In reading the news on America’s immigration problems, as well as Brainstorm posts on the topic, I can’t help but notice that people who are most vexed about illegal immigration like to say things like, “they’re not playing by the rules,” or “they’re criminals,” or “they should be rounded up and deported” (these quotations are lifted from comments made on Brainstorm posts). Although I’ll get to why this is ridiculous in a moment, I first want to say that like many liberals, I would like to see secured borders as much as any citizen in Arizona. Even so, I am aghast at Arizona’s new immigration law. I’ve spent a lot of time in France (a place the kind of conservatives who came up with this law like to mock). There, the police regularly stop people and demand to see their papers. I used to proudly tell my French acquaintances that over in America we didn’t do that sort of thing.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Whether the number is right, let’s work with it for a moment. Say we were to enact legislation designed to truly lower these figures—legislation that would round up and deport all 12 million. What would that entail, in terms of time and logistics?
We’ll have to begin by expending a lot of manpower locating the illegal aliens, both in their homes and workplaces. Then we’ll have to gather them in a large holding place. A football arena might work. Let’s assume we put them on buses (planes would be too expensive), and that each bus holds 50 people. That would mean 240,000 buses.
Let’s say those 240,000 buses then drive to the Mexican border. There, the people on them would need to be processed once again. Assuming it takes one hour to process each bus, we’ll need 240,000 man-hours. To make the arithmetic easy, assume a 20-hour workday. This means 12,000 days to process everyone, which is 30 years of work.
The great messy fact of American life is that illegals are here and discussions of right and wrong and the law have become moot. We’ve behaved exactly like the Romans during the Empire. They, too, awoke one day to discover that there were a whole bunch of non-Romans living within their borders. The Danube had been breached not by battle so much as willing collusion. In their case, they’d willingly invited barbarians inside their borders to help them fight off newer waves of hordes. What happened, of course, was that those barbarians with whom they’d made a peaceful truce went on to mix and mingle with, and in some cases marry, the “true” Romans.
In our case, we too have invited “others” to come across our borders. Not directly, of course (that would have been in violation of the law), but indirectly. And not for soldiering, but for doing work we didn’t want to do ourselves. Illegal Mexican immigrants worked extremely hard, and for long hours, and for wages far lower than American workers. They are the ones who have been stooping over to pick our vegetables, slaughtering and pulling out the guts of what is transformed into cheap supermarket chickens. They are the ones who have been tending our lawns and cleaning our homes and babysitting our children. Never forget that for every illegal worker, there’s been a Roman citizen—oops, I mean American citizen—who has been willing to look the other way. These Americans include everyone from individual wealthy suburban moms, with pretty swimming pools, gardens, and children, who never once asked Juan and Juanita if they were legal residents, to large meat-processing and garment industry companies who quietly went about the business of hiring on the cheap.
Following a hallowed American tradition of turning the other way when things might have mattered, we missed our chance to control the influx of illegal immigrants. Now that illegal immigrants are here, and it’s ridiculous to try to have them all “go home,” we howl with indignation at the injustice of it all. Howling when it’s too late, by the way, is also an American tradition.
27 Responses to The Messy Fact of Illegal Immigration
jaysanderson - May 19, 2010 at 9:06 pm
The Arizona law does NOT call for deporting 12 million illegal immigrants to Mexico. It merely confirms the right of Arizona law enforcement officers, within the parameters of a legal contact initiated after reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, to ask for proof of citizenship. One can read the actual law on the Internet. That is better preparation for writing an article than watching cable TV or listening to the Attorney General, who admitted himself that he had not read the legislation.
dajones - May 19, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Perhaps you’ve never read the current Federal immigration laws. If you had, you would know that the Arizona law is a near exact replica of the current federal law….you know, the one that our national government has neglected to enforce. If this “new” law is unconstitutional, then why has it been part of the US Code for so many decades?
