Illegal immigration is a hot topic in the ’sphere about now. I visit blogs of all political persuasions throughout WordPress.com, and I’d say opinion seems to run about seven against to three for an open door policy in the USA. I don’t possess the economic chops (or the intellect to acquire them) to comment on the subject intelligently. Of course something similar can be said about any subject I blog on. I don’t let awareness of my ignorance stop me from showing it.
Firstly, I have nothing against hispanics. (I realize hispanic is a bad term. I use it in the interest of brevity and clarity). I don’t know any hispanics personally. Those that I’ve met were charming folks. I suspect that there are a few nice ones, and that most are jerks, just like I’ve found to be true in all the other races I’ve dealt with.
That said, I am concerned about how the invasion of my country by millions of potential competitors affects my future. As an unskilled, uneducated individual, I think my concerns are valid. Contrary to what Mr. Bush and his liberal buddies say, illegals aren’t just taking jobs no one wants. Anyone who works in the service or construction sectors of our economy can tell you illegal aliens are very well represented there. While those may be jobs no American wants, many of us have to work at them, en lieu of turning to crime.
In a nutshell, I don’t want to pay $100 bucks for a flat of strawberries. On the other hand, I’d like to earn enough money to afford cheap strawberries. Am I a bad person?
26 Comments
November 17, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Here’s an interesting story on immigration:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/111706dnsuncactus.47511b61.html
November 18, 2006 at 2:49 am
You are a sensible person; not a bad person. At the very least we should have an identity card system where we could at least identify every person here who is legal and every person here who is a “guest”. You might be surprised at how many really bad people are here!
November 18, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Hispanic is a bad word? I thought some take offense if you call them Latino when they’re Puerto Rican, I made that mistake once, lol. How was I supposed to know? He didn’t have an obvious accent and he had that look.
November 18, 2006 at 9:46 pm
I think the national i.d. card while nice in theory – won’t work. For one thing, isn’t that what our social security cards are about? I live in L.A. – believe me if you want to buy a ss card, driver’s license or anything else and you have the money you can do so. And giving the government one more way of keeping track of me is not high on my list.
No J, you aren’t a bad person at all. I don’t like the invasion either. I know many hispanic people both legal and illegal. Some are idiots some are nice folks – like any group it has its good apples and bad apples.
I don’t care if they come as long as it is legally. Although, I think the unskilled labor lottery numbers should be much lower than the skilled lottery numbers for immigrants.
It is wreaking havoc with our economy in so many ways – healthcare, education, infrastructure, welfare, flat out consumption of goods, tht if it were reversed the cost of fruit wouldn’t go up all that much. In fact if I have to pay $3 for a basket of strawberries but can be assured I will be able to get into an emergency room and see a doctor before I drop dead, I’m willing to make the tradeoff.
As to the real motivation behind wanting the non-stop flow of illegals…I read an interesting column by Herman Caine that floats the theory that the real reason they are needed is because of all the payroll taxes that are collected are keeping social security afloat. And since no one tries to collect on those benefits directly since they are paid on bogus ss numbers that money goes into the coffers. Congress uses that as their slush fund. If the flow of illegals stops, who/what is going to cover their butts? My philosophy…follow the money – it answers just about any question.
WC
November 19, 2006 at 1:13 pm
writerchick – You’re no doubt aware that politicians in Mexico want the US to forward money confiscated from illegals via FICA to Mexico. Of all the things going on on the national stage, I think this (illegal immigration) is the most bizarre. Well, the politicians are the most bizarre (bizarrest?), but you know what I mean.
November 19, 2006 at 1:38 pm
lightcontrast – Are you saying they all look alike to you? ;^/
A girl I once dated made the mistake of suggesting another girl I knew was Mexican. The girl was actually Venezuelan, and set my girlfriend straight on no uncertain terms. The rebuff hurt my girlfriend’s feelings, which I thought was strange because she was Japanese-American, and didn’t hesitate to dress people down who suggested she was Chinese or Korean. People are strange. I know I am.
November 19, 2006 at 9:42 pm
J,
Not exactly. I knew he must’ve had some spanish blood in him, but I couldn’t tell where he was from, he didn’t have much of an accent and he did look kind of dark. I learned afterwards from his friend, where he was from. The hispanic boy annoyed me and he later confronted me with his friend standing by, nothing scary cuz he had a crush on me, but I sure did feel embarassed. But also, I’ve never traveled to any spanish-speaking countries, so I can’t identify their country of origin by just glancing at them. Could you guess by just glancing at Antonio Banderas that he’s from Spain? He is.
