The clear demand for illegal immigrant labor in this country is undeniable. And two letter writers argued on Sunday’s Opinion pages that Americans should direct their anger at those who employ illegal immigrants. Washington Post columnist Gene Robinson makes a good point on the subject:
“After all, we invited these people to come here and pick our strawberries, clean our offices, pluck our chickens, bus our tables, wash our cars and perform a host of other jobs for which our society no longer wants to shell out working-class wages and reasonable benefits such as health insurance. By ‘invited’ I mean that we left the Mexican border essentially open, gave employers the luxury of no-questions-asked hiring without any credible threat of sanctions, and failed to make clear who was supposed to enforce the immigration laws and how. That adds up to an invitation.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
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20 Comments
500 to 800 gathered in Kansas City Monday evening near the Plaza to support ONLY legal immigration.
See online photo essay:http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2006/04-17/index.htmAmerican Rally in Kansas city for Legal Immigration
So, KS Meadowlark, is that you at the bottom of the page?
That’s it….Blame America First.
I don’t think we invite. It’s against the law to come to the USA illegally.
If businesses want to hire foreigners, they can do it through a legal channel.
I’m with Joe Blow on this. I put the blame right on Mexico and its problems.
Many of the illegal immigrants coming into the USA are not coming to become Americans, they are just seeking a job.
The lack of benefits is a temporary thing. Remember the United Farm Workers organized in California by the late Cesar Chavez? Just watch…illegals will continue to protest for their “rights” and will get full benefits like legal residents.
Ship em back and let Mexico clean up its own problems. This country cannot serve as the haven for every poor person on the planet.
I guess we could solve the problem by granting Mexicans dual citizenship, like we do with Israelies.
I’m with raptor on this. Laws are laws or laws mean nothing: this is the difference between civilization and anarchy.
If we want anarchy, just hand over full benefits to those who are currently here illegally. You’ll get your anarchy.
At least 2 things are crucial to fixing this problem:1) Seal and control the border2) Enforce current immigration law: if you’re here illegally, you have to leave.
Only then do we talk about any new immigration laws.
$0.02
Gene Robinson makes no good or even valid point on the matter at all, unless of course, “we” is in reference to corporate entities and their useful idiots. (politicians, pundents, and subsidised editorial columnists)The last I heard, “we” is still supposed to be “We the People” and “We the People” didn’t invite anyone. To the contrary, “WE” are the one’s that demanded the laws that make ILLEGAL immigration, ILLEGAL.If “We” the former, feel that their circumventing of the laws, the withdrawal of funding to enforce them, and the assistance in promoting tax fraud and a whole host of other criminal acts amounts to an invitation by “We the People” then it is high time that “We” the former were considered the problem and all efforts should be redirected toward their crimes above those of illegal immigration.The cheapest and most effective solution to the problem remains, to fine and imprison the employeers who circumvent the laws and then claim they are being allowed to do so.
If we “roll over” and give the illegals amnesty, you won’t want to be standing anywhere near the border. You’ll get killed in the stampede. Get ready for a full assault by illegals on our southern border. The next “emmigration bill” will be discussing 40-50 million people.
I can’t fault illegals for taking jobs Americans are unwilling to do in order to make their lives better. As for employers who are “no longer willing to shell out working class wages or reasonable benefits” to car wash attendants or strawberry pickers, my question is: who would pay outrageous amounts for a car wash or strawberries so that higher wages and benefits could be given to the employees? We as Americans want everything, and of course, don’t want to pay for it.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not support illegal immigration. But if you want blame, we don’t have to look any farther than ourselves. And if we want to fix it, we’ll have to either go without car washes and strawberries or pay significantly higher amounts for them.
Shocker ‘07, your argument assumes that _all of any_ higher labor costs can and will be simply applied to prices.
This is a demonstrably false assumption.
Some employers will go out of business, some will do more of their own labor, some will figure out a workaround, some will successfully raise their prices, some will figure out a way to raise prices somewhere else, some will figure out a way to absorb higher labor costs, some will accept lower incomes, and finally some will find a way to pay higher labor costs and still stay in business that’s currently unknown.
The US economy allows for an enormous range of options when it comes to dealing with higher input costs, especially input costs that are not supplied under a contract; this flexibility is one its very greatest strengths.
Cutting workers out of the US economy who are illegally employed will not cause our economy to collapse. The sky will not fall.
Deport the invaders, by force if necessary. Put those who hire them in prison and seize their assets and put the traitor politicians on trial for treason. This is war and in war there is only one way to deal with inavders and traitors!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Flike, assuming prices won’t go up is assuming A LOT. The costs Robinson is proposing to add to attract American workers (such as health insurance), in addition to higher wages (probably at least 2x), are significant. If it was a low amount, you’re probably right, the employers would find a way. But we’re talking labor costs increasing by 2-4 times what they are currently with illegal labor. Labor is already the largest item in any business’ budget. Employers have two options, increase prices or shut down.
I’m not saying the economy will collapse. I’m not a doom and gloom kind of person–I’m usually the annoying optimist. Besides, its not like our economy is anchored by strawberry farmers and car washes. However, the reality of this situation is pretty blinding. Some employers have been using illegals to stay in business or gain a competitive advantage. When this practice catches up with them, you and I will ultimately pay in the form of higher prices or a lack of products/services.
