Propagandists within the Democratic Party are constantly asserting that illegal immigration was an issue that Martin Luther King Jr would have supported. It is a lie. MLK and his wife Coretta Scott King were adamantly opposed to illegal immigration believing that it would steal jobs from Black Americans.
In 1991, Coretta King, who had taken over her husband’s ministry after he was assassinated, wrote a letter to Orrin Hatch that was cosigned by many other black leaders and said:
We, the undersigned members of the Black Leadership Forum, write to urge you to postpone introduction of your employer sanctions repeal legislation until we have had an opportunity to report to you what we believe to be the devastating impact the repeal would have on the economic condition of un- and semi-skilled workers—a disproportionate number of whom are African-American and Hispanic; and until we have had the opportunity to propose to you and to our Hispanic brothers and sisters, what we believe could be a number of effective means of eliminating the discrimination occasioned by employer sanctions, without losing the protection sanctions provide for U.S. workers, especially minority workers.
We can go back even further to Booker T Washington, who at the Atlanta Exposition, gave an impassioned speech pleading with businessmen to hire black Americans rather than using cheap immigrant labor.
King’s letter to Hatch was in opposition to reducing sanctions against employers who hired illegal aliens, a bill Hatched (pun intended) by Hatch and Teddy Kennedy, that would have made it much easier to hire cheaper illegal immigrants over black American citizens.
King and the other members of the Black Leadership Forum feared that reduced sanctions would result in further discrimination against blacks and legal Hispanic citizens:
“America does not have a labor shortage. With roughly 7 million people unemployed, and double that number discouraged from seeking work, the removal of employer sanctions threatens to add additional U.S. workers to the rolls and drive down wages. Moreover, the repeal of employer sanctions will inevitably add to our social problems and place an unfair burden on the poor in the cities in which most new immigrants cluster—cities which are already suffering housing shortages and insufficient human needs services.”
Notice that Trump has removed a lot of illegal aliens…and the Black unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in decades. Coincidence? I think not.