luther_blissett - May 19, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Laurie, you’re using a version of the slippery slope fallacy here, along with a little bit of the fallacious argument from ignorance.If *any* law today required that everyone breaking it was immediately reprimanded and punished, our police force and legal system would fall apart. The sheer number of people jaywalking in front of my apartment building on any given day would reduce the Seattle police to quivering jelly — and the Seattle police actually enforces jaywalking rules.And dajones, nowhere does Laurie argue that the Arizona law is unconstitutional. However, there are legal issues surrounding the right of the police to demand identification unless one is caught in the act of a crime or the officer has reasonable suspicion that a crime has been or will be committed. Illegal immigrants have the same rights as American citizens, or at least that is the trend the courts have taken. The Arizona law was revised so that the police cannot stop anyone without reasonable suspicion. However, reports have come out suggesting that certain parties behind the Arizona law are quite clear that the police are to look for any possible excuse to stop someone who they think is an illegal immigrant. I think the Arizona law simply makes no sense. Secure the boarders, by all means. But the nation is doing pretty well with these 12 million illegals here. If they were given some route to citizenship or given the right to work here, the tax revenue they’d produce would be outstanding. However, the problem of actually securing the border remains, and no one seems to want to deal with that problem. Even the Arizona law does nothing until the illegal immigrant is already a part of the community in some way.
klblk - May 20, 2010 at 5:50 am
@luther_blissetSo _why_ should some laws be enforced with zero tolerance and others not?Is a small technical violation of the immigration rules (such as the recent case of the German PhD married to a US citizen who filed papers on time but slightly wrongly) harmful to the US in itself, or is it only harmful when defined as such due to current political opinion?Jaywalking is demonstrably harmful to both pedestrian and bicyclists, so why not have a zero tolerance rule (as an eminent historian found out to his cost when attending a conference in Atlanta GA).I will be more convinced when Americans behave with equal stringency when they are visiting or residing in other countries.
lawman11 - May 20, 2010 at 5:59 am
in re luther_blisset’s post:Generally, I agree with what you say. In regards to the border, I do not think that the border is the problem. The USA is simply huge and some sort of superbly guarded border is while probably possible, still, very difficult to achieve.The analogy I would suggest be reflected on is this:We do not particularly render our homes into fortresses. We often have open windows and unlocked doors. But we will always object to persons whom we find within our homes whom we have not invited to come in, that is, who are unlawfully there. Were the situation other, were we to rely on locks and so forth, but were anyone found within practically be considered lawfully there, would this or would it not encourage persons to come inside?
mbelvadi - May 20, 2010 at 7:33 am
Every time the issue of illegal workers comes up, people drag out the image of the upper middle class hiring illegals for residential-level employment (nannies, gardeners, etc.). Does anyone have any data on what percent of illegal workers actually work in these ‘one off’ jobs compared with the industrial scale farming, meatpacking etc. jobs? It seems to me that the only significant reason there are so many illegals in the US is that a large swath of businesses want them there, both as a source of cheap labor directly and also to depress wages generally in related jobs, and what business wants, it gets in the US. It’s really the same question as to why there’s so much cocaine and heroin (or even prostitution) in the US despite huge spending by govt on interdiction – demand by the populace undermines govt efforts. Those who think the root of the problem is a failure of law enforcement to control those sneaky aliens are ignoring the reality that their own fellow citizens are the real enabling force. You just can’t solve the problem until you take seriously punishing the citizens who cause it.
