Yes, It’s “Amnesty”: In an editorial on immigration that reads like it was written by Mike Kinsley trying to satisfy a committee (maybe because it was) Bloomberg View makes two big admissions. Here’s #1:
Illegal labor supports the nation’s general prosperity while undermining wages in some low-skill trades. George Borjas, a Harvard University professor of economics, points out that if illegal immigrants reduce the market wage for a low-skilled, low-income earner by only 4 percent, the effect can be devastating …
Admission #2: Bloomberg concedes that the “pathway to citizenship” can honestly be called what it is, namely “amnesty” (which is what Ronald Reagan and other supporters called it until their 1986 reform gave us 11 million new illegals, prompting a hunt for a poll-tested euphemism):
We cede the point. With comprehensive reform, illegal immigrants would, in effect, be rewarded for having broken the law and outlasted the political opposition.
It will be good to hear N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg incorporate these nuanced suggestions from his own pet editorialists into his next immigration harangue. Something like:
While the so-called “pathway to citizenship” advocated in the past was an amnesty that could have a devastating effect on unskilled American workers, here are some limited steps to allow American companies to hire the high-skilled workers they need …
Not sure the pro-“pathway” coalition could hande that much truth …