AP: 1 of every 20 workers is an illegal immigrant, study says

[Newsjock]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/262144_immig08.html?dpfrom=thead

WASHINGTON -- The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers, a new estimate says.

Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, said a report Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Instead, the report's author said, those efforts are having an unintended consequence: People who illegally enter the United States from Mexico are staying longer because it is harder to move back and forth across the border.

... There are about 7.2 million undocumented workers in the United States, or about 5 percent of the country's work force, the Pew report said.

It estimated that illegal immigrants fill a quarter of all agricultural jobs, 17 percent of office and house cleaning positions, 14 percent of construction jobs and 12 percent of food preparation jobs.

more

[bananas]

1. How many are H1B's? How many on temporary visas?

[jbnow]

5. But those wouldn't be

illegal immigrants (unless you mean they stayed on past the time allowed)

[bananas]

15. "legal immigrants" would include people who are now citizens

I was wondering what percentage of our labor force are foreigners working here legally, to compare with the number that are illegal.

[bullimiami]

2. cheap labor republicans like it.

[QC]

12. Cheap labor liberals seem to like it, too. n/t

[bullimiami]

13. good point.

[Bandit]

19. Maybe Cheap Labor Democrats but I doubt Liberals

There is a difference. I doubt Liberals are hiring many illegal immigrants. I could be wrong and often seem to be but in this case it would seem to go against entire philosophy of Liberalism. Law and Order are a prerequisite. Liberals possibly would be in favor of changing existing laws to provide for immigration problems but to blatantly violate existing law seems inappropriate.

[QC]

20. Plenty of people here advocate open borders

and casually trot out the Bushevik talking point that undocumented workers "are only doing jobs Americans won't do." Hardly a day goes by when one doesn't see that sort of thing here.

[pitohui]

21. sad to say QC is correct

i have seen such talking points here

[flordehinojos]

3. just yesterday my husband was saying,

"they want to go after the illegal immigrants in this country? why don't they go out to the orange groves, and the tomatoe patches, and the lettuce groves, and the vineyards--the great u.s.a. government, they all know where those places are, and they know how to get there and find the illegals--and they know how to find the people who employ them. they want to stop illegal immigration? arrest those who employ them! that is one sure fire hell way to stop them--but the government won't do it." my husband said.

[Mountainman]

4. Because they would have to raise the price of food.

Also, many of the workers are employees of a labor contractor not the grower. The grower pays the contractor to supply skilled pickers and the tools needed and he doesn't get involved with the whole business of having employees.

[flordehinojos]

9. then they should go after the contractors AND the growers who knowingly

hire illegal immigrants.

[Voltaire99]

6. Your husband understands.

That's the problem, all right. Cheap labor for the rich. It's been this way for many decades and is only going to continue. The nation's infrastructure was built this way, first with slaves, later with imported labor only marginally different to slaves, and now its agriculture and dirtiest industrial and service work is done by desperate refugees. But first, these miserable souls must evade our border police and white supremacist vigilantes: proving their fitness, you see, to be properly exploited.

Meanwhile, the politicians posture and play upon nativist hatreds. Not surprisingly, the same pols support outsourcing!

[flordehinojos]

10. yes ... "survival of the fittest" seems to apply not only to

our animal kingdom, but to our own human world as well. how truly sad.

[bowens43]

7. I don't have a problem with this.

the only problem I have is the treatment these people receive from unscrupulous employers.

[RagingInMiami]

8. Today's illegal immigrants

Are the parents of tomorrow's working professionals.

[flordehinojos]

11. yes...many of the politicians themselves ought to go back and research

their own genealogy, going back to three or four generations--there is much that they would learn from that.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. The illegal status is the key.

It's funny you should mention politicians researching their own past. I have one set of great-grandparents who were immigrants from Europe. Before they came to the U.S., they had to scrape together the money for passage. Once here, they worked at the hardest, lowest-paying jobs around. Their employers were free to treat them poorly because the immigrant needed the job a lot more than the boss needed that individual -- there were boatloads of his/her countrymen coming in every week. More than a few of the bosses didn't feel the need to treat them decently because they felt the immigrants were from an inferior ethnicity. They lived crammed into apartments with other relatives or countrymen in buildings that were essentially tenements. They saved money and sent home some to the desperately poor family left behind. They kept their noses clean because any scrape with the law could result in deportation. So far, they sound like the current immigrants, right?

Here's the difference. They were screened when they arrived at the American port and accepted as immigrants. They were free to get jobs, join unions, marry, etc. without subterfuge. In five years they were able to declare their intent to become citizens. Most did, because that afforded them legal protections and the right to vote. Some chose not to become citizens, and were free to go to the homeland for visit without fear of being denied access back to their American lives.

My immigrants were different because they had legal recognition. Either we admit we need this influx of workers and create a legal mechanism, or we need to enforce existing laws at the employer end of the equation and curb the flow.