goxewu - May 20, 2010 at 7:53 am
First, the most untenable: “They should be rounded up and deported.” Unless that “should” is completely rhetorical–as in “I should just go up to that Hell’s Angel and tell him where to stick it”–rounding up and deporting 10-12 million illegals is simply impossible: politically, financially, logistically and probably, when the court cases regarding specific round-ups start coming, legally. And if the roundups and deportations measure only, say, one million, much the same, plus the stigma of selective enforcement.Second: that the Arizona law only mimics what’s already on the books and doesn’t give the police any special powers. There’s always slippage between what’s on paper and the law in actual practice. Anybody who actually believes that DWL (Driving While Latino) and other enforcement acts of racial profiling won’t flood into that gap is living in dreamland.Third: One of the reasons that the Arizona law may prove to be unconstitutional is exactly the fact that it replicates a Federal law and the Feds have prior jurisdiction. Not a certainty, but the Supreme Court will probably have to take the case after it arrives there, surprisingly quickly.Fourth: There’s an odd-bedfellows situation here, with kumbaya liberals sentimentally and noisily eliding any difference between legal and illegal immigrants joining up with free-marketeers (who’re staying strategically quiet) who want the cheapest possible labor. Both will have to give considerably if this gargantuan problem is to be addressed (forget “solved”). Some immigrants with families will have to be deported when they land in the lap of the law and borders will have to be made inconveniently tighters. The pool of cheap labor will shrink and labor costs will go up. Or we could continue to posture emptily and play to the grandstand (which is what most vocal supporters of the Arizona law are doing) and, bottom line, do nothing. Having seen what it took to move health care two centimenters toward 21st century civilization, I’m betting on “do nothing.”
chandrak - May 20, 2010 at 8:35 am
Arizona has taken the correct step in passing the Immigration Law. Laurie Fendrich is not well informed about the Federal Laws relating to illegals. People who enter the United States illegally should be treated according to U.S. laws. Since Obama’s administration is not doing anything to solve the problem, Arizona had to take proper steps.
your_rights - May 20, 2010 at 8:57 am
quoting #4: “I will be more convinced when Americans behave with equal stringency when they are visiting or residing in other countries.”It is wise to behave properly and carry legal documents while traveling abroad. The U.S. is very lax compared to many other countries which will through a foriegner in jail for the slighest infraction. Try to refresh your memory regarding the many students and faculty who have died on foriegn soil. It has been years since the Iranian/American graduate student from CSUN was jailed in Iran. Is she still alive? If anyone knows, please respond.While my point is not so elequently written I do not believe we have to “round up” anybody. They will show up in the police stations and wellfare offices because of their own actions. And, when they do, I believe the U.S. police force will treat them much more kindly than the police forces in many other countries.
dank48 - May 20, 2010 at 9:07 am
LF is right on this one. We want to have our cake and eat it too. Ain’t going to work that way. Just in passing to dajones, who brought up the side issue of constitutionality, unmentioned till then, I believe. Have you heard of RICO? It’s blatantly unconstitutional, like a lot of more recent Heimatsicherheits . . . I mean Homeland Security legislation. So what? Nobody cares. The executive, legislative, and judiciary have figured out that all they have to do is act as if the Constitution is irrelevant, and nobody will complain. Sorry for the digression, but the fact is, no one gives any more of a damn about constitutionality than they do about “Harvest of Shame.” We’ve gotten way too, ah, sophisticated for that.
honore - May 20, 2010 at 9:22 am
Mot another pedantic excessive shallow analysis of the illegal immigrant debacle? Folks, just face it…our government/corporate-owned politcians from the top on down is very well-served by an abundant, cheap, ignorant, unsophisticated, cowering work force that has virtually no legal legs to stand on.For DECADES we have closed our eyes to this illegal nightmare while chatting at the car wash or ordering that 3rd margarita at the local mexican restaurant and not seeing that army of illegal mexican Indians scrubbing those pots and pans. We have not “noticed” the language of the worker ants mowing our lawns and skimming our pools EITHER and NOW we dare to complain?Look, we all knew this was coming, but our greed, selfishness and indifference to THEIR very real plight kept us hiring them to wipe our babies butts for a dollar an hour and that deliberate escapist ploy kept our civic conscience in a coma. Well time is up! Get used to it. The U.S will change MORE demographically in the next decade that it has in the last TWO CENTURIES and when our history is written, it will be written in English with Spanglish graffitti and Aztec sundials as foot notes. And the Presidents of Mexico will laugh all the way to their mansions in Paris and Switzerland…such silly Americans.
