U.S. Immigration Could Spell Big Business

Reuters ^ | 1-22-2005 | Reshma Kapadia

[RicocheT]

The only business we will get from illegal immigrants is monkey business. They cost us more than the few bucks Wal-Mart may get selling them stuff.

[bayourod]

The nineteen hijackers were here under legal visas. They were not border jumpers.

The anti-immigrant posters who use 9/11 as an excuse to clamp down on Mexican gardeners are no more sincere than the gun grabbers who use 9/11 for their reasons.

[Dan Evans]

And don't forget about the huge market in speed bumps.

speed bumps are racist man

[Dan Evans]

The nineteen hijackers were here under legal visas.

Good reason to clamp down on legal immigration too.

[usadave]

But I thought the Buchanan/Tancredo anti-Mexican loonies say America is on the brink of economic destruction because of immigrants.

More Race Card waving from bayourod. You complain when FReepers use phrases like "open borders" because you say that it's not factual to do so, but then you use phrases like "anti-Mexican" when it's not factual to do so. You're just proving to everybody what a hypocrite you are.

[usadave]

Being anti-business isn't any more conservative than xenophobia.

I'd rather have an American be xenophobic than to have somebody like you be anti-American, which you clearly are based on all of the anti-American comments that you've posted on Free Republic.

[Dan Evans]

But I thought the Buchanan/Tancredo anti-Mexican loonies say America is on the brink of economic destruction because of immigrants.

The people who left California and other border states because there lives were ruined by this invasion of criminals are also saying that.

[usadave]

But of course if I say that means you won't have anything against the guest workers under Bush's plan you would come up with some excuse not to like them either.

What the anti-immigrant crowd dislikes is people who speak Spanish. "Illegality" is just their current line of defense. When the guest worker bill is passed they will retreat back to another defensive line.

You may be sincere, but most of the anti-immigrants have already blown their cover.

More La Raza talking points from bayourod.

Based on your reasoning, the 47% of Latino voters who voted in favor of Prop 200 in Arizona are "anti-immigrant" and dislike people who speak Spanish, and "illegality" is just their current line of defense. Right?

[JustAnotherSavage]

He would have 90% of FR "terminated" if he had his way, that's what it would take to get rid of everyone who disagrees with him about illegal immigration. Someday he'll be sitting in his hovel playing with himself. If anyone doubts it, I hope there will be a new FR poll on the subject. But then FROBL's don't even believe FR polls. They only believe one...one that can't be seen unless you pay!

---

Free Republic Opinion Poll: Do you approve of the plan to let some of the eight million illegal aliens in the United States move toward legal status without penalty -- but with social security benefits?
Composite Opinion
No 85.2% 1,400
Yes 8.8% 145
Undecided 6.0% 98
100.0% 1,643

[WilliamofCarmichael]

The last big wave in immigration, from 1900 to 1910, was driven by Europeans. Although slightly higher on a percentage basis, the number of immigrants in the United States then was less than half of what it is today, according to the Center for Immigration Studies based in Washington D.C. . .Census data from 2003 show nearly 12 percent of the U.S. population, or about 33.5 million people, are foreign-born, and demographers see an increase in coming years with both legal and illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. seeking greater economic opportunity or religious and political freedom.

In a single decade -- 1900 to 1910 -- 8.8 million immigrants entered the United States. (Immigration reached a peak in the decade between 1900 and 1910 during which almost 1 million immigrants per year entered the country.) From 1900 to 1910, almost 95 percent of the immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were joining either family or friends.

Only two percent of the immigrants seeking refuge in America would fail to be admitted -- in saner days they had health and fitness exams. There are still requirements it appears. ILLEGAL aliens are exempt, of course.

http://www.visalaw.com/04mar1/2mar104.html

http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/sl/history/journey.html

http://showme.missouri.edu/~socbrent/immigr.htm

As a percentage of total population, the foreign-born population rose from 9.7 percent in 1850 and fluctuated in the 13 percent to 15 percent range from 1860 to 1920 before dropping to 11.6 percent in 1930. The highest percentages foreign born were 14.4 percent in 1870, 14.8 percent in 1890 and 14.7 percent in 1910.

As a percentage of the total population, the foreign-born population increased from 4.7 percent in 1970 to 6.2 percent in 1980, to 7.9 percent in 1990, and to an estimated 9.7 percent in 1997. The posted article said that it was 12 percent in 2003.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/twps0029.html

It makes me trust the article more if I can verify portions of it.

Good article.

