Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Begins; American Unemployed Out of Luck

President Obama’s outrageous executive order that will grant prosecutorial discretion and work permits to about 2 million (or more) previously unemployable illegal aliens will devastate hiring conditions and have an acute negative impact across all demographic  sectors—young, old, Hispanic, Black, Asian and white.

But a recent story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, my local newspaper, reminded me that there’s another sector struggling to find gainful employment that may be the most adversely affected of all—the disabled who will go toe-to-toe with newly work authorized illegal immigrants to secure service and hospitality jobs. [Allegheny County Urged to Create Jobs Office for Disabled, by Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 4, 2012]

According to the report, businesses, academic and advocacy organizations have urged Allegheny County (PA.) to open an office that will specialize in assisting developmentally disabled citizens to find jobs and to develop:

“…an action plan to ensure that all individuals, including those living with disabilities, could engage fully in the broad spectrum of county services 365 days of the year.”

The official stat for disabled unemployment is about 13.5 percent. But certainly it’s much higher since many disabled stopped looking for jobs years ago and are therefore not included in the monthly federal employment tally.

Simply stated, those who lobby for the disabled should spent equal time calling for an immigration moratorium. Here’s why. The government issues 75,000 green cards that include work authorization each month to legal immigrants. President Obama’s “childhood arrivals” policy means that 2 million previously unemployable (because of their immigration status) aliens will enter the labor pool. Add 900,000 per annum legal work-authorized immigrants to 2 million childhood arrivals currently being processed will yield a total of 2.9 million jobs that have to be created just to just to stay even with immigration. Based on the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs data, eighteen months would be required to match immigration levels.

As for disabled Americans, they could and would easily do many of the jobs immigrants eventually take. Those who truly advocate for the disabled should add patriotic immigration reform to their agenda.