haohtt - May 20, 2010 at 9:23 am
The argument that we have so many illegal immigrants, that we should abandon efforts to enforce immigration laws is fallacious. To test Ms. Fendrich’s logic and mathematics, let’s look a different population (coincidentally also 12 million): Annual in stances of violent and property crimes. Even allowing for multiple crimes being committed by the same person, the number of hours and personnel involved in investigating, reporting and processing each crime, collecting the perpetrator, incarceration, court appearances, legal fees, jailing, etc., etc. far exceeds any effort and expense to process an illegal alien. The numbers would be significantly higher than those guesstimated by Ms.Fendrich. Using her logic, “The great messy fact of American life is that” illegality is “here and discussions of right and wrong and the law have become moot.” Applying this twisted logic means that we should abandon all efforts to enforce violent and property crimes. Despite our best efforts, homicide, rape and theft continue to occur, so let’s “follow the American tradition of turning the other way.” Why be so indignant about a law that merely reflects existing law? Oh, that’s right, our liberal friends do not appear to actually read immigration laws before villifying them (or health care laws before passing them).
andrew0261 - May 20, 2010 at 10:24 am
Thank you, Luther, for your lucid comments! One issue that everyone seems to forget in this “mess” is the foreign relations angle; How can we as a wealthy, prosperous, educated, supposedly just nation stand for the kind of conditions that force that labor force to leave their own countries? I mean, many can make 5 timex what they make in their own countries with the money the make in the US (even though they are being paid way below minimum wage)! Then, consider that in many of the nations the drug cartels are the major employers: those jobs do not appeal to their law-abiding citizens, so what’s left for them to do but head North? And who is the greatest consumer of the product produced by those cartels? Hmm, I wonder! The issue is indeed complicated!!!AA
mwcramer - May 20, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Laurie, you bring up some very interesting points, but it’s a little silly to paint a picture of one massive illegal alien roundup operation. That’s never going to happen, and only the most disingenuous anti-illegal activists would suggest such a thing. But what I don’t understand is what exactly is wrong with making the already-dangerous and often deadly illegal trek into the United States even more unappealing. If people – that are already suspected of committing other illegal acts, let’s not forget that point of the Arizona law – are required to prove that they are here lawfully, and hence that discourages illegals from being here (or at the very least from committing other crimes so they’re not asked for papers in the first place), where is the harm in that?Otherwise, what is the solution? Amnesty? At that point, don’t we have 12 million new American citizens, who may come out of the shadows and earn a living wage? And if so, wouldn’t they theoretically leave the poor-paying jobs in which they allegedly now serve? And if so, wouldn’t that mean those same employers would just reach out to new illegal immigrants? And if so, wouldn’t it be unfair to not eventually give them amnesty as well? Where does it end?And further, the most infuriating thing to me about the illegal immigration debate is how Mexico consistently gets a free pass on the issue. The Mexican government is overtly saying it does not care about its citizens and their welfare, and if their citizens have a problem with that they should get the hell out. And for some reason we Americans never question that. And for some reason the Mexican-American population still, if the stereotypes are to be believed, vehemently defend and honor their native nation despite said nation’s utter callousness and disinterest in her poor and disenfranchised. At what point will the rest of the world hold Mexico’s government responsible for outreach to its poorest citizens? Why do Americans get eviscerated for simply wishing the federal government would do what by law it is required to do, but nobody dares take Felipe Calderon to task for failing to provide for his countrymen so they don’t have to make the sad, dangerous, often deadly trip to the United States to have any chance at a decent lifestyle?And finally, let’s not forget that the Roman Empire collapsed, since we’re going to draw parallels to them anyway.
