Opponents of trade and immigration will often complain that foreigners provide “cheap labor.” They claim that Americans would do the same jobs as immigrants and workers in countries we trade with, but companies would just have to pay them more. Many rightists believe such a position is compatible with a belief in meritocracy.
But “cheap” is not always bad. Should you buy a cheap car or an expensive one? Get a cheap or expensive haircut? Obviously it depends on your financial situation and what your preferences are. Some people really care about driving a nice car, while others don’t. Some can afford to buy a Mercedes and others can’t.
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“…if I thought I could centrally plan the labor market and I had special insight into who should be hired for which jobs and at what wages, I would be a socialist.”
As usual you get the basic economics right. But I must insert my usual reminder that if we have road communism (ironically, your tacit position and even worse than socialism), we can’t possibly know how many immigrants are efficient; therefore, defaulting to “let the government decide” its own type of central planning in that you are imposing your preferences upon the rightful owners of the streets/roads. The fact that the government holds these properties in trust for the natives/taxpayers does not mean that no one owns these properties or that no one should have a say in how they are used. That would be weird, right? Democracy has to be the temporary solution until they are privatized.
Given your tacit support for road communism, your views on immigration are, ironically, just PC populism. One day this will click for you because you are very smart and libertarian minded. But until then you will continue to (daily? hourly?) moralize against racism just like Matt Walsh moralizing about Clancy.
"There is no rational basis to get upset about employers hiring immigrants who earn lower wages"
Are you referring to documented or undocumented immigrants? The distinction matters. In fact it is crucial to the argument but you don't make it. Sheer laziness.