3 reasons why I don’t believe West Michigan Business leaders when they say that immigrants are good for the economy

A few weeks back, the now monopoly business publication, Crain’s Grand Rapids, post a story with the headline, West Michigan business leaders refocus on immigration to fill talent gap, boost population. 

The article begins by stating, “A new collaboration between the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Grand Valley State University and Global Detroit will push policy makers and the business community to embrace immigration as a way to meet talent needs in West Michigan.”

The Crain’s article then goes on to say that one of the first things these business leaders want to do is to gather more data to demonstrate how immigrants benefit the economy. You may remember that in 2018, there was a report on how immigrants benefit the economy. GRIID wrote about that report and made the point that it isn’t so much about immigrants benefiting the economy, instead the issue is who benefits economically from immigrant labor.

Interestingly enough, the President of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce was quoted as saying, “The Grand Rapids Chamber urges our congressional leaders to fix our broken immigration system to support our growing economy. There is no excuse for delay. While we wait for federal action, we look to drive our strategies forward.”

Such a comment from the President of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is worth looking at, especially through a critical lens. So here are 3 reasons why I don’t believe that the GR Chamber nor West Michigan Business leaders are committed to immigrant justice or immigration policy that would truly benefit immigrants.

First, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and West Michigan Business leaders have a long track record of primarily endorsing and providing campaign contributions to GOP candidates at all levels of government. The Republican Party has rejected any and all aspects of Immigration Reform over the past several decades, even the mildest of immigration reforms. Not that the Democratic Party embraces any sort of immigration justice, but there have been several attempts since the Obama years to adopt some sort of Immigration Reform policies. (See the book, All-American Nativism: How the Bipartisan War on Immigrants Explains Politics as We Know It, by Daniel Denvir.)

Second, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), along with other such trade policies, have undermined workers and displaced small farmers in countries like Mexico, which has led to massive numbers of immigrants coming to the US. These trade policies have been fully endorsed by the US Chamber of Commerce and the regional ones, like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. I remember attending an event at San Chez in 1995, which was co-sponsored by the GR Chamber, and was all about how businesses can market their products in Mexico after NAFTA had been adopted in 1994. The GR Chamber spokesperson even wore a fucking sombrero during his welcoming remarks to the event attendees. 

Third, the GR Chamber of Commerce and many West Michigan businesses love immigrant workers, primarily because they are willing to work for low wages. There are literally tens of thousands of migrant workers (mostly of whom are immigrants) in West Michigan that make very little money for doing physically demanding work. Then there are all thousands more in West Michigan that work in the service sector – fast food industry, restaurants, janitorial, construction and hotel workers – all of which make low salaries. If the GR Chamber of Commerce and West Michigan Business leaders wanted to truly celebrate immigrant workers, they would pay people a living wage and be an outspoken advocate for people to earn no less than $20 an hour, regardless of the kind of work they do.

While the President of the GR Chamber of Commerce and the other West Michigan Business leaders talk a good game about US immigration policy, the need to fill the talent pool gap, and how much immigrants benefit the economy, what they really mean is that they are the ones who benefit from immigrant laborers in the current neoliberal capitalist economy.