Why is Nothing Done About Illegal Immigration?

[nota bene]

american's will do those jobs IF you pay them a livable wage they CAN'T do those jobs for $5 an hour and live. businesses used to be able to do this and STILL make money i say they still can IF they really want to and loose the GREED part. if they can't then they should make room for businesses that can do it within our laws. as to giving these people citizenship i say they should join the military like my ancestors did and PROVE they love this country enough to be a citizen.

Eons ago I saw a PBS (I think) program on immigrants and sweat-shops and etc., and American after American with no marketable job skills essentially said "Hell, no" when asked if they would be willing to do the work that so many immigrants legal or otherwise would.

And I believed it because I've seen conditions in a couple of "third-world countries" in this hemisphere, and with notable exceptions, most "poor folks" in this country cannot even imagine what poverty is like in those countries.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

[FONT=&][/FONT]Those who dismiss FAIR's study have yet to counter it with facts of their own.

[FONT=&]In hosting America's largest population of illegal immigrants, California bears a huge cost to provide basic human services for this fast growing, low-income segment of its population. A new study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) examines the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens, and concludes that the costs to Californians is $10.5 billion per year. Among the key finding of the report are that the state's already struggling K-12 education system spends approximately $7.7 billion a year to school the children of illegal aliens who now constitute 15 percent of the student body. Another $1.4 billion of the taxpayers' money goes toward providing health care to illegal aliens and their families, the same amount that is spent incarcerating illegal aliens criminals.

That's just one state. I don't care how cheap they pick fruit for, their maintenance is too high. Send 'em packing. [/FONT]


Illegal Immigrants Cost U.S. $100 Billion per Year, Conservative Group Says About Illegal Immigration - ABC News

Hasta Luego :2wave:

Try quantifying the value of illegal labor to the US and juxtapose it with these facts and you may have something there.

 

[RiverDad]

The Jobs that Americans WON'T Do.

This analysis tests the often-made argument that immigrants only do jobs Americans don’t want. If the argument is correct, there should be occupations comprised entirely or almost entirely of immigrants. But Census Bureau data collected from 2005 to 2007, which allow for very detailed analysis, show that even before the recession there were only a tiny number of majority-immigrant occupations.

Among the findings:

Of the 465 civilian occupations, only four are majority immigrant. These four occupations account for less than 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans comprise 47 percent of workers in these occupations.

Many jobs often thought to be overwhelmingly immigrant are in fact majority native-born:
Maids and housekeepers: 55 percent native-born
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 58 percent native-born
Butchers and meat processors: 63 percent native-born
Grounds maintenance workers: 65 percent native-born
Construction laborers: 65 percent native-born
Porters, bellhops, and concierges: 71 percent native-born
Janitors: 75 percent native-born

There are 93 occupations in which 20 percent or more of workers are immigrants. These high-immigrant occupations are primarily, but not exclusively, lower-wage jobs that require relatively little formal education.
​

 

[MKULTRABOY]

I thought we were discussing illegal immigrants?

 

[RiverDad]

Many Americans won't take jobs for the wages that employers are offering and so the employers seek out illegal aliens. When those employers get raided and their illegals get arrested, what do the employers do?

About 400 workers were fired or left the plants voluntarily in the fall after Swift demanded interviews of workers it suspected of being in the country illegally. Immigration officials criticized Swift for not notifying the government that the employees had left. The agency has been unable to find them.

Swift cited a letter, dated Oct. 25, in which the immigration agency said the company was not barred from taking action against any workers it determined were ineligible for jobs. Sean McHugh, the company spokesman, said the immigration agency did not ask to be notified if workers left or were fired. Swift has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The United Food and Commercial Workers filed grievances over the company’s interviews, although after the workers left, the Marshalltown plant raised its starting wage from $9.55 to $11.50 in an attempt to fill the vacancies, said Jim Olesen, the union’s local president.​

Is it true that only Hispanics want these types of jobs?

Fewer Hispanic immigrants are being hired to replace meatpacking workers arrested at Swift & Co. plants in Grand Island, Neb., and Greeley, Colo., during last week's immigration raid, union officials said this week.

Local 22 union president Dan Hoppes said 40 to 50 new workers have been hired at the Grand Island plant since the raids.

"The lion's share of those people were Caucasian," Hoppes said.​

In both situations, the hiring of American workers and the hiring of white American workers, these Americans didn't just materialize from thin air - they were either unemployed, out of the workforce or employed at lower wages elsewhere.

For the right wage, a fair wage, Americans will do any job.

