Putting a Face on the Immigration Debate

Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal includes an article (subscriber link) on one aspect of the immigration debate.

Remember how I and others have pointed out that one of the reasons there is an illegal immigration problem is a demand for labor that doesn’t seem to be able to be met through conventional labor sources? Here’s an example:

Immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, make up a disproportionate share of those who care for the elderly — and the need for such workers is set to explode in the coming years. The Department of Health and Human Services predicts that the elder-care work force, 1.9 million in 2000, must reach 2.7 million by 2010 and five million by 2050 to meet the impending rise in demand. Meanwhile, the pool of 25-to-50-year-old American-born women that has been a prime source for elder-care jobs is also shrinking.

Where will the extra helpers come from?

Operators of nursing homes and home-care agencies say part of the answer lies abroad. The American Health Care Association, which represents for-profit nursing homes, and the National Association for Home Care both joined an industry coalition to lobby Congress for a new visa that they hoped would annually admit 400,000 low-skilled workers — the grist of the home-care field — which would be equal to the number that now arrive illegally. In May, when the Senate passed a bill aimed at granting legal status to millions of immigrants already here, it cut the proposed number of low-skill visas to 200,000. The House had earlier backed punishment for illegal immigration, with no new visas at all.

Gotta love the foresight of our congresscritters.