Excellent point, Flike. May I add one other possibilty? When (if) cheap labor is no longer available to pick strawberries, someone will invent a reliable automatic picking machine. It is possible to do now, but with cheap labor available, nobody bothers.
There are always work arounds…so I still say, ship em back and let them protest their way of life in Mexico. Work to improve their job opportunities in Mexico.
I might suggest that some executive salaries could be sacrificed for “American” wages. However, I know how naive it is to think that CEO’s care about the company and not their bank accounts. But, is it unreasonable for us to pay more for some products? Fruits and vegitables are hard because their price going up adds to the obesity problem in this country. But, at least in KS where most people have a yard, grow a garden. That is what people used to do when grocery products were more expensive relative to income. We want Dillons to keep our exotic produce, or when it is out of season, but we don’t want to accept the price of this may be illegal workers. And Raptor is right – cultures have reached technological stagnation when a cheep work force is available – Rome, anti-bellum South.
99 years ago – a United States President made a VERY WISE comment on immigration.
[Theordore Roosevelt Quote]
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American … There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”[end quote]
http://pcdevils.com/flashme.php?swf=/media/flash/wp_game_border_patrol.swf
I just got this as an e-mail, I’m sure some of you’ve seen it.
Subject: Something To TryIf you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime, TRY THIS:
Enter Mexico illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas,international law, or any of that nonsense. Once there, demandthat the local government provide free medical care for you and yourentire family. Demand bilingual nurses and doctors. Demand freebilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc. Keep your Americanidentity strong. Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly displayit in your front window or on your car bumper. Speak only English athome and in public and insist that your children do likewise. Demandclasses on American culture in the Mexican school system. Demand alocal Mexican driver license. This will afford other legal rights andwill go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal, presence inMexico. Drive around with no liability insurance and ignore localtraffic laws. Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach Englishto all its officers. Good luck! You’ll be demanding for the rest oftime, because it will never happen. It will not happen in Mexico orany other country in the world except right here in the United States,Land of the naive and stupid, idiotic politically correct politicians.
Simple problems require simple solutions. Complex problems require complex solutions.
Strawberry pickers aren’t the issue. In the 1970’s there were only a quarter-million illegal Mexican workers here. THEY worked nearly exclusively as farmworkers. Most went home after the growing season. There was no “illegal immigration crisis”.
The problem was, beef, pork and poultry producers looked at Mexicans’ high productivity/cost ratios, and said, “Let’s hire Mexicans”. Unlike the vast majority of fresh-produce production, which was seasonal, meat production was year-round. So the immigrants were encouraged to settle. The men gutted carcasses and cut them up. Then their wives were recruited to do plant clean-up work.
Then construction-trades owners had the same realization–construction work doesn’t require an academic education– so they too recruited low-cost settlers. (Mexicans are quite mechanically inclined. Maybe most of you don’t realize this, but they are. They can keep junkyard-class cars running for 30 years beyond Detroit’s calculated service lives.)
Then office cleanup companies were created that contracted with businesses to do their custodial work at ultra-low costs. African-Americans thought such jobs held them down. Mexicans looked at the same jobs, and concluded, “We’re getting ahead.” A matter of perspective.
Restaurateurs and hoteliers followed suit.
Then, millions of upper-middle-class working families decided that family “lifestyles” could be raised dramatically if wives dropped housework and child-raising to make good money working outside the home.
I have female friends who love their professional work, contribute to their communities, to the local economy, including local and state tax base, and pay large social security and medicare premiums to support current American retirees, who don’t want to go back to being household domestic slaves–and their husbands don’t want them to, either.
I worked in the mid-60’s picking strawberries with Mexicans who stayed here 6 months, legally, with greencards, then took their earnings home–after paying income and FICA taxes and buying necessities here from American-owned stores.
You think that illegal strawberry picking is a tiny part of the economy. Correctamundo. So is that industry’s share of the illegal immigration problem–it’s totally insignificant. They’re happy to unobtrusively live in labor camps, do their work and go home.
Could we design robots to pick strawberries? Yes. I said this in another thread several weeks ago. But designing robots to provide restaurant services and hotel services is two to three orders of magnitude more difficult; designing robots to build, remodel, and repair homes is four to five orders of magnitude harder, technologically, and providing in-home cleaning, cooking and child-care domestic services using technology is four to five orders of magnitude harder. (An order of magnitude is 10x. Four orders of magnitude is 10,000x).
This international trade flow is very complex. Young Finns are being sent to India to man call centers, at low wages, since living costs are lower in Asia. They can’t get jobs at home.
The importation of labor, and exportation of jobs are very much age-oriented. Sixty year old Mexicans aren’t coming here, and offshored jobs aren’t being taken by fifty-year olds. Employers are not just saving straight-wage costs, they’re saving healthcare and pension costs.
Labor internationalization isn’t going to stop, unless you want to develop a closed self-sustaining economy. This could imply many things, including millions of people staying home to take care of grandpa and grandma, who won’t be able to afford to retire to Florida and live independently, much less have Medicare pay for late-life-stage healthcare costs.
The Third World already understands this, which is why they have 3-4 generations, and often extended families, living under single roofs. Are you prepared for this? If not, you need to.
Why can’t these people protest and request change to their OWN governments? They do not belong here, nor are most of them trying to become citizens, so they should not have rights equal to American citizens’.