Richard Douglas on Immigration

Decriminalize hiring American; protect them from foreigners

How? First, Congress must decriminalize "hiring American." US employers must be free, if they choose, to give hiring preference to US and lawful immigrant workers over unlawful migrants with US work permits, without fear of government or private lawsuits.

Second, Congress must extend to American human capital the same shield from foreign competition in the domestic market that Congress created for American shipping and aviation capital. In laws like the Jones Act, Congress excluded foreign actors from large sectors of the domestic transport markets. Congress should enact similar protections to workers on projects involving even a dollar of federal funding. American human capital, swamped with unregulated foreign competition in the domestic market, needs a Jones Act of its own.