If you watch Fox News you know that illegal immigrants are really the reason our economy has been in the dumps. They suck up government benefits like leaches at a blood convention, they pop out anchor babies and, to top it all off, they commit mad crime.

Securing the border has been a top priority even under the socialist President Obama, even as reports indicate that the undocumented contribute a net gain to our economy, illegal immigration from Mexico has slowed to a trickle, and crime is down along the border.

And now this:

A new report from the Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan group that counts L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg among its supporters, says we need … more immigrants.

Wait, what?

We thought they were the problem. According to a summary of the report (PDF) America is facing …

… A shortage of workers in innovation industries, a shortage of young workers and slow rates of business startup and job creation.

Um. We're confused.

Well, a lot of these wanted immigrants aren't your average Mexicans hitchhiking to L.A.

The United States, it seems, needs engineers and other nerds. Because we don't make geeks like we used to:

As jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) increase three times faster than other jobs, there are not enough American students entering these fields.

But wait: We do need Mexicans too, it would seem. The service industry is going to be begging for help as baby boomers retire, which is right about now:

The U.S. also faces a shortage of workers as baby boomers retire en masse, and growth in the labor force slows to historic lows of less than one percent.

The Juan percent to the rescue, again.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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