NEW YORK—Almost exactly 230 years and a block away from when and where the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg testified about immigration reform before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday.
"Among those who signed the Declaration of Independence were nine immigrants, and at every other crucial stage in American history—from ratification of the Constitution to the Civil War to the Industrial Revolution to the computer age—immigrants have propelled America to greatness," said Bloomberg.
Bloomberg outlined a plan for clamping down on the borders and employers who hirer illegal immigrants, while at the same time giving illegal immigrants opportunities for legal employment and providing for work visas for people who want to legally enter the country.
Nearly 40 percent of New York City's entire population is made up of immigrants and about 500,000 came to the city illegally.
"Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders or overstaying their visas, and our businesses broke the law by employing them, our city's economy would be a shell of itself had they not," said Bloomberg.
Those who want to take a tougher stand on illegal immigrants living in the United States, often argue that immigrants take jobs away from native-born Americans and significantly depress wages. However, Bloomberg disagrees.
"In most cases, those here illegally are filling low-wage, low-skill jobs that Americans do not want," he said. "…Moreover, the total economic effect of any slight wage decline produced by immigration is more than offset by substantial increases in productivity."
Bloomberg wants to create a bio-metric employment card containing unique information like fingerprints or DNA. Every current job holder or applicant would be required to obtain a card, and every business would be required to check its validity against the Federal database, according to his plan.
"In theory, we already have such a card—it's called your Social Security card. But being a government product, naturally, its technology is way behind the times," said Bloomberg, who says both fake a Social Security Card and Green Card can be obtained for 50$.
Bloomberg also railed against any notion of mass deportations, favored by some of his fellow Republicans in Congress.
"The idea of deporting these 11 or 12 million people—about as many as live in the entire state of Pennsylvania—is pure fantasy," said Bloomberg.
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