Photo:Schroedingers cat film copenhagen.svg; Author:Christian Schirm; CC0 1.0 Universal
In the ongoing debate over the merits and detriments of immigration, some liberals on X (formerly Twitter), made some interesting observations. Namely, they observed that conservatives lament that illegal migrants both collect welfare and steal American jobs. These two things seem like total opposites. If they are working, how could they be taking welfare? The liberals dubbed this “Schrodinger’s Immigrant” conundrum after the famous quantum physics thought experiment “Schrodinger’s Cat.” Their point is – you cannot have it both ways.
But these pro-immigrant leftists misunderstand. Their analogy is not as perfect as they think it is. And the reality of illegal immigration is that many illegals do, in fact, both steal American jobs and collect welfare checks. They benefit from other social services as well. These two things go hand-in-hand.
When illegal migrants come into the country, they will often get under-the-table jobs with employers looking to score some cheap labor. They are often paid with cash, tax-free, at a lower rate than a heritage American worker. This gives them a competitive edge over other Americans. In addition, the under-the-table nature of their employment means that the government thinks that they are unemployed and is, therefore, giving them bountiful social service benefits. The illegal immigrant is also happy to work at a lower wage as he simultaneously receives welfare benefits.
The liberals on X have it wrong. They think that the government operates exactly as it says it does and can never be defrauded. They have a religious level of faith in the system, and this is an emblematic example of that faith. But reality always comes back, no matter how much the left wants to wish it away. Illegal immigrants truly do put an undue burden on our welfare system, and they also take away jobs from heritage Americans by competing unfairly.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/uncategorized/schrodingers-illegal-immigrant/
