A conservative immigration expert is warning how the recent increase in immigration to the U.S. could significantly affect job opportunities for Black Americans.
Roy Beck, founder of NumbersUSA, an organization advocating for reduced immigration levels, presents arguments against immigration that align with the Census Bureau’s recent findings on the significant gains made by foreign workers in the job market. Data from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that native-born Americans lost over 1.3 million jobs in the past year. In comparison, foreign-born workers gained more than 1.2 million jobs.
Beck’s latest book, Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, chronicles the historical impact of government-induced migration, emphasizing how it has disproportionately affected the job prospects of Black Americans. His argument references research from historians who have observed declines in income for Black individuals during periods of increased immigration.
“Economic historians say that every time that immigration has gone to a high percentage, the incomes of Black males have gone down and that income and that income disparity, racial disparity increases,” Beck tells Fox News.
“Every time you reduce immigration, the livelihoods of Black families and Black men increase.”
As of August, the unemployment rate is 4% for adult men and 3.7% for adult women. For white Americans, the rate is 3.8%, while Black Americans face a higher rate of 6.1%. Beck contends that although foreign workers can generate job opportunities, certain positions filled by them would typically be available to Americans of all races. However, he notes how racial discrimination often results in Black Americans being the last to be hired.
“There is still racial discrimination that happens among many employers and there’s a tendency that the last people recruited are the descendants of American slavery,” he said.
“And so African Americans, the descendants of American slavery, have always done best — all Americans have done best — but they’ve really done best in tight labor markets. And immigration is not the only thing that dictates loose and tight labor market, but it’s something you can control.”
When it comes to the limited response from Black civil rights leaders on this issue, Beck notes that while prominent national figures have remained silent, some local leaders are beginning to raise their voices more prominently.
“What you have is more and more Black leaders in the communities, places like Chicago and Philadelphia and Houston, more and more, you’re seeing local Black leaders who have their ear on the ground, their eyes on the ground, who are speaking out more and more.”
He also calls out political and national leaders for remaining silent due to “political alliances.”
“The tragic thing is that part of it seems to be that the Black leaders feel like they have to make an alliance with Hispanic political leaders,” Beck said. “But the fact is that polls show that a majority of Hispanic Americans don’t want this high immigration either.”
As of August, there were 129,712,000 native-born workers, a decrease from 131,031,000 in August 2023, indicating a significant loss of 1,319,000 jobs. In contrast, the number of foreign-born workers
in the U.S. reached 31,636,000 last month, up from 30,396,000 in August 2023, reflecting an increase of 1,240,000 jobs.“The government can control how many foreign workers it brings in,” Beck said. “But over the last three and a half years, there’s been virtually no control at all. I mean, we’ve never seen numbers, anything like the new foreign workers that have come over the last three and a half years.”