Dec 31 2007
Thoughts on illegal immigration and the whole “jobs we won’t do” thing
I posted an article a few days ago about Manuel Jesus Cordova, and how his decision to take the moral high road and save the life of a kid cost him his bid to come here illegally.
It mentioned in passing that he was coming here to work to support 2 families, which I gather was two women and the children he fathered by each. Admirable on its face, but why come here?
Well, simply put, he can make enough money here to do it. The question is, how? And the answer is that he lives small and works hard.
This brings us into the whole jobs we won’t do argument, that illegals are harder working and more willing to work low paying menial jobs, to the extent that they will come here illegally to do so.
A friend, Connie, sent me this link to a blog by a radio host, who takes exception to that premise:
http://760kfmb.com/rick_blog/?p=15
FAT LAZY AMERICAN -VS- HARD WORKING ILLEGALS
CBS has done a poll on the problem of illegal immigration in the United States.
Most of the results are reflective of what you hear in The Court of Public Opinion… except for one.
We self-deprecating Americans believe that immigrants work harder than people born in the U.S. .
There is, unfortunately some truth to it. The fact is that immigrants will take any job they can, leaving them open to the unskilled and low skilled jobs that many Americans shun, not necessarily because they are menial, but because they don’t pay well.
Another factor is the wage gap between the ’skilled’ jobs and the unskilled, a gap driven in some small measure by the unions. Why work at a hotel as a maid for 20k when you can work at a factory making 50k?
And that is not entirely greed, it is often survival, because the reality is that few people can live on minimum wage jobs.
So yes, the immigrants (legal and illegal) will often do job we won’t because frankly the pay scale is not enough to entice us.
And the employers often do not mind, as they pay less in wages and taxes.
The idea that Americans are spoiled and lazy and illegals are hard workers helping us keep our economy and country alive got 46% approval.
And the idea that illegals “take jobs that Americans won’t do” got overwhelming support with 58% agreeing with that idea.
The issue that burns me is this idea that illegals work harder than American Citizens. This worries me. This whole idea that our economy would crash if not for illegals is a huge liberal lie.
Again, I am going to politely diagree…to a point. The issue is not laziness (though sometimes it is very relevant), it is often work ethic. I have seen too many cases of people who come here from other countries (most legal) who will out work their native counterparts because they were raised in a culture that encouraged them to do so. To make it an absolute is foolish, but to ignore it, is also foolish.
The liberals act as if illegals found this country, built America, wrote the Constitution, founded our government, built our cities, fed our babies, and went into to work to do our job for us every day.
A straw man argument I am happy to ignore.
It’s so self defeating…and it gives way too much credit to a group of people who, yes, work hard… but oddly enough, can’t seem to find their way to an immigration office to become legal citizens.
Id there was a system that was effective, i have no doubt a significant portion of them would.
Here’s what I think is happening. I think a liberal political spin is being put forth that illegals are necessary, hard working, and that our economy is dependent on them. Therefore, Americans will be less inclined to get them the heck out of our country!
I would not agree with that spin, and yes that is what some liberals are indeed postulating. They are hiding it though, and this is something this author ignored, by refusing to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. Immigrant workers do contribute to our country’s economy, but I think their contribution is felt more by the legal ones. The liberals enjoy that over generalization.
The answer continues to lie in reforming the guest worker programs to create a system that encourages them to come here legally, stricter enforcement of existing laws against workplaces who higher illegals to discourage the practice, and dry up the illegal job market and figure out some way to deal with the illegals who are here that is effective and feasible.
What won’t help is over generalizations, false accusations, false promises and demagoguery.
And that’s all we seem to be getting.
Trackposted to Stop the ACLU, Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Is It Just Me?, The Midnight Sun, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Stix Blog, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Chuck Adkins, Adeline and Hazel, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The Uncooperative Blogger, Pirate’s Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, Stageleft, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, guerrilla radio, 123beta, Adam’s Blog, Cao’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, Phastidio.net, Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Allie is Wired, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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