You'd live like this?
Try as I might, I know I can’t put myself “in the shoes” of the illegal workers who are highlighted in this morning’s WaPo article. I am absolutely positive I’ve never been so desperate that I’d live on the floor of a flood-destroyed, mold-decaying house and face the hostility and impossibility of their day-to-day realities.
What I can’t figure out (never could) is what Americans fear from these folks? I hear – all the time – about how they’re taking away our jobs. Really? Who among us is willing to live and work under such conditions, much less for these wages? I know I’m not.
Just to be clear: I don’t for one second believe that a company awarded a governmental contract should be coming into New Orleans with illegal immigrants to fulfill a contracted obligation. If KBR (for instance) bid to do work for the government, they should be moving heaven and earth to hire (and house) local citizens.
But this article isn’t talking about governmental contracts. The author is writing about people willing to help on the ground, at the individual level, and right now in New Orleans, that seems like a necessary void to fill. People have homes to gut, debris to clear, studs to bleach… you name it.
Unless I’m missing something, we don’t have buses and lines of Americans standing in line to sleep on floors while they take those menial jobs. Can somebody show me where they are?
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I spent many hours talking about exactly this with a very dear friend, and we never did meet in the middle. His fear was even harder for me to understand: that illegal workers might be taking away traditional “first-job” opportunities from young people… and yet he was sure his kids wouldn’t do the type of work described in the article, and certainly never under those conditions.
How are these sad, desperate people hurting anybody? They break my heart.
9 Comments:
Part of the damn problem is, why should anybody in American with a job be sleeping in a moldly house with no running water or electricity?
They are hurting poor Americans by competing for their jobs. Restaurant and hotel work would definitely pay more, maybe much more, right now if immigration laws were properly enforced. But they middle class people like us would have to pay a bit more at restaurants and hotels. I'd be willing to.
These terribly unfortunate people can be aided mostly by open trade with Mexico and by political reform in Mexico. We can't solve everything, but we owe America's poor, our own poor, assistance first.
Where are they? They're wherever 400,000 homeless, jobless people go after a flood caused by the failure of a federal levee system go. They are wherever the federal government and, as you said, contractors should be required to go to find them.
And yes, lot's of people are living in moldy houses in New Orleans. The difference is that they own those houses.
I discuss this WaPo article here.
Regarding "The Master"'s comment, what we really need to do is import a few hundred thousand Chinese - preferably "criminals" if you know what I mean - to do this work. They'll not only work cheaper than Mexican illegal aliens, they practically eat mold for breakfast!
Of course, the more American alternative would be to enforce our immigration laws and for our pseudo-American representatives to come up with a rebuilding plan involving American workers. If there are no American workers, then we need to bring them in, raising wages as necessary.
With that alternative, there would be no such worker abuses. Workers would wear the proper safety equipment, because their bosses could get sued or imprisoned if they tried to pull some of the same things they can do to illegal aliens.
And, that way the federal money those workers will receive will stay in the U.S. Illegal aliens will send a good chunk of their earnings home. That helps the Mexican government avoid reforms. In fact, such "remittances" are Mexico's second highest source of income. (And, that helps explain why Vicente Fox offered to "help" us rebuild.)
And, that way instead of paying Americans not to work, we'll be paying Americans to work rebuilding their own communities.
I'd suggest not falling for the WaPo's propaganda and instead really thinking this subject through and figuring out the best way to deal with issues.
As the question applies to all of America, the illegal immigrant issue is thorny, emotional, and ultimately reflects on the structure of our society as a whole. It's hard not to agree, for instance, with the "soul" of brstarr's comment - except that there have always been "jobs" that leave room for exploitation, and there unfortunately always will be people who are desperate enough to take them.
The Master's feedback was clearly a well-developed position, and covers a number of the problems that make the issue so complex.
Lonewacko, I agree that the WaPo piece was emotionally charged. But I don't think it was fantastic, and showing the human side of a sad condition is not necessarily propoganda.
It is absolutely true that we should be bringing in American workers to do the salvage "grunt" work. It is, after all, work.
But we haven't... and NOLA languishes.
Personally, my goal is the revitalization of the city, and if there are people in it - whoever they are - who are willing to do what it takes to get those tough, nasty, dirty jobs done, then at the end of the day, the City gains, the people who hired them to haul away debris gain, and the workers themselves gain.
These illegal laborers are highly unlikely to stay in NOLA, not least because they'll never be able to afford it. But they're also not welcome there, and even if they did haul the trash out of a restaurant, I'm confident that it would only be until a New Orleanian came home and took the job.
It's possible I'm being naive again. I often am.
The bottom line is that at the moment, those are the conditions in the city... and the city needs help. I don't see the utilization of illegals as a long-term threat, and I certainly don't advocate a major influx. But if they're there, why not use them... at least until some local folks can get on their feet enough to step back in?
showing the human side of a sad condition is not necessarily propoganda.
I have hundreds of posts about illegal immigration and dozens of those are about MSM stories showing the human side of illegal immigration. In fact, some of them are almost identical in structure to others. After seeing enough stories like that, you realize it for what it is: pure propaganda.
Those illegal laborers will in fact stay in NOLA, assisted by forces who want to make money off them. That would include the Mexican government, who are probably jumping with joy knowing that they have yet another incipient profit and power center inside the U.S.
If you want the best situation, you need to put pressure on politicians to do things like building more housing and even a WPA-style program. Of course, that would be a bit difficult because of the "two" party system. It would be absurdly easy for the Democratic Party to use Katrina to drive Bush's popularity into the 20s, but they're too stupid and corrupt to do it.
Bardseyeview said:
"These terribly unfortunate people can be aided mostly by open trade with Mexico and by political reform in Mexico. We can't solve everything, but we owe America's poor, our own poor, assistance first."
We do owe our own poor assistance first. I agree totally.
But every situation doesn't fit neatly into a mold - and New Orleans' needs are extreme. I am neither for nor against immigration reform (with this particular post), but merely hoping to see a city saved.
Hopefully "the master" could be a bit more concise in future replies.
As for Social Security, Bush wants to make Mexican illegal aliens part of our system. In fact, they'll need to work far fewer quarters than American saps in order to get benefits.
Companies don't need to worry about being fined for employing illegal aliens. The DHS rarely does workplace enforcement. And, right after Katrina Bush lifted Davis-Bacon and even gave companies throughout the U.S. a 45 day period during which they could hire anyone they wanted without facing "enforcement".
And, if you go to katrinacoverage.com and click on the 'illegal aliens' tag, you'll find a couple dozen news reports about this situation. However, NONE of them are oriented against illegal labor flooding the region. In fact, a few of them are race-based cheerleading (Chavez, Navarrette, Rodriguez).
And, on SEPTEMBER 15, Harry Reid spoke in support of those illegal aliens who are taking jobs that should go to American in the Gulf Coast.
So, both parties and the news media support this. The fix is in.
Slog your way through the hundreds of entries at the last site to see all the reasons why this situation is the last thing we should want.
There is no bad
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