I’m Chinese American and sometimes I do feel a little irritated when I get called Japanese, but I understand that it’s hard to see the differences unless you look closely and know what to look for.
Light
November 19, 2006 at 11:15 pm
J,
No, I hadn’t heard that new bizarre twist about the FICA. Jeez, these people have their nerve. I’d love to see some Americans pull the same crap in Mexico and see what happens. Can you imagine Americans insisting that Mexico allow them to vote in their elections and let us wave American flags at their government offices, while waiting for our emergency care and food stamps? Taking over the construction industry and forming political action committees? Oh yeah, that would happen.
WC
November 20, 2006 at 9:40 am
writerchick – Yeah, when the illegals were marching, waving the Mexican flag, and yelling about what a racist country they were invading, I was thinking I should’ve picked my own damn strawberries. Hindsight.
November 21, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Politicians will never solve illegal immigration until they grow a set, and punish employers who hire them. No jobs=no illegals (in theory)
November 21, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Wow, I just realized I said almost the exact same thing in another of your threads. Sorry (hey at least I consistent)
November 21, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Pink Slip – I think we’re pissed off about a lot of the same bullshit. Feel free to repeat yourself as often as you see fit!
November 26, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Illegal immigration is obviously a big problem in America. I agree that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that many Americans feel they are to good to do. I do not have a problem with Hispanics or any other nationality of people coming to America to make a better life for themselves, however, I just believe they should be forced to do it legally. I think they should be made to go through the process of becoming a citizen before getting the perks of being an American citizen.
January 30, 2007 at 7:18 pm
This country is a fucking joke… they say immigrants should be doing it legally but it’s not as easy as it may sound. I’m from California (native) where I see my share of immigrants and unlike a lot of the people that have written on this page I have talked to a lot of hispanics (which by the way is not a bad term) and you should really try and see how hard it is to become a legal citizen in this country. You know why they call it the American dream?? Because you have to be asleep to believe it.
February 10, 2007 at 5:06 pm
We seriously need to focus on helping the hispanics we already have before we import millions more. They NEED help. But money to help the less fortunate is finite (progressive policies do not change that fundamental finiteness). We can choose to have a big hispanic population that we have at least half a chance in hell of uplifting, or a gigantic hispanic population with far less of a chance of ever getting out of the underclass:
“Longest, Largest” study of the children of immigrants yet conducted, by Alejandro Portes of Princeton and Ruben Rumbaut of UC Irvine:
http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1529
excerpts:
“Differences in arrest and incarceration rates are also noteworthy, particularly among second-generation, U.S.-born, males. While only 10 percent of second-generation immigrant males in the survey had been incarcerated, that figure jumped to 20 percent among West Indian and Mexican American youths.”
“The researchers found that children of Laotian and Cambodian Americans as well as Haitian Americans had the lowest median annual household income at just over $25,000. They were followed closely by Mexican American families, which had a median annual household income of about $30,000. On the other end of the spectrum, children of upper-middle-class Cuban exiles in Southern Florida reported a household income of more than $70,000, and Filipino Americans in Southern California had more than $64,000, followed by Chinese immigrants.”
Also, see this:
“Coming US Challenge: A Less Literate Workforce”
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0206/p02s01-legn.htm
excerpts:
“The three factors identified are: a shifting labor market increasingly rewarding education and skills, a changing demographic that include a rapid-growing Hispanic population, and a yawning achievement gap, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines, when it comes to reading and math.
The individual trends have been identified before, but this study makes an effort to examine their combined effects, and to project a disturbing future, including a sharply declining middle class in addition to the lost ground in literacy.
“We have the possibility of transforming the American dream into the American tragedy,” says Irwin Kirsch, a senior research director at ETS and the lead author of the study.”
April 5, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I wonder how the American Indians feel about us white men giving our country back to one tribe, the Aztecs, who never lived inside the borders of the United States! I’d feel doubly injured. And what’s this B.S. we hear from illegals about “we didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us?” Aztlan (AZTecLANd) is a total myth, created to justify invading a territory they have no more right to than the Europeans did. The Aztecs were never found north of central Mexico, let alone in the SouthWest U.S., until the Spaniards brought some of them along when the missions were being established. You hear La Raza types saying that the whole North American continent belongs to Hispanics, and that “European” whites should all go back to Europe. Funny, last time I checked SPAIN was a part of Europe, and so Mexicans with their Spanish blood are just as much Europeans as I am, being a mixture of English, French, Scottish, and Iroquois Indian! This is all just as stupid as if the Navajos were to invent a name like Navlan to refer to some portion of Mexico, then start mass migrating there and calling for all the Mexican Spanish/Aztec halfbreeds to go back to Spain.