saeldredge - May 20, 2010 at 1:34 pm
What I find interesting about the article, along with all the comments, is that everyone thinks the Arizona law is about illegal immigration. I would offer that the politicians that wrote, passed, and signed this into law know there is no way to contain illegal immigration. They certainly know the problems with businesses hiring illegal aliens. They certainly know it isn’t feasible to round up and deport all illegal aliens in this country. They certainly know that sealing off our borders completely to illegal immigration is nearly impossible. So, the answer becomes, why pass this law in the first place if it doesn’t address the causes of illegal immigration? The answer, my friends, is that this is a CAMPAIGN ADVERTISEMENT!!!! It isn’t a law…it’s a giant billboard to the conservative base in Arizona that says, “VOTE FOR ME!!!”Please….let’s start being real about what is going on here….
mccu5868 - May 20, 2010 at 1:53 pm
It is my understanding that the police always had the right to ask for papers when they had a person in custody or even when they felt some one was suspicious. This new law now requires police to do this always, in other words they “must do this” or else the police can now be sued. We all want safe borders. We do want to control illegal activity, but there are more humane ways to go about it without breaking the Constitution. Obama’s immigration reform ideas make sense.
fizmath - May 20, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Laurie, who is this “we” you are talking about? Where I grew up, the community was considered middle class. We did our own yardwork, cleaning, and babysitting. My neighbors did roofing, cleaning and cooking for a living. At college I met students who did this strenuously hard farm work for long hours. As for turning my head, what are we supposed to do? Perform a citizen’s arrest? You wrongly assume that the only answer is mass deportation. Simple enforcement of the law will result in voluntary deporation. You also conveniently forgot to mention that the Roman empire collapsed, as did all the American Indian nations that did not control immigration.
falzf - May 21, 2010 at 8:35 am
Ordinarily, I refrain from commenting on my own posts. But since so many commentators either missed my reference to the Romans entirely, or somehow think I put it there oblivious to its implications, I feel it’s necessary to respond. For anyone who has studied ancient Roman history the least bit, it’s clear that Rome didn’t so much collapse as fall apart in stages, beginning with its transformation from a republic into an empire and, by many accounts, not really ending until the fall of Constantinople. As I understand things, after the Romans turned their republic into an empire, they slowly lost their republican discipline and vigilance. The men preferred to stay at home, rather than put in the time far from home necessary for Rome to defend its borders. The Romans found themselves short on manpower, and in the awkward position of having to invite some of the barbarian hordes into their empire in order to help them with the job of preventing even more barbarians from entering the empire. Barbarians kept coming, of course, eventually mixing with the Romans, as well as the locals whom the Romans had initially conquered. Out of this mix was born modern Europe. Readers, draw your own conclusions about how we ended up with so many illegals, and what the future holds for us.
dank48 - May 21, 2010 at 11:29 am
Speaking of Rome, it might be worth noting that this “young” country is in fact, in terms of continuous form of government, the second-oldest nation on earth. Not to mention empire. The US is also the world’s greatest debtor nation. With a standard of living that we ourselves like to think of as the highest in the world, which it isn’t, and with social, economic, and political problems that we tend to regard as well-nigh unsolveable. The Republic has survived a lot of crises; whether the Empire can or not is another matter.
goxewu - May 21, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Re #17:I’m happy for fizmath’s unsullied upbringing in Mayberry RFD, where none of the following (particularly the percentages involving the cleaning, maintenance, leisure and hospitality industries) applied: “About 7.2 million unauthorized migrants were employed in March 2005, accounting for about 4.9% of the civilian labor force. They made up a large share of all workers in a few more detailed occupational categories, including 24% of all workers employed in farming occupations, 17% in cleaning, 14% in construction and 12% in food preparation. “The construction industry is the largest employer of short-term illegal workers with some 550,000 unauthorized migrants arriving between 2000 and 2005. Overall, more than 1.4 million unauthorized workers are employed in the construction industry, accounting for about 12% of the industry work force, the largest share of unauthorized workers in any major industry category. Short-term unauthorized workers account for somewhat less than 5% of the construction industry work force.”The leisure and hospitality industry is the second largest employer of short-term unauthorized workers, with some 500,000 unauthorized migrants arriving between 2000 and 2005. They account for somewhat more than 4% of the workforce in that industry category. Altogether more than 1.2 million unauthorized migrants are employed in the leisure and hospitality industry, making up 10% of the work force in that industry.”Construction and the leisure and hospitality industries combined account for the employment of about 40% of all short-term unauthorized workers.”Other major industries with large numbers of unauthorized workers who arrived between 2000 and 2005 include professional and business services, mainly building maintenance, cleaning and landscaping, (350,000), manufacturing (340,000), wholesale and retail (270,000), education and health services (125,000) and agriculture (110,000).”[Source: Pew Charitable Trust Hispanic Center]PS: Say hello to Aunt Bee for me, and tell her to quit hiring Juanita to help with the apple pies.
