Cost of Illegal Immigration May Be Less Than Meets the Eye – New York Times

But before concluding that immigrants are undercutting the wages of the least fortunate Americans, perhaps one should consider Ohio. Unlike California, Ohio remains mostly free of illegal immigrants. And what happened to the wages of Ohio’s high school dropouts from 1980 to 2004? They fell 31 percent.

This would have been interesting to know yesterday when we were sitting around the family dinner table debating the immigration issue at my husband David’s parents’ house.

If you’re an American high-school dropout, you’ve got a whole lot more problems besides competing with illegals for a job at the Burger Shack. Why are you dropping out? Drugs? Family problems? Expelled for getting into trouble? Gang involvement? Abuse at home?? Untreated ADD or learning disabilities??