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?
Age of BS 
Here’s an interesting story on immigration:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/111706dnsuncactus.47511b61.html
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Politicians will never solve illegal immigration until they grow a set, and punish employers who hire them. No jobs=no illegals (in theory)
Wow, I just realized I said almost the exact same thing in another of your threads. Sorry (hey at least I consistent) 🙂
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!
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.
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.
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.”
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
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.
hey babo you said “they say immagrants should be doig it legally”. whos they?? if your gonna leave a reply get your facts straight!
469,313,771,700$ have been spent on immagrents
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.
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?
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
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??????????????????????
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.
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!!!!!!
Illegal makes them not rlly a real person
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.
Hey I am an immagrant and I don’t think that it is fair i get descriminated against. 😦
Let me tell you that Puerto Ricans are Latinos too.
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.
well yea I don’t think you know anything about us. huh i bet u are white big house and would never know how if feels to break your back for a few cents
Not all hispanics are BAD..
you’re so ignorant
I see where most of you are coming from, I am 17 and from California but i live in Nebraska now cause of my fathers schooling anyways i’m of european descent…mostly, no hispanic to speak of i think, my dad says just to say ‘I’m of American descent’ when asked lol. My point being that at this rate with all of us bickering like children over this point that its either right or wrong and not doing a damned thing about it it’s going to be to late, my father commented to me about this and my speech i have to write for my oral com class that 20 years down the road when someone asks me where i was born and i answer ‘California’ their response will be, “Your not Hispanic?” Now imagine that, that is what we are going to see later on. It’s also been reported that down at the border the guards have no weapons to keep illegals back, now i don’t know if thats acurate it was a passing comment to my speech topic but if that’s true than the guards might as well just count them as they go by, ” Hey thats 588, oh 589, hey he brought his family too, look at them run 597, hey i see you trying to hide you can’t hide from my counting! 602…” thats pretty much how i see their day going for them. Anyway i’m not sure which part of this arguement i should go for but i’m leaning towards just booting them all back to mexico, course with our government lately i don’t see that ever happening, right?
Also if any of you could lend a hand i need some websites for my speech, i have to explain both sides of this arguement.
Thanks
-Quicky-
I hate those mexicans if they want to come to our country legally that’s fine but if they come illegally then its bad for us and our economy. there should be land mines at the boarder!
I know this is kind of old but i just want to say that the person that wrote this is saying that they want the hispanics to come here legally but how the hell are they supposed to when in mexico they get paid shit and they have a family to feed! Thats why they come here to work for three reasons(i know there are more but the top 3): first to feed their family second to get a better life and third to pay to become a citizen!(which by the way is a lot) So while they are waiting to get their citizenship they are working illegaly and are judged by all the people around them. I am Mexican American i was born here, my dad is Mexican and he just barley got his citizenship around a year ago and you would think that it is easy but i have a lot of American friends who have tried to take the citizenship test and they have failed! So now you expect the hispanic people which were not born here in the US to know all this when Americans that were born here went to school here and supposedly learned all this dont!?! I mean the people that do pass the test have been through a lot they have studied A LOT! So instead of criticizing and judging them(the people who try to become citizens) you should accept them in the country and also let them keep their culture too. Now i know there are some people(hispanics) are not the greatest people like everyone else there are bad people all over the world not just Mexicans are bad ir hispanics everyone has their “bad” people. Another thing many of the people who judge all these illegal or legal colored skinned people insult them or judge them calling them..(now what I am saying here is things I have been called my family members have been called and my friends also) hey wetbacks, or beaners, homie, essays, cholos etc..I mean just because some people are like that it does NOT mean we(hispanics) are all like that. What do we go around calling every American crack heads white trash…!? So I’m saying do not judge anyone by their looks get to know the person and you will find that there are a lot of nice people out there.
First of all for the american people who think that immigrants are “stealing” jobs from uneducated/unskilled citizens.. think about this:
you were BORN IN AMERICA and U HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY to get an education for a better job!!! USE IT and stop complaining. Immigrants take those jobs because its the start they need and pretty much all they can get at first! and u swear like you would even take the jobs they do if u had a chance. 2ND for those who think all immigrants do is bring drugs into the US.. think again. you’re lame.. drugs would be here either way. 3RD to: Dirsh Richard Brodie- Go fuck yourselves.. cuz no one cares about you. or what u think. 4TH to “legal american”- You act like u would ever see that money anyways. and learn how to spell immigrants.. dick. but yea anywaysss umm last thing i have to say is that not all of the bad people in the US are illegal immigrants. how many illegal immigrants have u seen on the news shooting up their school?
and btw my grandfather was an illegal immigrant straight out of mexico. he gained his citizenship, started a family, and gives back a whole hell of a lot to his community. were not bad people.. we just come from a “not so good” place.