joesuber - May 24, 2010 at 11:00 am
SPAIN will prevail, after all. Historic battles lost, the Spanish, ironically, will ultimately win the war for North America. The English won the middle of North America (America)and part of the upper (Canada) along with the French, while the Spanish suceeded in conquering Mexico, and pretty much all other real estate to the tip of South America. The Battle of the Alamo notwithstanding, the Spanish have been, and will continue to win the continent–not by might of arms, but by the might of reproduction. Mother nature, it seems, favors the hispanics. The capitalists favor them too, despite the double-speak. Steadily and unswervingly, the hispanic creep continues unabated. We can cry and scream and denounce and legislate, but the migration northward, like the invasion of the African Bees continues unabated. What we could have done, should have done, and should now be doing is treating our hispanic neighors to the south as human beings, and not as some sort of commodity–which by the way provides one heck of a futures market in human capital. We could have contributed enormously to the proper development of Mexico over the past two centuries, helping to create an “American South” with a strong middle class and powerful institutions capable of preventing the violent, but predictable, fallout from an economy catering to the unwhetted drug appetite, and unwhetted cheap labor appetite, of those English colonial types to the north. So much for woulda, coulda, shoulda, how about Yes we can.Let’s stop whining, Yes we can, and begin the enormous task of creating a Mexico where Mexicans AND Americans want to live and prosper, Yes we can, –after all, it’s mere geography, with human beings and human lives at stake, regardless of where the border is drawn. Long live Americo!or Amexico!or whatever we have become…J Suber
carmenlund - May 24, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I am an American but have many Latin relatives. I, myself, lived myself in Latin American for years. In living abroad, I met the requirements of the government I chose to live in as well as learned their language. For me, the problem is not with immigration, but with the lack of any responsibility of the government to put into effect some type of system that works to integrate immigrants into our society. immigrants have always been valuable, but one must remember they are choosing to live in American and thus need to be assimilated into OUR culture and live by our rules in a way that adds to our society.
22286593 - May 24, 2010 at 12:36 pm
For the sake of fairness, we should imprison anyone who hired an undocumented immigrant. One day prison time for one day of employment. It’s only fair–if Americans did not employ undocumented immigrants, 12 million would not be living in the U.S. The greater crime (both legally and morally) in this case is clearly being committed by someone who is wealthier and more powerful who is benefiting from a poorer undocumented immigrant who has unequal place in our society. Well, U.S. better start building prisons to accommodate tens of millions of people.
wwchip - May 26, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Ms. Fendrich’s argument is based on a false premise. No one has proposed the deportation of 12m illegal aliens. Both sides of the debate seem to agree that the overwhelming majority are here to work. If the law against hiring illegal aliens were better enforced, the vast majority would self-deport. The Pew Center estimates that over 1m of the 12m cited by Ms. Fendrich have already gone home because of difficulty of finding work in the recession. Did anybody notice? Does anybody miss them? Enforcing the law is not even that hard, and much less provocative than having local police question the identity of suspected illegals. Most employers are not affraid of ICE, but they are afraid of the IRS. Hence, they insist that all employees give them a social security number (even if it is a string of zeros). The Social Security Admninistration knows which employees are using false numbers (or else numbers that duplicate numbers being used in other locations and therefore likely involving “identity theft”). They refuse to share this information with ICE, but they do send a letter to the employer, which the employer typically throws away. The Bush Administration proposed regulations that would have required an employer who received such a letter to send his employee to the local Social Security office to find out why the number he was using did was not accepted by Social Security. If the employee refused to go, the employer could fire him and avoid penalties for hiring undocumented workers. The ACLU (naturally) filed suit and held up the regulations until the Obama Administration was elected and (naturally) withdrew them. Were the government to enact something as logical and simple as these regulations, more controversial means of detecting and deporting illegal aliens could be avoided. However, the same interests that challenge the controversial measures work just as hard to defeat the logical and simple alternatives.
