Posted on 01/06/2004 11:16:28 AM PST by sweetliberty
Edited on 01/06/2004 11:28:34 AM PST by Lead Moderator. [history]
[Moderator's note: threads regarding immigration issues and border issues have been spiralling out of control for some time on Free Republic. This is going to change. Fair warning: this would be a very poor thread to engage in flame warring, flame baiting, or otherwise being needlessly instigative. If you have not yet read this thread, you may want to before engaging in the debate on this or other similar threads. If there are any questions regarding the new scrutiny of these threads, please take them to that thread rather than cluttering up these threads.
Up until last night, people had been very cooperative with this effort, and for that I was grateful. Last night, I think there must have been a full moon or something, but we'll get that straightened out.
Thanks, and happy Freeping.]
I started this thread because there has been much discussion here about Rush never seeming to address the illegal alien problem. Today he has been talking about it in the context of President Bush's meeting with Vincente Fox and the payment of Social Security benefits to illegals who have paid into the system even though they did so with false documentation.
At the moment he is talking about the increase in black Republican voters, but said he will get back to the illegal alien issue shortly and take calls. I thought there'd be interested FReepers that might be missing it.
I am always willing to listen to both sides of an issue. Therefore, I understand what you are saying.
However, what is galling to me is that the issue is being raised with Vicente Fox NOT the American People.
I really wish there would be discussion and debate on this stuff before he goes overseas with a 'package' to some clown from a corrupt Narco-Republic and then comes home and rams it through the Congress.
Yes it is, and many of these farms rely on the labor of country kids who are used to that type of work. And even if they couldn't find the labor, there would be attempts to further mechanize as much as possible.
It's amazing to me how far some will go to justify illegals being here, as if we can't survive as a nation without them.
If Rush turns against W, some bots' heads are going to explode.
All they have to do is go to those regions of the country where illegals aren't yet and see for themselves how we don't need them.
Wonder who scrubs Marta's toilets and mows Rush's grass?
This skimpily is not true. Illegals are taking lower wage & entry-level jobs from American citizens, including recent legal immigrants. Are construction, meat packing, auto repair, etc. jobs that Americans won't do? Who did them before the illegals? American citizens won't work for employers who illegally pay below the minimum wage, no benefits & do not pay taxes.
Can you imagine what some of your produce prices in the Grocery store would be if we had Native Americans demanding $15.00 per hour to pick lettuce?
Very little according to this study:
Among the report’s findings:
• Large-scale immigration from Mexico is a very recent phenomenon. In 1970, the Mexican immigrant population was less than 800,000, compared to nearly 8 million in 2000.
• Almost two-thirds of adult Mexican immigrants have not completed high school, compared to fewer than one in ten natives. Mexican immigrants now account for 22 percent of all high school dropouts in the labor force.
• Though most natives are more skilled and thus do not face significant job competition from Mexican immigrants, this study (consistent with previous research) indicates that the more than 10 million natives who lack a high school degree do face significant job competition from Mexican immigrants.
• By increasing the supply of unskilled labor, Mexican immigration in the 1990s has reduced the wages of workers without a high school education by an estimated 5 percent. The workers affected are already the lowest-paid, comprising a large share of the working poor and those trying to move from welfare to work.
• This reduction in wages for the unskilled has likely reduced prices for consumers by only an estimated .08 to .2 percent in the 1990s. The impact is so small because unskilled labor accounts for only a tiny fraction of total economic output.
Imagine if you did some research into the facts of the cost of illegal immigration.
Look out your window tonight...there was a full moon.
How many heads of lettuce can one person pick per hour? I would put the absolute minimum at around 200 (about 3 per minute). So the price for labor picking the lettuce would be 7.5 cents per head or less. That is a tiny price to pay compared to all the problem illegal immigration brings.
I was thinking the same thing myself when I heard Rush defending Bush's policy.
Well, after all, the Native Americans have the Casinos.
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