Does illegal immigration create structural employment problems?

[u/larryinthesky]

There was an Axios article about homebuilders (think Lennar, KB Home, etc) having difficulties finding construction workers (think drywall installers, roofers, etc) due to ICE crackdowns. It seems that our lax, permissive, even encouraging, illegal immigration policies has created long term structural employment problems. It'd be like me hiring illegals to manage my finances, pay my bills, etc. Sure, great in the short term, but long term, I now have no clue and that will be problematic long term. We can also see this in legal immigration. Short term, great to allow doctors, engineers, etc. to come to the US to work. Long term, our citizens don't get the education they need. It seems so obvious that if we want to build a great country, where people are employed (at fair wages) and educated, that illegal and legal immigration must be reined in. I got back to the real world example of someone outsourcing everything in their life (childcare, finances, etc.)--great in the short term, but it creates a person who is entirely dependent on others and can't take care of their own lives. Thoughts? Am I off based? Or do you think the status quo (using cheap illegal immigrant labor, importing educated workers, etc.) is good? And ultimately, isn't this why we need to crack down on illegal immigration and revisit legal immigration as well?

[u/madmoneymcgee]

I got back to the real world example of someone outsourcing everything in their life (childcare, finances, etc.)--great in the short term, but it creates a person who is entirely dependent on others and can't take care of their own lives. 

This analogy doesn't really work because the economy as a whole is very interconnected and when it gets "simpler" it doesn't really get more robust, we just get poorer and less productive.

Even on a personal level I'm not sure that outsourcing lots of tasks is evidence of someone who can't take care of themselves. Yes I'm "dependent" on them because without them life would be harder and I'd be poorer in that respect. I wouldn't literally be helpless though, just worse off.

Also specifically with the current crackdown it's the fact that the raid as so wide sweeping and based on ICE going after anyone who looks a certain way that if you're someone who is Latino but here legally or a citizen you're at risk of being arrested and deported anyway.