 

[nota bene]

Well, I just can't believe this. Every day I drive past a "Manpower" type employment agency for day-workers and also a couple of street corners where those willing to do day-labor stand. I NEVER see Anglos or blacks, only Hispanics. Why is this?

 

[Superfly]

Care to provide a site that refutes FAIR's claim.
Maybe you could provide a site to support your claim.

Didn't want you to think I was running and hiding with my tail tucked between my legs. I will find you a source, but it will be a reputable source. I popped on for a while to try to find something, and after muddling through 10 pages of blogs, written by right-wing hate-mongers, I got tired of looking. I will look around tomorrow, between homework.

 

[Alyssa]

Interesting. The only argument we have so far from the pro illegal crowd is insinuations of hate and racism.

Some of those opposed to Obama's effort accuse the government and media of undercounting illegal immigrants in order to inflate the total tally of uninsured Americans and make the need for reform more urgent.

Critics also argue that healthcare costs are higher in the United States because illegal immigrants, who often lack insurance and don't pay taxes, drain precious healthcare dollars through trips to emergency rooms and clinics.
Supporters of the Obama plan tend to dismiss the overall impact that illegal immigrants have on the healthcare sector.
Here are some facts about illegal immigrants and healthcare in the United States:
- There are 45.7 million people, or 15.3 percent of the U.S. population, who lack health insurance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, which is based on 2007 data.
- A total of 9.7 million among the uninsured said they were "not a citizen." Foreign students and workers legally in the country as well as illegal immigrants are included in this sub-group, according to Census Bureau researchers.
- Census Bureau researchers are not allowed to ask respondents about their immigration status. Almost all estimates of the number of uninsured illegal immigrants are based on extrapolations from Census surveys.

- There are 6.1 million uninsured adults who are illegal immigrants and 700,000 uninsured children who are illegal immigrants, according to an estimate by the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center, which was based on Census data.
- U.S. citizens accounted for the bulk of the 8.6 million additional people who reported joining the ranks of the uninsured between 2000 and 2006, according to survey data. Two million of these were non-citizens, while half a million were naturalized citizens.
- Some 20 percent of adult citizens have been to an emergency room in the last year, compared to 13 percent of non-citizens adults.
- Illegal immigrants work disproportionately in jobs that do not provide health insurance.
- There is no widely accepted national estimate of the annual cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants, partly because hospitals do not collect immigration figures.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates a temporary moratorium on most immigration, puts the total cost at $10.7 billion and calls the estimate conservative.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; Pew Hispanic Center; Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; Center for Immigration Studies; Leighton Ku, professor of public health policy, George Washington University, Federation for American Immigration Reform, Migration Policy Institute

FACTBOX: Illegal immigrants and U.S. healthcare debate | Reuters

It is accurate to say that there are no accepted figures for the exact cost illegals burden our healthcare system with, but there are reasonable estimations when considering their sheer numbers. However, the highlighted part really annoys me. I guess that's there in order to protect the illegals from all of the hate mongering. :roll:

 

[retirein10years]

There's a certain party that wants illegal immigrants to settle down in the United States. These illegal immigrants represent votes for that particular party. This will be a way to ensure waves and waves of new votes.

 

[majora$$hole]

mandatory military service? No thanks, Mr. Ahmadinejad.

As far as Americans doing the job, I'd rather not pay $7 for a bunch of bananas.

yes mandatory military service for someone who broke the law and wants to make it right. and like i said if they can't do business LEGALLY and still sell bananas for a profit make room for someone who can.

 

[majora$$hole]

I wouldn't want to serve with a conscript/mandatory. Volunteers are different. Sure, some conscripts in Vietnam (etc) woulda been volunteers anyway or were happy to serve.

if they don't WANT to sign up then deport them.

 

[majora$$hole]

tomato, toMAHto. You know what I mean. OK. I'd rather not pay $5 for a head of lettuce. As far as your other statement, it's a good thing that prices aren't set based on Mike's willingness to pay for them. Not all families could afford to pay prices like that, just because you can. Guess that means that they don't deserve fresh produce, because they can't afford to pay exhorbitant prices.

without a job i'm guessing some 16 million americans can't afford ANY prices.

 

[majora$$hole]

Eons ago I saw a PBS (I think) program on immigrants and sweat-shops and etc., and American after American with no marketable job skills essentially said "Hell, no" when asked if they would be willing to do the work that so many immigrants legal or otherwise would.

