Foreign worker visa programs replacing Americans makes a glorious return to the "paper of record."

Because you are likely well aware of the (deserved) nosedive in trust in media in recent years, you may wonder why we even do these media roundup alerts. That's a fair question. The answer is that good reporting still happens... it just takes a lot of effort to pluck out of the tsunami of narrative-tyranized dross. That's why we try to do it for you.

Even some of the most important stories have flaws. But we feel like that shouldn't (and doesn't) take away from their usefulness. Our top item is a great example of this:

Immigration reporter Miriam Jordan at The New York Times showed up with a story about Black lifelong farmworkers being replaced by foreign guestworkers through the H-2A visa program after having to train them.

In the Mississippi Delta, a region of high unemployment and entrenched poverty, the labor mobility that is widening the pool of fieldworkers is having a devastating effect on local workers who are often ill-equipped to compete with the new hires, frequently younger and willing to work longer hours.

The new competition is upending what for many has been a way of life in the rich farmlands of Mississippi. "It's like being robbed of your heritage," Mr. Strong said.

If this sounds familiar to you, it might be because you remember BuzzFeed publishing two crushing pieces on H-2 visas titled "The New American Slavery: Invited To The U.S., Foreign Workers Find A Nightmare" and "All You Americans Are Fired." in 2015.

It's hard to overstate how important it is that The New York Times acknowledges how visa programs like these work in the real world that U.S. voters live and earn their livelihoods in... especially since polls show that some portion of Democratic voters have hardened their support of higher immigration levels, presumably as a backlash to Trump. In fact, just before the BuzzFeed reporting came out in 2015, The New York Times published an expose on the H-1B visa being used to replace Disney IT workers that created seismic waves on the topic. This story continues to undercut corporate lobbyists that work hard every day to increase H-1B visas.

Just a couple days after the NYT story on Black workers being replaced by foreign workers, pundit and "anti-racism trainer" Pamela Denise Long put some additional cracks in the generally well-enforced narrative by mentioning the harmful effects of immigration on Blacks in her Newsweek opinion piece "It's Time for Black America to break up with the Democratic Party":

The truth is, white liberals have for the last 30 years used Black American civil rights wins to advance their own agendas... They have prioritized immigrants and those they presume are legitimate refugees at our expense, distributing redress and now possibly even Reparations to those who knowingly broke U.S. immigration laws.

Since we're on this topic, I hope you'll take a look at Roy Beck's new book "Back of the Hiring Line," that details the disastrous consequences of high immigration levels on Black workers over the course of U.S. history. Every wave of high immigration numbers has smothered past reasons for hope, but conversely also proposes a pathway for a new hope.

One more bonus item from NumbersUSA, while we are on the topic of guestworker visas: Igloo Corp. Discriminated Against American Workers In Favor of H-2B Visas. Unfortunately, we were the only ones to cover this development, but you can read more from the Department of Justice release.

Situation at the Southern Border Continues

Meanwhile, the ongoing situation at the southern border continued in October with nearly 160,000 apprehensions - the highest number for any October in two decades. While this is a slight downtick from the 200,000 per month crossing over the summer, 2021 will go down as one of the busiest in history with more than 1.7 million migrants detained along the Mexico border during the fiscal year that ended in September. Keep in mind these numbers do not include huge numbers of crossers who succeeded in making an illegal entry without being detected.

As the year has progressed, more and more Americans are registering their disapproval of how the Biden administration has been handling immigration policy and the southern border crisis (which he created). 73% think the current surge in illegal aliens at the border is a crisis that needs to be addressed immediately.

"This is the worst border security crisis we have ever had," writes former counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration Nolan Rappaport, "and it is likely to get even worse unless Biden reverses his immigration policies and starts enforcing our immigration laws."

Wayback Wednesday:

"The IRCA led to more unauthorized immigration, deepened political divide."

Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, who wrote and co-sponsored the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) law that gave amnesty to 2.7 million people back in 1986, has been very vocal as of late saying that he "wishes today's immigration reformers would repair IRCA's flaws and enforcement before repeating its mistakes," according to interviewer Jim Hight.

(This column is an example of a very flawed piece that we don't agree with, but nonetheless includes crucial truths that must be acknowledged on the way to a bigger policy debate.)

Other Recommended Reads:

"If the reconciliation bill is passed, we now estimate illegal immigrants whose children are also illegally in the country will receive $2.3 billion from the new CTC, for a total of $10.5 billion in cash payments to illegal immigrant parents. This includes illegal migrants here in 2020 and those stopped and then released into the country in 2021." Steve Camarota, Real Clear Politics

"{If the Build Back Better bill becomes law}, let's conservatively assume that between amnesty and increased legal immigration, the total immigration jumps to 3 million per year. If that continues for 10 years, we'd go from today's 330 million U.S. residents to 361 million people in just 10 years; in 20 years to 396 million, and in 30 years to 433 million - an increase of 100 million in just 30 years! ...Mass migration is making life more difficult - and expensive - for working-class citizens. Just like everyone else, migrants need a roof over their heads - so they compete against low-income Americans for our scarce supply of rental housing. Nationally, the median rent has surged over 16 percent since January, in part because of competition from new arrivals... Poll after poll shows that amnesty is unpopular - as we all see right before our very eyes that such an unsustainable flood of migrants is worsening the quality of life for all. The only question is whether our leaders will grow backbones before it's too late." Mark Thies, The Hill

We will continue to bring you the latest in immigration journalism next week, and we appreciate your efforts to stay informed and share important, high-quality information that helps the public hold firm against bad immigration reforms while holding accountable those who undermine credible enforcement.

Sharing good content makes a difference in people's opinions and their perspective about the importance of an issue like immigration. Thanks for all that you do to help in this regard!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU AND YOURS!