This Issue: Job market cooling? If so, will Biden change course on the border?
Fri,
Apr. 7th
The latest job numbers show a hiring slowdown across the country. Will it change the Biden Administration's approach on immigration policy, or will the administration continue to release tens of thousands of illegal border crossers each month into the interior of the country with work permits?
According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 236,000 jobs in March, down from 326,000 in February. While still a positive number of new jobs, hirings have been trending downward since the Federal Reserve began increasing interest rates last summer. It's also the lowest number of new jobs added in a single month since Pres. Biden took over the White House.
Today's jobs report contained more grim news. The increase in hourly wages was down in March compared to February, and the average number of hours worked also declined. And leisure and hospitality accounted for nearly one-third of all new jobs last month -- an industry where American workers face high competition from low-skilled foreign labor.
For months, we've heard business leaders call on Congress to increase legal immigration due to alleged worker shortages. The Biden Administration has done its part to satisfy the employers' hunger by implementing policies that continue to encourage more than a hundred thousand illegal border crossings each month and another 25,000-50,0000 illegal aliens who attempt to enter through ports of entry.
The Biden Administration is ramping up its abuse of "parole" authority to bring 30,000 would-be illegal border crossers directly into the United States each month with a work permit in hand. This allows the aliens to remain in the United States for at least two years and legally obtain a job, while letting the administration reduce the appearance of illegal immigration across the border.
But with the job market "cooling" (as the Wall Street Journal describes it), the Biden Administration could use it as the catalyst to shift its approach to the ongoing border crisis. In recent weeks, we've seen a number of news reports suggesting that the Biden Administration is considering some of the approaches used by the Trump Administration to discourage illegal border crossings. But testimony from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week suggested otherwise.
Still, it'll be interesting to see how, if at all, the Biden Administration responds to the border crisis if the job market continues to cool and as the House of Representatives begins to address the crisis.
The House is in the middle of a two-week recess, but plans to begin work on a legislative package that could contain 8 or more bills to address the border crisis when it returns during the week of April 17.
We expect the legislative package to deal with the aforementioned administration's abuse of parole, asylum fraud, catch-and-release, E-Verify, and more. We’ll provide updates as soon as the House Judiciary Committee confirms which bills will be included in the package.
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