Why Don't Democrats Speak out Against ILLEGAL "Immigration"??

[guajira]

Do we support corporations paying less than minimum wage for people to work in horrendous work conditions and have horrendous living conditions, so we can - supposedly - have cheaper food??

Does the cost to US taxpayers for social services, law enforcement, medical services, education, etc. for the illegals really outweigh any "savings"??

Seems to me we pay and corporations profit!!!

[DavidNY]

1. The problem is that for the current legal-immigration quotas to work...

we have to assume a certain amount of illegal immigration. Cracking down on illegal immigration is only sensible if we also significantly increase the number of people allowed to immigrate legally; otherwise, the reduction in overall immigration caused by a crackdown on illegal immigration would hurt the economic strength and cultural vibrance of this country.

If you're for an increase in legal immigration, shifting people from the illegal to legal "side" so that they won't be invisible for purposes like the minimum wage is a reasonable proposal. But if you're just suggesting that people who want to make a better life for themselves and their children here are, in general, a cost that we can't afford, and should be kept out, I'm going to have to disagree with you.

[PsN2Wind]

2. With unemployment

officially claimed to be 6% and is most likely double that if everyone unemployed was counted, just how many immigrants does the country need? And skip the "they only take jobs that citizens won't do". I worked years in the construction and meat-packing industries both of which are now huge employers of immigrants both legal and illegal.

[Toots]

13. Wow ~~ What you said ...Dude

That was cool what you wrote man it's how I feel exactly. :bounce: :bounce:

[Pocho]

3. YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE "A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN"

The following snips are from last Saturday's Guadalajara/Chapala Colony Reporter. The full story can be linked to by clicking here.

In 1998, Yareli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau made a 28-minute documentary entitled "A Day Without a Mexican." In the film, Mexicans in California vanish suddenly, without a trace. California goes into a panic as citizens are unable to conduct daily business -- with the best mechanic in the neighborhood gone, the baby sitter too, and that business deal just can't be closed without the investor. At one point in the film, some are forced to buy 100 dollar heads of lettuce on the black market for lack of cheap labor.

The state becomes a mess as its people can't deal without the absent Mexicans. It was meant to call the attention of xenophobic U.S. politicians and citizens to the crucial economic and cultural importance of Mexicans in California and the entire United States. Now the same production team is back to create a feature film based on the documentary. .... The film will be in English.

[blondeatlast]

8. Do you know where I can get a copy for the library?

My boss is going to the Guadalajara Book Fair, maybe I'll suggest she look for it. I'd love to see it; so many people have no idea of the impact the immigrants have on our day to day lives.

Thanks.

[Pocho]

12. I DON'T BELIEVE IT IS A BOOK

It was produced a couple years ago as a half hour TV doucmentary. The Guadalajara/Chapala Reporter article is about it being made in Mexico into an English language full length feature film. From what I've read, the Guadalajara Book Fair is quite an event. We are about 30 miles south of there but have never attended it.

[Undemcided]

9. Cheap labour

Illegals push down wages for legal immigrants and take away many entry-level gigs for people. The old “but who will pick our lettuce?” line won’t cut it. If there wasn’t cheap labour that was there to be exploited we would have to come up with other answers. Someone, somewhere, would have the solution. Maybe cheaper robotic solutions would be developed?

Cotton used to be picked by hand and I’ll bet some slave owners used to say ““but who will pick our cotton?”. Well in 1944 the first commercial cotton picker was developed.

PS: I’ll wait for the follow-up to the film, which will be titled “A DAY WITHOUT A WHITEY”. Should be interesting.

[Mairead]

4. "Seems to me we pay and corporations profit!!!"

Yes, and?

[SharonAnn]

15. Yup, slavery all over again.

eom

[Sterling]

5. I am against it.

My father and stepfather run businesses that depend on cheap labor and they don't think highly of the illigal or legals for that matter they employ.

Lately I have noticed more of a begrudging admiration for their low wage slaves. They say things like "You just can't get white people to do these jobs anymore."

It is a cycle that only lowers standards for workers here and there. If it was about equality and opertunity I would feel differnetly but its not. Its about cheap labor.

[musiclawyer]

6. excellent replies

Illegal immigration will be a problem if left unchecked and not countered with sound and more liberal legal immigration policy. Ignoring the issue plays right into the hand of the right wingers who want to seal the Border. Part of the solution has to do with "fair trade" and environmental requirements with Mexico and other Southern neighbors; also narrowing the economic disparity between thecountries. Living wage is another component. Mexican property law is another component. It's so complicated that most don't think it's worth the effort to address. Just wait though. In most of our lifetimes, California's "Quebec" problem is going to make the original one look small by comparison.

[GBD4]

7. Support illegal immigrants, please!

If not for the bureaucracy of the immigration process, more immigrants would be legal. Many illegal immigrants toil each and every day, and risked their lives to be here.

I urge all of you to support the DREAM Act as introduced in the Senate. Illegal status does not benefit many people. Those who are deserving ought to be granted amnesty. It's not about cheap labor. It's about humanity! These are people like you and me who are being barred from access to health care and education as they work side by side Americans, performing equivalent tasks.

I don't know about you all, but I will never side with Tom Tancredo on this issue.

[alaine]

16. I'm way more concerned about white collar crimes like

out-sourcing, importing goods from sweatshops in other countries, environmental pollution, and the ever popular tax-evasion and accounting fraud.

It is a slick right-wing tool to make the people on the lower half of the social food chain hate and resent each other while these corporations have increased pay for their C.E.O's something like 3000% in the last couple of decades.

They get us so distracted by these petty resentments of so&so of such&such race/ gender/ sexual preference wants/ gets special rights/ privileges and what they have is what I was promised and they stole it from me therefore they should be imprisoned/ deported/ murdered, that we forget that if we got together as a united front we could totally kick their white collar criminal asses.

It's depressing that we seem to fall for it every time, too.

[librechik]

10. because we are pro-labor--and illegals only want a JOB!

and it's probably not your job either (unless you like to shuck oysters or clean houses for a living)

[mitchum]

11. Ahh..there is where you make the typical short-sighted bourgeois...

mistake. Do you really think that THEIR CHILDREN will be "content" with undesireable work? How about your job?

[redeye]

14. Why?

Because the USA exists to serve the world's people, including Mexicans. It's intolerable that it discriminates between people who happened to be born inside its borders and people who did not.

As for the cost to the US government, by the same token you could argue for executing everyone who's unemployed for more than 3 months. 'Twould save the government a lot on welfare, ya know...