Most illegal workers in the US are Mexicans who mow lawns, clean motel sheets, butcher hogs, pick strawberries, and otherwise toil away at tasks that, as George W. Bush once said, “Americans won’t do.” And they often are paid less than the minimum wage.
A widely held assumption in Washington’s debate about immigration is that native-born Americans avoid menial and dirty work. Laid-off autoworkers wouldn’t really wash dishes at a Denny’s or milk cows on a dairy farm, would they? Such a notion has long helped justify a flow of foreign workers into the US – or possibly an amnesty for those hiding from the law.
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With people desperate for income, downward mobility may be on the way up.
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Maybe it’s a myth that Americans won’t take certain jobs. In fact, a study by the Center for Immigration Studies used 2005-07 data to look at 465 occupations. Only four had a majority of immigrants in them.
The show Dirty Jobs pretty much proves this false. It’s all about the money.
#37:
Exactly.
The jobs are going to move offshore no matter what, because the labor is cheaper. You can’t stop that.
Which situation is worse:
Completely losing the industry because we don’t like that it’s worth less than $7/hr?
or, keeping it here and letting someone work it for peanuts?
I’d rather keep it here. You know, try to fix our trade deficit and all that.
#39 Yeap. And winning elections with illegals is the next big thing.
#47 NAFTA was a great idea, wasn’t it?
All we need to do to find the culprit is look in the mirror. Americans are always going for the lower price, no matter what. So an honest businessman will be driven out of business by a dishonest one who hires illegals and pays them pennies.
It’s kind of like the war on (some) drugs. As long as there’s a demand for cheap stuff, businesses will hire illegals.
Let’s stop kidding ourselves. If we locked down the border, prices for everything from housing to dining would go up. And we the people would piss and moan and they’d open the borders again.
The system is working exactly like we want it to.
Or prove me wrong: Say, “I want to pay higher prices for the stuff I buy so that we can get rid of illegal aliens.” I have never heard anyone say that.
Depends on the situation. A lot of good people have their backs against the wall and will take just about any job they can get.
36, pedro,
Good to see that your complete lack of comprehension proved me correct yet again. The illegals are in the USA RIGHT NOW. Legitimize them. I guess you and your imagination will just wrinkle your nose and they’ll all magically disappear?
Right. I doubt you’re even IN America, and are probably a smuggler yourself… You don’t want to lose out on a gig…
#46 Why are you putting smugglers down? They’re the ones bringing in your beloved illegals in.
Legitimize my ass, if they want to get in legally, go back home and do it right. Then we can have a talk.
Is nice to see someone like you who is so proud of talking thru your ass.
I recall reading an article in the paper about the Local McDonalds in West Palm Beach, FL.. Seems they needed to Bus kids and others in to work… No one in the comminity wanted to work for the Normal wages beig offered at the time, this job was not deemed a good enough Job for even the local High School Kids… this may be a isolatd case, but it does prove a point…
So Guess who worked ther?…
I also had the experience back in the 80′s of Entering a McDonalds in Miami, and the manager had to come out to take my order…no one on the front counter speak english..and I sure did not speak Spanish… being a farm Kid from Maine.
#37, You beat me to it.
47 pedro,
Like any other idiot Republican, you just imagine you can shake the can and everything goes back to the way it was… you deal with reality, not your fantasies…
But, that is asking too much from you.
#50 You have to thank the idiot repugs that give your beloved illegals work so they can live until you “legitimize” them.
I didn’t know you cared so much for corrupt corps. I guess that makes you an idiot republican, hahahahaha
51, pedro,
Whatever the idiots did now has to be rectified. Legitimizing them will protect them AND eliminate the corruption. But, you live in fantasy land where you can just say “Well, if so and so didn’t do so and so, so and so wouldn’t have happened…” You’re the problem, not even CLOSE to part of the solution. Moron.
To paraphrase an imfamous quote. “The Americans are the men who will not do jobs for nothin” AKA below minimum wage, or no wage at all. A lot of these illegal workers get screwed out of a day’s wage. But the work gets done. Horay for America.
#52 I see you like Bush’ amnesty for illegals. Now, who’s the repugblican here?
The more you write, the deeper into your mental mess you go.
As always we blame the wrong people. We should crack down on businesses who hire illegals, not illegals themselves, who invariably are victims when they get paid $2.00 an hour with no health insurance and 12 hour days, but can’t complain to anybody because the business will just fire them and turn them in to immigration.