[flordehinojos]

28. LET US NEVER FORGET THAT MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS & OTHERS THEREAFTER ARRIVED ON

THESE SHORES WITHOUT VISAS. LET US NEVER FORGET THAT THEY AND THEIR DESCENDANTS OCCUPIED THESE LANDS & TREATED THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THESE LANDS (THE AMERICAN INDIANS--OR NATIVE AMERICANS IF YOU PREFER) CRIMINALLY BY RUNNING THEM OUT OF THEIR OWN LANDS AND TERRITORIES. LET US NEVER FORGET THAT THEY RELEGATED OUR OWN NATIVE AMERICANS TO LIFE IN A SECOND CLASS SUBCULTURE... let us never forget that the white man is still imposing his supremacy over the native american, the black american, the hispanic american, particularly so, or more pronouncedly so, in these dark times of the bushes reign. let us just, never forget!

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Are you yelling at me?

Or are you just yelling? I ask because I don't believe that anything I wrote should provoke such a reply, and if you think differently, please explain.

[flordehinojos]

32. i would like to think that i was neither yelling at you nor just yelling.

i would like to think that i was merely pointing to a fact between,

"Here's the difference. They were screened when they arrived at the American port and accepted as immigrants. They were free to get jobs, join unions, marry, etc. without subterfuge. In five years they were able to declare their intent to become citizens. Most did, because that afforded them legal protections and the right to vote. Some chose not to become citizens, and were free to go to the homeland for visit without fear of being denied access back to their American lives."

and the time when those who came to a foreign land (back in the Mayflower and later) came without VISAS, pushed the native Americans out of their lands and territories, grabbed much away from them, and then treated them like less than human, which they are still doing.

and so again, i say, than when we speak of so much rectitude with so much rectitude, let us never forget just how it all began.

that is all.

i am sorry if you took it (or take it) as somehow being yelled at by me.

i sincerely hope that is not what i am doing.

[Gormy Cuss]

33. It's the "All caps".

That's construed as yelling and as I said, I wasn't sure if it was directed at me or just the issue. That's why I asked. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

The colonization and racial intolerance issues notwithstanding, I hope that I was clear in my point that legal status beats the hell out of illegal status for the individual immigrants. As long as we allow a system that supports substantial illegal immigration we are tacitly agreeing to let people get screwed.

[PVK]

23. IMMIGRATION LAWS need to be followed.

They WERE in the past, you know.

[flordehinojos]

29. it is too bad that our native americans did not know about IMMIRGRATION

LAWS when the MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS and other COLONIZERS came to their land to OCCUPY IT and relegate them to second class citizens, hidden from the democracy they established and so loudly proclaimed every WHITE man to be free.

[judaspriestess]

14. from what I have seen here in Vegas

the majority of the illegal immigrants here have TAX ID's. Meaning they have registered with the government in a different kind of way and pay taxes. I have guys in construction making $30.00, 25.00, 18.00 etc an hour. They make damn good money.

[corporate_mike]

17. 12 million AND growing by 500,000 each year

[superconnected]

18. So make them legal and take out taxes.

Sorry but even though I know there are illegal immigrants that hold jobs, I still can't help seeing this as anti-immigrant propaganda.

Maybe it's that monster churning out hate for groups of people, leading the country.

"In Washington on Tuesday, tens of thousands of immigrant workers rallied outside the U.S. Capitol, protesting what they consider hateful legislation targeting illegal immigration.

A coalition of labor unions, churches and community groups organized the rally against the House bill passed last year. The legislation calls for building a new security fence along portions of the U.S.-Mexico border and toughens penalties against both illegal immigrants and the people who employ them"

oh look, there's money involved.

[Sub Atomic]

22. I say impose a 5-year mandatory sentence for the owner of the company

for every single illegal alien they hire.

Federal Minimum Mandatory Sentence.

No ifs. Ands. Or buts.

[SoCalDem]

24. Impound their companies & auction it off..take their houses, cars

They would be too afraid to hire "iffy" employees..:)

[superconnected]

27. a lot of time the employers don't know

The illegals can hand in anyones social security number. I saw this with my own employees. After I closed the business then I started finding out about my employees. They were great workers :)

Oh, and they paid taxes. I certianly took them out of their pay checks. Whoevers SSN's some of them used, is the only one who benefits long term though.

So sad for the illegals in the long run.

I'm sure most of the companies employing these people are taking out taxes, and have been given social security numbers and convincing stories. It's easy to hire someone else than knowingly risk your business. I bet the business owners don't realize they are at risk.

With my employees it was the ones I wouldn't have suspected who were a problem. I had one gal that spoke no english, and I'm pretty sure she was legal. The one who spoke english perfectly was one of them I found out likely wasn't.

I don't know for sure. Personally, I accidentally used the wrong social security number for years and the irs corrected it after I found out and contacted them. They never stoped me being under someone elses though. I had to pursue getting my work history changed to my SSN.

As far as iffy - half of my employees couldn't pass drug tests. They looked fine. Normal. I was constantly getting rid of normal looking people for things like using meth. At hiring, some of the people really seem like they are together, then you find out...

[Thor_MN]

25. If I can find 18 legal co-workers, can I get the INS to deport my boss?

[coalition_unwilling]

34. LMAO -- that's so clever! (eom)

[Endangered Specie]

26. Wouldn't Native Americans say its more like 19.9 of 20?

:shrug: :sarcasm:

[JPZenger]

31. 25% of agricultural workers are illegal

The article said that illegal aliens make up a very high percentage of workers in food processing, restaurants, agriculture, and construction.

For the jobs that Americans really don't want (such as picking crops in the heat), maybe we should be making it easier for people to legally work.