And I believed it because I've seen conditions in a couple of "third-world countries" in this hemisphere, and with notable exceptions, most "poor folks" in this country cannot even imagine what poverty is like in those countries.

you are telling this to someone who cleans **** spakled pots for a living if i'm willing to do that i think i will do just about any job.

 

[ecofarm]

I'd rather not pay $5 for a head of lettuce.

Food prices are way too low. The US pays a fraction of income compared to pretty much everywhere else. The Farm Bill is an exercise in nonsense all itself. We allow externalities of all kinds to overconsume; it's doing bad to do bad. We need to decentralize our agriculture. China and Cuba did, to save their economies from full collapse, and the USSR tried too late. If lettuce was $5/head, perhaps people would eat it, grow some of their own or seek alternative sources (eg. CSA). Gas should also be higher, let's end some subsidies regarding that (and account for some externalities). There ain't gonna be cheap crap forever, people; change your lifestyle.

I don't think $5 lettuce, bananas or any other produce is gonna affect a middle and lower class that is 50% obese due to eating (and drinking) something else. Seriously, you think a bunch of fat, government educated welfare cases give a crap about the price of fresh produce? Look at them.

 

[Superfly]

Um..... OK.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

I don't think $5 lettuce, bananas or any other produce is gonna affect a middle and lower class that is 50% obese due to eating (and drinking) something else. Seriously, you think a bunch of fat, government educated welfare cases give a crap about the price of fresh produce? Look at them.

Actually one of the reasons (and likely the primary reason) they are obese is because it is the unhealthiest food that is cheapest....

 

[Superfly]

Actually one of the reasons (and likely the primary reason) they are obese is because it is the unhealthiest food that is cheapest....

I've always made this argument, and am always met with opposition. It's so much cheaper to buy a pound of cookies than it is to even buy a pint of strawberries. You can buy a pound of cookies for a dollar. A pint of strawberries is $3.00. Grapes are $2 a pound, and you can't just buy a pound of grapes. You have to buy a pretty sizable bag, with 2 or 3 pounds in it. You can buy things like bananas for pretty cheap, heads of lettuce, etc, but they just won't last that long, and when you don't have alot of money, it's not only how cheap it is to buy, but also how long it's going to last when you get it home.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

Soda is 89¢ for 2 litres at the local grocery store.

 

[Superfly]

for the same size bottle of fruit juice, you're looking at around $3.00. Grape juice, cranapple, cranberry. Apple juice and orange juice, if you get the store brand, is around $2 for 64 ounces, but it's usually not as good. More bitter.

And granted, fruit juice is full of sugar too, but it's also full of vitamins and nutrients, and along with that sugar, you get full servings of fruit, or in V8 V-Fusion case, a full serving of veg in every 8 oz glass, even though it tastes like fruit juice. My 12 year old loves the Cranberry-Blackberry V-Fusion, and doesn't realize she's "eating her vegetables" every time she has a glass.

 

[Alyssa]

It has already been established that the cost of labor isn't a major factor in food costs.

 

[dixiesolutions]

Why is nothing being done about Illegal Immagration?

The Barrack Hussain Obama Administration could care less about it....simple as that.

Barrack Hussain Obama keeps sending (dumping) Billions upon Billions of U.S. Dollards overseas to Muslim countries. Do you think he considers Illegal Immagrants a problem?.....NO.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Why is nothing being done about Illegal Immagration?

The Barrack Hussain Obama Administration could care less about it....simple as that.

Barrack Hussain Obama keeps sending (dumping) Billions upon Billions of U.S. Dollards overseas to Muslim countries. Do you think he considers Illegal Immagrants a problem?.....NO.

Jesus Christ, if you're going to put the presidents middle name into your posts (in an obviously disparaging way) at least have the courtesy to spell it correctly.

Hussein.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

It has already been established that the cost of labor isn't a major factor in food costs.

I doubt it. Laobr costs are very much a big factor in agricultural and manufacturing industries, for obvious reasons. Perhaps a link or a study?

 

[MKULTRABOY]

I doubt it. Laobr costs are very much a big factor in agricultural and manufacturing industries, for obvious reasons. Perhaps a link or a study?

Certain other factors were discussed in some other thread which puts it into dispute, its not as clean cut as a rising cost due to lack of labor.

 

[Politicalreaper]

Its not so much about a fence or a wall, i beleive the most cost effective way to secure the us/mexican border is too bring our troops home and station them along the border. I feel we are being invaded by an outside force, to come here illegaly shows you have no respect for this country, its laws or its citizens. What has happend in the past when a country invades another...war. Mexico needs to learn a hard and valuable lesson about respect.