Don’t let a hashtag excuse us from redressing decades of harm to American citizens.

During the Presidential debate there were questions that led to fiery rhetoric, mud slinging, and policy speeches. However, the quote that caught most people’s attention was Donald Trump's comment about Black jobs.

The question first went to Biden and they asked Trump to respond as well: “What do you say to black voters who are disappointed with the progress so far?”

Trump responded: “He caused inflation. As sure as you’re sitting there, the fact is that his big kill on the black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border. They’re taking black jobs now and it could be 18. It could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”

National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)

Trump repeated his talking point during his contentious appearance with the NABJ: "These people are coming into our country and they're taking Black jobs and Hispanic jobs, and frankly, they're taking union jobs. Unions have been very badly affected by all of the millions of people coming in from Mexico," Trump said.

“What is a ‘Black job’?” distracts from “What is the impact of immigration on the Black community?”

Many of you have heard the uproar from the media world when Trump made these comments. Immediately after his meeting with the NABJ they started questioning what is a “Black Job?” CNN went as far to say that it was an “unsubstantiated claim that immigrants are taking Black jobs.” The context of his comment was about how mass immigration is affecting the Black community but the media keyed in on his use of the phrase “Black jobs”. People have been having a field day and they have created a distraction from our border crisis. TikTokers, journalists, and even olympic athletes have been making comments about “Black Jobs.”

What about the rest of what Trump said?

Trump also stated that the large flow of illegal and legal immigrants are also taking “Hispanic jobs.” No one asked what a Hispanic job was? Isvett Verde stated “Latinos, like all Americans, are motivated by the issues that affect them directly…jobs and the economy.” It’s a fact that less-educated immigration has greater displacement impacts for in-school youth and for native-born black and Hispanic males.

I welcome the “Black jobs” controversy if it draws attention to the serious fact that our immigration policies are out of control. Trump referred to Black Americans and Hispanic Americans as being vulnerable to waves of immigrants competing for similar low-skills labor jobs. Barbara Jordan defined the vulnerable populations as, “Inner city youth, racial and ethnic minorities, and recent immigrants who have not yet adjusted to life in the U.S.” Yes, recent immigrants are most likely to experience negative wage effects of new immigration, as they are often the closest substitutes in the labor force. This has been known at least since Barbara Jordan’s time, but our media class has been indifferent.

Do you know who is not indifferent? Ja’Mal Green from Chicago is saying elected officials should not ignore the high unemployment rate of Americans while they continue to support mass immigration policies that only help illegal immigrants.

Since the Jordan Commission, too many policymakers have defended a system that imports millions of predominantly low-skilled immigrants, both legal and illegal, who depress wages for Black Americans.

Is the concept of immigrants competing with Black Americans or “Black Jobs” a new concept?

Absolutely not! A. Phillip Randolph, Fredderick Douglas, Barbara Jordan, Sir Angus Deaton,and David Leonhardt have all discussed the effects of mass immigration on the Black community. Sir Angus Deaton stated:

“I used to subscribe to the near consensus among economists that immigration to the US was a good thing, with great benefits to the migrants and little or no cost to domestic low-skilled workers. I no longer think so.”

Barbara Jordan, Frederick Douglas, and A. Phillip Randolph stated that mass immigration was not in the best interest of Americans. None of them use the term “Black jobs,” however you can see that immigrants competing for jobs with Americans is not a new concept.

Refocusing the Narrative

The Daily Caller interviewed and asked me to define “Black jobs.” I refused to forge a definition because the entire “Black jobs” pandemonium is just a distraction from the fundamental issues. I think E.J. Antoni, from the Heritage Foundation summed it up best:

“When President Trump says illegals are taking away black jobs, I don’t see any [other] way to interpret that than they are competing with black Americans who have those jobs. And because of the increased competition, they are losing those jobs. A disproportionate amount of black people have unskilled jobs, it has nothing to do with skin color.”

When I was asked about defining “Black jobs,” I clapped back with facts.

NumbersUSA and the Hiring Line team started a “These Black Jobs Campaign” on Twitter and I began engaging with people in comment sections.

#BlackJobs controversy is an opportunity for real talk

Donald Trump is not the public speaker that Jordan or Douglass were. But in his own way, Trump is raising a similar point: mass immigration harms vulnerable Americans, particularly less-educated Black and Hispanic Americans. For decades, politicians have been at best indifferent to this point. When was the last time a general election candidate for president made this a central part of their campaign? Let’s not let a hashtag excuse us from redressing decades of harm to American citizens.

It is important that we move past partisan politics and start focusing on policies. NumbersUSA does not support a particular candidate and will continue to push Congress to create sensible immigration policies. However, we do want to ensure that people have the facts and that people don’t get sidetracked with terms that have no effect on how we move forward as a country.

Better immigration is possible. Visit your action board.

If you want to contribute to the discussion or open a conversation, please feel free to use our FactSheets:

https://www.numbersusa.com/initiatives/hiring-line/#factsheets_latest_1

Fight ignorance with facts and steer the conversation back to the policies.