Wages Increased Following Immigration Raids

File this in the 'no, duh' column.

From Radio Iowa...

A report by the Center for Immigration Studies shows wages increased, as did the number of legal workers, at six Swift meatpacking plants following immigration raids in 2006. One of the raids happened at the Swift plant in Marshalltown.

Report author Jerry Kammer says Swift had to increase the wages and pay bonuses to new workers to get back to full production after the raids. Kammer says it was a supply and demand issue as they needed to find workers quickly and had to make the job more attractive.

He says all the plants returned to full production within five months -- an indication that the plants could operate at full capacity without the presence of illegal workers.

Kammer says the report goes against the myth that illegal immigrants are needed as Americans don't want to do these types of jobs. "I think that's one of the major points here, that Americans will do these jobs if the jobs are made decent. If they pay decent and the working conditions are improved, more Americans will do these jobs," Kammer says.