goxewu - May 26, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Question for wwchip (#24:If no one has proposed the deportation of 12m illegal aliens,* what will be done with the ones who would be detected by the implementation of the regulations wwchip cites? Imprisonment? Fines? (And then what?) Some kind of allowance to be at large but with some kind of second-tier status in terms of legal rights? Separate residential districts for illegal aliens, similar to the South African districts for blacks during apartheid? What?*Oh, but many, many have, including thousands of callers on talk radio, and a “Brainstorm” commenter who said, “They should be rounded up and deported.”
tech2doc - May 27, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Might be cheaper to hand each of those 12 million illegal immigrants a gun and send them back to their country of origin to fix the place so that they can have opportunity & rights back there. While we extend our concept of rights to all people, we simply cannot afford to clothe, feed, house and take care of every citizen of the world. We have a right and obligation to protect our families’ right to public services, jobs, etc… If we give too many handouts, the services will dilute to the point where they won’t do anybody any good, or will simply shut down altogether. Finally, if you go to places like South Dakota or Wyoming, you’ll find that all the “hard jobs that American’s don’t want to do” are actually being done by Americans. In this difficult time, with high unemployment, I’m sure that we would find our workforce trickling down to fill the spots and glad to get the jobs at lower salaries. Many teens wander off to college because there is no alternative to them. They simply cannot find jobs without some type of degree so they go into debt to be able to apply for jobs that unskilled immigrant workers can’t take away from them. Personally, I think American kids would do well if they were out mowing lawns, shovelling snow, or working at the fast food restaurant. In many parts of the country, they can’t get those jobs because they aren’t bilingual. Seriously?I do agree that we need to crack down on the businesses that hire illegals, knowingly or not. To hear people complain about this Arizona law makes you wonder where they were when our border checkpoints started to require a passport to re-enter the country. Apparently somewhere in the Constitution is clause about how being American means doing whatever you want, whenever you want because the gov’t doesn’t have a right to make you confirm your citizenship…..at least that’s what opponenents of the AZ law seem to think.It boggles my mind the number of people that think America is the land of the everflowing teat which anyone is welcome to come suckle. What scares me are the citizens who believe this even in the face of massive financial crisis. They sling about the term racist because they think it will make us feel guilty for protecting our own and trying to insure a future for our own next generation. Sorry, not going to work. Illegal is illegal and the rest of the world is entitled to limit the number of immigrants to their country so why aren’t we allowed the same?
stevo1 - May 31, 2010 at 1:30 pm
What is the argument here? every single alien “BROKE THE LAW!” Our Government, Republican & Democrat, have allowed the invasion of 30 million criminals and is the largest invasion of any Nation, in direct violation of Article IV, Section IV of our Constitution.This refusal to abide by our Constitution should be classified as Treason as grounds for impeachment & trials for Treason!Not only have they allowed the invasion, they force American tax payers to pay Billions of dollars to provide Welfare, Prison, Educate the invaders children,free medical care, at the same time the invading horde break numerous laws, massive document fraud, & are destroying our schools, hospitals, communities, culture and standard of living while Robbing, Raping, Killing & Assaulting American Citizens WAKE UP PEOPLE! They walked,rode,swam and drove over here, they can do the same going home! taking thier anchors with them! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btj6IeOFkis&feature=player_embedded