What is illegal in this case is the way DHS is treating
this guy, who is 51 and has never had a traffic violation. While in
detention center, they have abused him, denied him food and proper
medical treatment. Noureddine is diabetic and they will not give him
the proper food or medical attention. The phone system is very poor
and hardly works. I suspect that they plan it that way so the
detainees cannot contact their lawyers and family. I fear he will be
next on the long list of persons that have died while in detention.
Until you go to one of these detention centers and see with your own
eyes, you will not believe what America is doing. I was shocked, on my
first visit and after almost 6 months of seeing what happens and how
they have to live, I am still in shock. It is all about the money. My friend has never
cost America anything until they locked him up. He is in a private
prison owned by a company called GEO based near Miami, Florida. They are paid very well by our tax dollars,
but the treatment is unbelievable. I wonder how many politicians have
stock in this company. They are doing quite well even in a bad
economy.
Six months ago I had no idea that we treated immigrants in this way,
especially when they are here legally and have done nothing wrong. I
knew nothing about ICE and how they operate illegally. I was under
the impression that DHS was here only to protect us from terrorists.
And I had no idea of the millions of our tax dollars were being wasted
to imprison people that could be out of detention and have their
family support them until a decision is made in immigration court. I
do not understand why we have to pay our hard earned tax dollars to
house and feed persons that are not dangerous.
When they have to lock up a man who has done nothing wrong, make him
spend thousands in fees, ICE is giving way too much importance to
themselves. How can we turn such educated people away simply to boost
the ego of ICE officers and add another number to the Janet Napolitano
deportation list, so that the Obama Administration can look like it is
doing its job of \\\\\\\'cracking down on criminals?\\\\\\\'
Something has to change soon. I feel it is my duty as an American to
let as many people as possible know the truth. I visit the detention
center every Saturday and spend the rest of the week writing letters.
This Christmas, let’s do something worthwhile. Let’s go back to
protecting the country rather than making up stories to justify the
expansion of a national security complex. Let’s end businesses
profiting from immigrant detention and restore our image as a nation
of immigrants.