Tuesday’s New York Times included a front-page story titled “Smarter Robots Move Deeper Into Workplace” which described the continuing improvement of technology that allows intelligent machines to perform tasks formerly done by humans.

It’s a decent overview of the present transformation of the means of production of goods and services, including some observations about the effects on would-be workers. It includes a chart of the shrinking proportion of Americans who have left the labor force. The piece recites the usual arguments that robots “assist” rather than replace, but then lists occupations headed for obsolescence like drivers, telemarketers, paralegals and pilots.

But while the article underlines the uncertainty of future labor markets and suggests more attention be paid to the looming revolution of the workplace, there is no mention of the vastly reduced need for importing workers, who are not needed now and even less so in coming years.

One analyst estimates that one in three jobs will be done by smart machines by 2025, only 11 years from now. A 2013 study from Oxford University researchers estimated that 45 percent of US jobs are vulnerable to computerization in the next 20 years.

So it doesn’t make sense to import an unemployable underclass of immigrants and illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America, which Washington is doing at an increasing rate. Many will turn to crime when jobs aren’t forthcoming.