If you're an illegal alien, New York City mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio wants you to know that you're welcome in NYC. And, if you're a corrupt company or bank that wants to profit from illegal immigration, Bill de Blasio wants to help you make more money too.

While it will certainly come as a shock to many of his supporters, de Blasio's immigration position (billdeblasio . com/issues/immigration) really isn't that far off from that of Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch, and other billionaires. De Blasio's immigration position won't put the wealthy out in any way; in fact, it will help them make more money. But, it will harm struggling American workers, including the poor in New York City.

First I'll quote from de Blasio's page, then I'll show how his position would help the wealthy and harm the American poor (bolding added):

...More than 700,000 hardworking members of our communities live in the shadows - subject to extortion by abusive employers and scam artists. Their relationship with law enforcement is destabilized by laws that do not work here in New York - fostering a climate of fear and alienation from civic life...

... Fighting Detention Center Injustices. Bill de Blasio also stood up against the mistreatment of immigrants in detention centers, especially those operated by private for-profit companies. Many of these facilities, including a center in Queens managed by GEO Group, have been accused of intolerable treatment of detainees - including sexual abuse and guard brutality. Joining the New York Immigration Coalition and Make the Road New York, Bill de Blasio demanded a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into allegations of abuse at private immigrant detention facilities contracted by the federal government. He also called for the termination of contracts with any company found to have mistreated immigrant detainees.

Creating DREAM Scholarships. Working through the Fund for Public Advocacy, the New York Immigration Coalition, and the Korean American Community Foundation, and by harnessing additional non-profit funding, Bill de Blasio created the DREAM fellowship - a scholarship and leadership development program for undocumented college students. Beyond helping dozens of students, the initiative has highlighted the need for enactment of national and state DREAM Act legislation. A second cohort of students just completed the spring semester with the aid of this program...

...Bill de Blasio believes it’s time for a city-backed ID card that will allow all residents - including undocumented immigrants - to access basic services like opening a bank account or signing an apartment lease. These identification cards will also help foster better relations between the police and undocumented people, who often choose not to report crimes out of fear they may be deported. In New Haven, Connecticut - which offers a municipal ID to undocumented people - crime in the largely-immigrant Fair Haven community declined 20 percent in the two years after the IDs were introduced, even as crime-reporting increased. San Francisco and Los Angeles have also approved or are close to approving city ID cards.

...Bill de Blasio will work for legislation that would make New York the fifth state to allow undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses. This will improve roadway safety by getting undocumented people who are already driving on our streets into driver’s education classes and covered by auto insurance. It will also help weave undocumented immigrants into the fabric of our shared New York civic life, as Congress debates comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

...One of the more egregious problems with our broken immigration system is the "federal detainer" process, which, in its current form, compels local police to hand over legal and undocumented immigrants to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - even for minor crimes committed years ago. Bill de Blasio will end cooperation with abusive federal "detainer requests" for all residents, except those who have been convicted of violent or serious felonies.

If you were the head of a bank or ran a sweatshop, none of what de Blasio proposes would inconvenience you in any way. In fact, it would help you make money.

The way to raise wages and reduce unemployment for Americans is to reduce the labor pool, and opposing illegal immigration and demanding immigration enforcement is an excellent way to reduce the labor pool.

De Blasio is going in the opposite direction: he implicitly supports illegal immigration and wants as little immigration enforcement as possible. That will increase the labor pool, thereby lowering wages and most likely increasing unemployment. Yes, mass immigration will increase overall economic activity, but at what cost? As of 2010, just 1 in 4 young black men in NYC had a job (Community Service Society of New York study: peekURL.com/zypQNCP ). Adding more lower-skilled workers to the labor pool will make statistics like that worse.

Doing things like raising the minimum wage won't work: de Blasio's opposition to most immigration enforcement will make it easier for illegal aliens to undercut Americans by working off the books.

But, de Blasio's immigration stance will help employers. They'll have a wider selection of lower-skilled workers and and at lower wages. It will also help banks and insurance companies: they'll have more clients. De Blasio will make it easier for illegal aliens to open bank accounts, giving banks a whole new set of customers (including those who sent remittances).

In addition to harming struggling American workers, de Blasio's immigration position would also harm struggling American students. He supports the DREAM Act, and any such bill (state or national) would result in taking scarce education resources from Americans to give to foreign citizens who are here illegally.

I realize that to many de Blasio fans, all of the above might come as a shock. Yet, if you actually look into it you'll see that what de Blasio wants isn't that far off from what Mike Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch, WalMart, the Koch family, Tyson Foods, the US Chamber of Commerce, and other very wealthy interests want. See also the entries on the immigration banks page for others de Blasio would help. For discussions of state and local ID cards designed to help banks profit, see the relevant entries on the New Haven, Los Angeles, California, and San Francisco pages. And, regarding private detention centers and another group whose immigration stance ends up helping the wealthy at the expense of the poor, see the immigration-related entries on the Occupy Wall Street page.

If any de Blasio supporters aren't convinced, feel free to leave a detailed comment below and I'll add even more.