President Barack Obama’s deputies have proudly announced they’re tag-teaming with the government of Mexico to help foreign nationals get U.S. jobs sought by Americans.
The Justice Department said it is partnering with Mexico’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs to “protect workers from discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and national origin” when seeking jobs in the United States, according to the Sept. 1 announcement.
The deal comes as Donald Trump is offering an immigration reform that would help Americans — not imported workers — get U.S. jobs. In Tampa, Florida, for example, Trump declared on Aug. 24 that;
We are going to protect your jobs because your jobs are not being protected. Hillary Clinton wants to have a totally open border where people can just pour in and take your jobs and lots of other things happen. We are going to enforce our laws. Remove people who overstay their visas, dismantle the gangs and cartels and protect jobs and benefits for hard-working American citizens — and many of them are African-American, by the way, and many of them are Hispanic. We are going to protect your jobs. That includes protecting the jobs and wages of the Hispanic citizen, and living right here in Florida.
Companies are not allowed to prefer citizens over green card holders when awarding jobs. But multiple companies have been penalized by Obama’s deputies and by state governments for trying to exclude illegal workers from U.S. jobs, and relatively few companies have been penalized for hiring illegals, many of whom use fake identification documents.
Obama’s new agreement will help the two governments “collaborate to educate workers [in the United States] about their employment rights and provide them with the resources needed to protect those rights,” said the statement, which cited the cooperation between Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Mexican Ambassador Carlos Sada.
The new agreement will use federal tax dollars to train Mexican consular staffers to use U.S. discrimination laws to aid Mexicans in the United States — even if they are not legal workers.
U.S. officials promised to join events at Mexican consulates that are intended to help Mexican nationals get jobs in the United States.
The deal will also establish a system for Mexican officials to push discrimination complaints up to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices. Gupta said:
The Mexican government plays a vital role in helping the Justice Department ensure workers know about their rights and the protections the law provides. Mexico has taken a leading role in Labor Rights Week, ensuring that workers in Mexico and throughout the world know about their rights in the workplace and where to access help and support. I thank our Mexican counterparts for their collaborative partnership in our shared mission to empower workers and combat discrimination.
The Obama administration has already set up similar programs with the countries of Ecuador and El Salvador to help their citizens finds jobs in the U.S. and to battle “discrimination.”
Meanwhile, the newest job numbers for the U.S. find that 94,391,000 Americans are now out of the labor force. That number includes roughly 7 million “prime age” American men who have given up looking for work, according to Obama’s top economic advisor.
Each year, the government provide work permits to roughly one million immigrants and roughly 800,000 temporary guest-workers, even as roughly four million young Americans begin looking for work. That policy provides employers the opportunity to hire two new foreign workers for every four new American workers.
The national unemployment rate also remained unchanged at 4.9 percent, as the United States economy added only 151,000 jobs.
“The August employment report underwhelmed expectations,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, according to MarketWatch.com.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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