Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake plans to unveil dozens of recommendations . . . intended to lure immigrant families to Baltimore and retain them. The proposals, from increasing the availability of translators at city agencies to making it easier for the undocumented to buy homes, offer insight into the mayor’s pledge to attract 10,000 families over the next decade. I want to make sure that Baltimore isn’t behind the curve on this trend, said Rawlings-Blake.” – Baltimoresun.com, by John Fritze, 9/17/14
Fact Check: Mayor Rawlings-Blake is continuing the campaign she began two years ago to stem Baltimore’s declining population by inviting immigrants—and she’s not particular at all as to whether they are legal or illegal. Indeed, at the onset of that campaign, she ordered the city’s police and social workers not to ask about anyone’s immigration status.
The mayor evidently is buying into the idea pushed by immigration enthusiasts that immigration is the answer for American cities with dwindling American populations. By doing so, she can deflect attention away from why those citizens want to leave.
One reason is fiscal mismanagement. A survey by Business Insider a few years ago described Baltimore as one of America’s must bankrupt cities. At the time, Rawlings-Blake proposed to raise taxes—a proposal which made the city at least a bit less congenial for citizens who paid taxes. The situation is not improving, according to a report published last year by a firm commissioned by the city to assess its economic future. The report stated that the city is on the path to financial ruin and must enact major reforms to avoid bankruptcy.
Will a mass infusion of immigrants help this situation? Hardly. The landmark study done by the National Research Council in 1997 found that immigrants, legal and illegal, use more tax-paid public services than they pay into the system.
And just how will more immigrants impact employment and wage levels in a black majority city where many residents are poor? To ask the question is to answer it. Job loss and wage suppression will force many natives of the city to make a choice: accept an even lower living standard or leave to find better opportunities.
Another reason Baltimore natives are leaving is the city’s high crime rate. In recent years, some commentators have called it one of the most dangerous cities in America. Rather than deal with this problem, the mayor invites illegal aliens to move to Baltimore. Will the addition of people whose lifestyle is lawbreaking alleviate the city’s problem with crime? Once again, to ask the question is to answer it.
Immigration is not, as its proponents claim, a magic elixir to solve all of our urban problems. Unfortunately, some of our urban leaders would rather dodge those problems, in the hope that immigrants, somehow, will solve them.