Well, to me immigration is good & bad, that’s why I’ve never took one side to this topic. I’m fourteen, & I am Mexican, Latino, or whatever you wanna call it & if you think about it, most of the immigrants who come here, they come here to better themselves, or to help support their families, schooling, etc. The only bad thing about it, is that there’s a lot of good & bad for every side, & one of the bad things that people worry about the most, to me it seems that they’re scared of losing their jobs or all the diseases that could be brought into our country because of all the immigration.
I think when dealing with a complex and touchy subject such as immigration you have to look at from both sides and decide according to your morals and beliefs as a person. How should the US deal with immigration? Well here’s my assessment.
Immigrants want the same opportunities that every human being is entitled to have, the pursuit of happiness. America to some countries is the “promise land”. America offers a wide range of opportunities that they ordinarily wouldn’t have in their own countries. Immigrants make the world this great “melting pot” that is filled with such rich diversity. We are exposed to new cultures, new ways of thinking, new activities, etc. And who doesn’t appreciate something different? Also, they’re more willing to take jobs for lower wages than the average American which is good for businesses. Labor cost would be one less liability in making the profit margin. And usually when you have cheap labor, you tend to have better production. See to immigrants, we are gracious enough to give them jobs so their gracious enough to give 110% and put their all into getting the job done. In contrast, us Americans, minimum wage is ok for a time period but eventually you’ll want a better job for a higher wage. To immigrants, minimum wage to them is the most wondrous thing anyone could think of. It should let us Americans see how fortunate we are to live in a country where the opportunities are endless. Of course we don’t see things that way since our classification of wealth is a lot different from other countries, but for someone who works for 1 or 2 dollars an hour will be appreciative of any opportunity to make their situation better.
In another perspective, immigrants are taking up a lot of government resources and aren’t paying the taxes to go along with it. See, the tax system is set up to where the lower income bracket will pay the least taxes (and sometimes no taxes are paid) along the number of dependents in the household. With that being said, since they can’t afford healthcare or education, OUR tax dollars pay for them to have those luxuries which shows you what happens when people are taking advantage of the system knowing the condition it is in. In addition, it seems the American identity is disintegrating into a “multi-cultism” identity. It seems that back then the country was made up of immigrants that would assimilate into the culture of the Americans, but with this “multi-culturist” idea, it motivates immigrants to keep their own culture and not to assimilate. And also, with immigrants being more willing to work for lower wages, it creates a competition for the ones who already are working in the lower-paying unskilled jobs. And with the jobs being scarce now as it is, a rush of immigrants will only make jobs less available.
So, when looking at both sides, we (the Americans) and the immigrants are both wrong and taking advantage of both situations. We take advantage of their cheap labor to have more money and they take advantage of our government’s current system to receive all the help they can without paying taxes or becoming legal. So I think it’s a matter of self integrity. Yes, we tend to do things that would better our situation at sometimes any cost but we tend to think about the end result of our greed after the fact. Until we can weed out all the pollution to the greater good: to provide these immigrants with the rights of an American but on a legalized process, their will be continuous debates and problems.
Messerli, Joe. “Should America Maintain/Increase the Level of Legal Immigration?”
E:\BalancedPolitics_org – Legal Immigration (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against).htm Page Last Updated: 11/08/2008
everyone should be loved and given a chance to be here in this country. we are all human and we should treat each other like humans. doesn’t matter what color of your skin, or what language you speak, if its english, spanish, french, or just geburrish, we should love one another. You know i don’t understand why americans don’t want hispanics or mexicans here. You know if you were to go to a mexican restaurant. and you walk in and there is no seats available, you want to know why, well i’ll tell you why, because the people that hate the mexicans the most are the ones seating in thoses seats, THE WHITES go figure we are not allowwed to come to the USA but we work to feed the ones that hate us but they surely eat the best foods we make. I don’t understand why are people are like this and we should just love who ever comes into this beautiful country and give them a chance soon the LORD will take it all and no one will judge anyone else. but the LORD will and damn us all for being so selfish.
I am sick and tired of illegals coming over here,squeezing out kids like my dog does puppies,and doing it on my tax paying dollars,not even attempting to learn any sort of english,flying the mexican flag,listening to hispanic music.you say you want to be a part of THIS country yet your trying to turn it into the country you left behind!! You act like America owes you.It doesn’t and neither do I!!!
No your not at all. I think it’s good that immigration is happening but at least be LEGAL here and ….I’m not a racist. I’m going by stats that, sense 2000 the crime rates of this country have gone up the more mexicans there Are in a area.