Now if only the people cheering the article's cheery economic prospects could answer a simple question.

Why are you guys so nonchalant about ILLEGAL immigration?

An answer would serve the discourse more than screaming Racists! Bigots! at us who oppose ILLEGAL immigration. IMO.

[JustAnotherSavage]

"Why are you guys so nonchalant about ILLEGAL immigration? "

They're not,WmofCarmichael. They have a vested interest. Victor Davis Hanson describes their attitude well.

--snip
Illegal immigration is a moral issue

"Is it moral for employers to count on illegal industrious workers, usually without English or education, to undercut the wages of American citizens   —   as if a laborer remains youthful and hale in perpetuity with no need of social entitlements when disabled or impoverished years later? No wonder employers claim that they are only providing a service to Mexico's poor

Is it so fair to assume that the unemployed in our midst   —   over 10 percent of the work force in many counties of the American Southwest that are most affected by illegal immigration   —   cannot find entry-level work? No wonder we insist that no one can discover a citizen to mow the lawn or cook his food   —   as if 30 years ago our yards were weedy and we did not eat out, as if states without illegal aliens have poor landscaping and empty restaurants. Picking an illegal worker up at the local lumber yard, paying him in cash for a day of digging, and then dumping him on the curb at twilight   —   "out of sight, out of mind"   —   is neither liberal nor humane even if done in Santa Cruz or Carmel

And is it equitable that laws must be sacred for most, but not for some? Do we really want a bureaucratic system near collapse from fraudulent Social Security numbers, off-the-books wages, false names, cars without registration and insurance, even as millions abroad queue up to enter our shores lawfully? Are we to tell waiting Punjabis or Filipinos to certify their education, skills and method of support   —   even as we ask far less of those who break the law to cross the border from Mexico?

Who, then, is the real moralist? Is it the police officer who stops an illegal alien but cannot call immigration authorities? The contractor who knowingly accepts falsified identification and pays untaxed cash wages? The La Raza ("The Race") activist who promotes ethnic chauvinism for those to whom it will prove most deleterious? Perhaps the grandstanding Mexican consul who faults the United States for his own country's callousness? "
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0105/hanson2005_01_20.php3

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Thanks for the reference!

So it's avarice and amorality?

Then all they have is name-calling. That 'splains it.

Oh well, those kinds of stupid liberal tricks wore out after almost forty years at the end of last century. They are sooooooooo 20th century.

[usadave]

Its not a question of anti-mexican, its a question of legal versus illegal. too many illegal mexicans are draining all the resources meant for american citizens. some of us may start to feel resentful and unwelcoming to foreign people who sneak into our country illegally. its like this big whoosh - no one was ready to have such a drastic number of illegals wanting to come here and set up house.

bayourod is Free Republic's resident illegal immigration cheerleader so you'll have to excuse his very narrow and firmly held point of view on the subject of illegal immigration. But be aware that bayourod likes to smear other posters with phrases like "anti-Mexican", "anti-Hispanic", "anti-immigrant", and "xenophobic" in order to try to derail the discussion and debate on illegal immigration threads.

[virgil]

As living in the US becomes less and less affordable for all. I'm glad I at least had a childhood during the years between mass immigrations when houses and medical care were relatively cheap, and you could still see the stars at night.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

I'm in San jose area of california, in the local Taco bell they have stickers you can purchase " Viva Mexico" etc etc, if mexico is not so great, then why do they glorify mexico, and it bother's me when they fly their mexican flags on their cars in our country and then they have their "Mexican pride", mexico is great stickers on their cars. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh MATEY, get me some ROPE :P

[judgeandjury]

But of course if I say that means you won't have anything against the guest workers under Bush's plan you would come up with some excuse not to like them either.

Polls show that the majority of Americans are opposed to rewarding foreigners who violate our immigration laws. That's the only "excuse" people need to be opposed to a guest worker program if illegal aliens are allowed to apply for it.

What the anti-immigrant crowd dislikes is people who speak Spanish. "Illegality" is just their current line of defense. When the guest worker bill is passed they will retreat back to another defensive line.

I don't know many Americans who are anti-immigrant, but I know that the majority of Americans are anti-illegal immigrant.

You may be sincere, but most of the anti-immigrants have already blown their cover

Can you name some of these anti-immigrants? Remember, being anti-immigrant and being anti-illegal immigrant are two different things.

[boris]

"Reuters threads posted today."

I did multiple searches on words in the title and found nothing whatsoever.

[spodefly]

It isn't a dupe. I was just making a list.