Newswise — Lichter is co-author of "How the Other Half Works: Immigration and the Social Organization of Labor." He studies the effects of immigration on the job market, and has taken a close look at illegal immigrants in the hotel industry on the West Coast, in particular. He also studies efforts to unionize immigrants.
According to Lichter, the current immigration policy is "making liars out of millions of people," including employers, because there clearly is a market for the work performed by illegal immigrants. Employers want reform, Lichter says, and research shows that illegal immigrants are not taking jobs from U.S. citizens.
"The United States cannot morally or practically treat itself like a gated community, sealing itself off from the poverty and suffering of its neighbors while simultaneously profiting from the labors of those neighbors," Lichter says. "The United States has deep economic linkages with Mexico-- our second biggest trade partner -- and with other sources of undocumented immigration like the Dominican Republic. Allowing people from those countries to immigrate to the U.S., at least temporarily, can help the source countries develop economically so that they no longer need to send people abroad, as happened with European countries after WWII, and as happened with Korea more recently."
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