Every country in the world has the right to enforce their immigration laws

[951-Riverside]

"Nobody at least is saying at this point that (the undocumented immigrants) should automatically become citizens."

The government however needs "to provide an avenue for earned legalisation," and enforce border regulations "but do it in collaboration with our neighbours in Canada and Mexico."

- Antonio Villaraigosa


Thank You Antonio for being the voice of reason unlike Bush and his repetitive "they the work americans won't do" bullshit.

Edit: I couldn't add quotation marks to the quite in the subject because if I did that I couldn't include the entire quote.

[MadMaddie]

1. This is spot on.....

The US in the last 6-10 years has failed to enforce border regulations due to the lack of border patrol.

And he is right Canada and Mexico need to handle their issues as well....

[BlueManDude]

2. It's not the jobs that are demeaning - it's the wages

When I hear this crap that "Americans won't do" this or that job I want to scream.

Americans will shovel shit if it provdes a living wage and the benefits to take care of themselves and their families.

[nylab123]

3. Sorry, but I HIGHLY disagree

with your statement. I am from Tennessee, and I know some of the laziest people to ever walk the face of the Earth... They wouldn't take a "good" job as a manager of a big company if it were offered to him. They enjoy their welfare and sitting around the house all day. I worked at a factory for $7.75 an hour and this girl worked with me that pissed me off with her laziness. All the did was complain everytime she had to get off of her fat ass to actually do some work. She had two kids at home that she was collecting child support for. She said she would rather sit home and have more babies for the checks (government and baby-daddies) than be at work. She lasted about two weeks. I come from a hard working middle class family, and was taught working values.

I believe for a sad percentage of the population, they would not shovel shit for a living wage and benefits, but rob and steal, or find illegal methods of wage earning to care for themselves and their families. My brother in law is that way for example. Nuff said.

[cascadiance]

4. I think there are some who will, but NOT for slave labor wages!

That's the big difference. People here have to live in the cost of living in this society. Those hiring these illegals want to get away with underpaying people where they can. They can because those coming over the border know that the money they make here will go a lot further back in Mexico for their families back there, or for them if they move back there later, compared to people here that don't have the option to move to Mexico to live if they are dirt poor.

Here's a post that I was just trying to make to the racism thread while it was getting locked. I really don't think this is a racist attitude too. I feel the same way about others from Eastern Europe coming here on H1-B Visas too, or other places where labor is too cheap.

I do love working in diverse working environments with many different races and nationalities. That's one of the reasons why I moved to the west coast from the midwest, to be in a place with more diversity.

That being said, I think it's a shame that many of us who ARE concerned about too many illegal immigrants or "less than legal" immigrants like H1-B visa people are coming in and basically lowering the wages, etc. of people who are citizens here, since they aren't competing on an even playing field.

I DO believe that those hiring immigrants should be forced to verify their immigration status before hiring them, whether they are direct employees or going through an agency (like Wal-Mart has recently gotten in trouble for doing lately). Using contracting agencies is the typical way companies use to work around the "competitive wage" restriction that are supposed to be placed on H1-B Visa hires. By going through a contracting agency that only hires H1-B Visa people, there are no similar employees who are citizens working for those agencies directly which would provide a measurement as to how much those workers should be paid. Thus many of them get paid a lot less than they would as American citizens for the same jobs, basically allowing large companies like HP or Sun to outsource huge chunks of their work force to these H1-B contracting companies and chop down their labor costs.

I really think it is time to have global labor unions that try to force good labor conditions EVERYWHERE in the world, so that the race to the bottom that many multinationals are embarking on will stop. I view that as helpful to those who are trying to work here illegally. It's not that I necessarily want to kick them back to their country. I want for them to feel that they can have good working middle class lives in their own country, and I'm guessing that many would prefer to work close to home if they could too. If they still want to come to our country to emigrate for other reasons (getting married to an American citizen, etc.), I would more than welcome here. That kind of immigration shouldn't hurt us.

This government has been trying to split us on both this issue and the ports issue. We have to make it very clear what our reasons for opposing illegal immigration are, as well as why we feel the ports deal was a bad deal, so that people can't rationalize that we have racist reasons for both issues, when I feel that the legitimate reasons are not racist at all. It's just that there are more on the right that DO have racist reasons for taking the same sides on these issues, and they are the ones getting the attention from the media.

I'm hopeful that when we have someone like Feingold back in power, that the NAFTA/CAFTA/GATT deals can be pulled off the shelf and reviewed and renegotiated so that organizations like the WTO don't only try to force "free trade" between different member countries, but also have the power (and the proper personnel) to force fair labor conditions for them all too. Then perhaps global work competition won't be as damaging as it has been recently.

[newyawker99]

5. Hi nylab123!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[951-Riverside]

6. Welcome nylab123!!

:hi: