Hello and welcome to another Institute for Sound Public Policy podcast. I’m the executive Director Kevin Lynn. In this series, we offer our short take on daily stories impacting working Americans. Our story deals with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, leading 40 cities and calling on the Biden administration to grant work permits, not just to illegal newcomers, but also to longtime illegal immigrants. Mayor Johnson stated that we "urge the federal government to use every tool at its disposal to support undocumented residents and new arrivals by giving people the ability to work, support their families, and contribute to our communities". Mayors of cities such as New York City, Boston, and Denver signed onto the letter along with leaders from Northern Illinois, including Chicago, Rockford, and Evanston.
The policy proposal would legalize at a minimum 500,000 illegals to the Chicago labor market. Our take, Brandon Johnson’s policy proposal effectively subsidizes the bad business practices of Chicago employers, while also taking job opportunities and depressing the wages of working Chicagoans in his city. Employers are the main beneficiaries of this cheap labor policy scheme. No wonder 300 big businesses from the American Business Immigration Coalition signed onto this policy idea. Small and medium sized businesses are also pushing for worker legalization with some employers casually admitting to illegal hiring to build their case. Chicago restaurateur, Sam Sanchez said to the New York Times that it was unfair that the Biden administration was giving work permits to only recent Venezuelan aliens disclosing that he wants the "people without valid work documents,". He hired also to get legal working status. What he should be getting from the Biden administration if they were serious about immigration is a visit from the immigration and customs enforcement arm.
While business owners get cheap labor, American workers in Chicago will be the ones who pay for this policy. As if President Biden’s inflationary spending has not already hurt Chicago citizens pocketbooks legalizing hundreds of thousands of workers at once, will increase job competition and drive down any remaining wage gains from the last few years. Currently, Chicago has not grown jobs in the last year staying flat at 4.7 million jobs. Meanwhile, white collar professional workers have declined by 35,000 as many companies have moved their headquarters out of the city. For the service sector jobs, remaining employers are barely paying workers above the $15 minimum wage. In 2023, the median food prep staffer or cook working in a restaurant made $16 an hour. Personal care and service workers, such as hotel attendant made 17 an hour. Workforce legalization will remove any remaining legal barrier, protecting working class Chicago citizens from directly competing with longtime illegals, recent illegal border crossers, and soon to arrive Lawbreakers.
While making sure these jobs stay at those wages. While Mayor Johnson is welcoming aliens, he is also economically hurting and failing the longtime black Chicago residents who voted for him. The issue that should be at the top of the mayor’s list is addressing black unemployment as Cook County has neighborhoods with some of the highest sustained unemployment in the nation. According to the U.S. Census, black unemployment for 16 to 24 year olds in the county was 35% between 2018 and 2022. Instead of working to provide good jobs for black Chicago citizens, he is working to drive black unemployment even higher and make the lives of black Chicagoans even harder. President Biden, if he signs on, should not be surprised if black Chicago voters do not turn out when his administration is driving up costs with inflationary spending, while lowering their wages and job opportunities through mass immigration. Thank you for tuning in and if you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to hit the thumbs up or like button as they inform the algorithm that there is an audience for this kind of content. If you have not already done so, either subscribe or follow us. That way you’ll receive notifications each time we upload a new podcast. Take care and see you in the next podcast.
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16980.htm
https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/news-release/areaemployment_chicago.htm
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