by pea-jay » Sat 16 Apr 2005, 03:14:00
I am sick and tired of hearing people whining about illegal immigrants and how they are behind the overall decline of this country. Just SHUT UP for once! Have you not thought about why they are REALLY here?
Like they are here because they have nothing better than leave their family behind and travel hundreds of miles to work shitty jobs for even shittier pay.
NO MORONS, they're here because we INVITED them.
We got TIRED of paying decent wages to unionized meatpackers in the industrialized northern cities. So we busted the unions, moved the shops to Dixie and lo and behold we can't find anyone to work those jobs. Now we have Mexican communities forming in Arkansas.
We ENCOURAGE continued immigration on a YEARLY basis so that our crops get picked. We have done this 1942 because its easier for our farmer owners to pay substandard wages than try and pass on the true cost for that 3000 mile caesar salad. Costs that, by the way, are borne me as a tax payer living in one of those ag labor counties.
We PROMOTE immigrant growth in the construction work field, because they work harder, cheaper and complain less than us "whiny" citizens.
We EXPECT cheap service sector help so we can continue to live our narcisistic lives and not worry about doing our own lawns, cleaning our homes offices and hotels, serving us our food so we do not have to spend our precious time doing or hard earned money paying for those tasks.
Then, while we put our focus on the border, we ignore the thousands of unscrupulous employers that SEEK out and HIRE these individuals. When we do "shockingly" discover illegals working in a factory or cleaning a hotel room, we deport those miscreants and give a slap on the wrist to the employer. Look at Walmart's fine for utilizing illegals. TEN Million bucks! It probably still was cheaper to pay the fine and pay the illegals than it was to hire citizens and pay them even the Walmart wages and benefits. Did anyone go to jail? ANYONE?
Nor are we concerned with the economic forces that drove them here. Ever wonder why we have so many poor farmers come here from Mexico? I'll tell you... NAFTA...yeah that "great sucking sound." Well one of the many "benefits" of the trade agreement was the flooding of Mexico with cheap petro-CORN from Iowa, displacing many small Mexican farmers. Prior to NAFTA, Mexico was self-sufficient in corn. Now they are dependent on our imports. Add in the growth of US style grocery operations that focus on mass-produced produce from the cheapest possible source whenever possible (which usually precludes local sales to grocery chains) and what's your average campesino to do? Those that didnt wind up in the slums of Mexico City will inevitably end up picking raisins in Selma or lettuce in Salinas. And the best part about this--the US Government WELCOMES this. You CAN'T do illegal worker roundups in the Imperial, Central or Salinas valleys of California or you will cross some very powerful people and corporations. Ain't globalization grand??
Economists certainly must be in awe with how efficient they have made everything.
I don't disagree with the assesments on how illegal immigration is impacting US society or the environment. Here in the central valley, it is one of the SINGLE most important factor driving population growth. It's not healthy for anyone. Immigration does not help out the immigrants. It depresses wages for the least skilled and the most vulnerable citizens of this country. It allows the donor country to skirt making the hard decisions that helped drive immigrants here in the first place. Sure we pay less for our food, our lawn care or our vacation. But we pay out of the wazoo for the rest.
Then we make crossing back and forth so difficult, illegals would rather settle here rather than risk getting caught or getting dead when crossing. Any surprise that "guest worker" or "temporary help" becomes tomorrow's new residents and next decade's new citizens. Before long whole families relocate here to join the original workers. Any wonder why we have to build so many schools?
Illegal immigration doesn't benefit anyone. Anyone other than those that use their labor. They benefit--at our expense. WHere's the outrage?
Next time you are mad at Juan Perez for sneaking into this country to harvest your food, think of (farmer) John Smith that demanded that low cost labor supply in the first place.
Next time you feel the need to bitch about those damn dirty illegals, consider who encouraged them to come here in the first place.
In the end one should look at this statement again...
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o when Mexico solicited Americans to settle Texas, it was to act as a buffer against hostile Plains culture Indians. The Americans defeated the Mexicans not long after, and later the remaining Indians.
It's ironic really...Mexico invited the Anglo settlers to settle Texas to solve a perceived problem and wound up losing part of their country in the process.
We INVITED Mexicans to settle in California (and elsewhere) to solve a perceived problem. Will we lose part of our country in the bargain.
Payback. Aint it a bitch