Huge Immigration Bill Would Destroy King’s Dream For Blacks And Hispanics

The Congressional Black Caucus doesn’t share Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for African-Americans. Fifty-one years ago, King outlined his hopes: that black as well and white men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. King despaired that blacks were exiled in their own American land and too often denied advancement opportunities.

The CBC has a different objective that would be extremely disappointing to Dr. King.. One of the most powerful congressional caucuses has thrown its imposing weight behind comprehensive immigration reform [amnesty for illegal aliens], legislation that would expand the labor pool and thereby hurt unemployed black and Hispanic Americans more than any other demographic...

America’s leaders have lost sight of King’s dream. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of African-Americans are unemployed or underemployed; 17 percent of Hispanic-Americans can’t find work. Americans of all races haven’t seen a real wage increase in 40 years.

King would see such widespread unemployment as a travesty of justice. As King said in one of his last sermons, “If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.”...

The immigration bill Congress is considering would authorize 11 million [to 40 million] illegal [alien] immigrants to work and add more than another 20 million work-authorized legal immigrants within the first decade. King would take a dim view of the congressional push for more immigration. Because King understood that the greatest social injustice is not having a job, he would urge Congress to promote less immigration which would tighten labor markets and, for black and Hispanic Americans, in particular, create higher wages.