An Analysis of David D. Cole and His Essay

“Five Myths about Immigration” is an essay written by David D. Cole which originally appeared in The Nation on October 17, 1994. The essay is a look at the ignorance and misinterpretation or “myths” as Cole calls them that immigrants are faced with every day in the U.S. His credibility on the subject speaks for itself. A Professor of Law at Georgetown University, after his graduation from Yale Law School, Professor Cole served as a law clerk to Judge Arlin M. Adams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Not long after beginning his clerkship, Cole became a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights. He litigated a number of major First Amendment cases. His most notable case, Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989) established that the First Amendment does in fact protect flag burning. He is also the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation magazine. He still volunteers as a staff attorney for the Center (2006, Georgetown University Faculty profile). The question at hand is if in fact this essay’s point of view still holds true in 2006. I have chosen two of the five myths to analyze their content and compare against data from 1994 to the present. The first myth is that immigrants take jobs from U.S. citizens. Cole’s belief on this question is that it is not true. He supports his response using documentation from an A.C.L.U. report from 1994 in which numerous studies have proven that immigrants actually create more jobs than they fill. He also cites another study that found Mexican immigration to Los Angeles County between 1970 and 1980 was responsible for 78,000 new jobs. The only problem that I have with this statement is that he has not cited any corroborating report or document. Is it true? Another supporting statement is from then Governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, that the immigrant population of New York own more than 40,000 companies there which have provided thousands of jobs along with $3.5 billion to the states economy

References: Cole, D.D. (1994). Five Myths about Immigration. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s “Immigration to the United States.” (2006). Wikipedia. Retrieved June 7, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org “Smiling on Our Immigrants.” (2006). the New York Daily News. Retrieved June 7, 2006 from http://www.nydailynews.com