Just say no to Third World south-of-the-border diseases, drugs, and crime: http://www.125.com
April 13, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Your kidding?my names john born in california, i know many hispanics and i guess half of them must be illegal.Ok well someone said that the jobs illegal immigrants take are jobs americans feel good to do? not really!, for example i know for one that none of you would work in a firld at 95 deegres Farenheit picking oranges or whatever, so just let illegal takes those jobs beause i kno many americanas wouldnt take them anyways. by the way, if u kick them all out, Our economy would be ruined by a longshot , just likle i said no americain would take those kind of jobs, personally i wouldn’t.
April 15, 2007 at 3:26 pm
hey babo you said “they say immagrants should be doig it legally”. whos they?? if your gonna leave a reply get your facts straight!
April 15, 2007 at 3:28 pm
469,313,771,700$ have been spent on immagrents
April 18, 2007 at 8:34 am
i believe that immigrants arent bad people and they arent a problem, i am not saying this just because i am from immigrant decendency, but you should see that immigrants come here for a better life for themselves and their family, they arent here to do bad things or ruin others lives, and they arent rude unless you are rude to them, i also think that you shouldnt only refer to hispanics, because we arent the only ones immigranting, also you should see that you are also an immigrant because your ancestors came here for a better life and they probably came from england.
May 2, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hy i know this might be a little off topic but i need help with my reasearch project on cuban immigration. I chose from a negative point of view does anyone have any good websites you can refer me too?
May 21, 2007 at 11:25 am
well not all hispanics are bad cuz im one and im out going i hate when people judge us cuz of our looks and color or language. if only you knew what it takes to get in this country. you should never judge a book by its cover.and only god can judge us
July 20, 2007 at 5:01 pm
IMAGINATE YOU YES!!!! YOU BEING A ILLEGAL INMIGRANT BROWN SKIN POOR LOW EDUCACION AND U NEED TO FEED YOU FAMILY BUT THERE ARE NO JOBS THERE YOU WOULD EMIGRATE WHERE??? LIKE MANY OTHERS USA BY THE DESERT RISKING YOUR LIFE WE CAN HATE OR LOVE PARDON OR HATE HELP OR HATE POOR NEED PEOPLE WHAT DOU THINK GOD THINK OF ILLEGAL INMIGRANTS AM SURE LIKE HUMAN POOR HUMANS WHERE WAS THE MINUTE MAN TO STOP ILLEGAL INMIGRATION 400 YEARS AGO??????????????????????
January 27, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Something that goes unnoticed is how negative of an effect illegal aliens have on American Indian nations.
On the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation the following statistics were recorded. More than 100,000 pounds of marijuana, 144 grams of cocaine, and 6,600 grams of methamphetamine were seized on the Tohono O’odham Nation in 2003, in 2002 more than 65,000 pounds of narcotics were confiscated. 4 Million pounds of trash each year, and an average of about 800 abandoned vehicles. Illegal aliens = environmentally friendly
Think we can get some of these migrant workers to scoot over there and help clean up the mess?
On June 14th, the Mexican Army opened fire (with high-powered .308 rifles) on a vehicle with 20 people packed into it. Six of the passengers were injured, two critically. By the way, the Mexican army has crossed our border 116 times since 1996 and it is suspected they were doing it to facilitate the crossing of drugs. There is also some people who believe they just got lost. (Thats a piss poor army that gets lost in their own country)
I guess white people been craping on American Indians for so long that it’s just become second nature, and they don’t take into account how negative of an effect illegal aliens have on other folks.
Try thinking beyond your own selfish existence for a change.
February 5, 2008 at 12:26 pm
im a 14 year old HISPANNAN girl and im not a “jerk” as u put it. i know some of my friends that are illegal immagrants and they are some of the gratest people i know. u dont know how hard it is to live and mexico and not have money to feed ur family, or how hard it is to come to this country knowing that u are risking ur life to come here!!!!!!
February 22, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Personally i have no problem with Hispanics or illegal immigrants for that matter…… as long as the immigrants come over to seek a better life. hey everyone should have that right… but when they bring drugs over, that is just bad.