Posted on 05/25/2005 8:14:06 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Edvin Osorio's alarm clock echoes through his tiny Landover Hills basement apartment. It is 3:45 a.m. He and his roommates, all from the same town in Guatemala, rouse themselves quickly, dress and head to Osorio's white Chevrolet van.
(snip)
The 35-year-old Osorio is one of tens of thousands of Hispanic construction workers who have been pouring the concrete and erecting the steel beams of the scores of buildings going up around the region.
(snip)
Osorio came here illegally 13 years ago, and his first job was pulling weeds. Now he is here legally and makes $24.05 an hour.
(snip)
His immigrant dream is not to have a big house in the American suburbs, but to earn enough money to return to Guatemala and start a business with his brother. That's partly because he misses Guatemala and partly because the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants makes him angry.
Osorio is particularly upset about a law recently passed by Congress that will make it more complicated for undocumented workers to get drivers licenses. That, he says, will hurt construction companies, which need these workers, as well as the immigrants, who are here simply to earn money to support their family.
"It's not fair," he says...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
FYI
ping
Americans won't do construction work for $24.00 an hour now? But we got meth-heads and crack-heads galore?
Something is wrong.
What's really not fair, Osorio, is that you're taking a job away from an American citizen when you shouldn't even be here.
There is no doubt the building trades are going to be affected by the Real ID bill. Expect states with large population increases to pass laws that allow for intrastate driving privilege cards for illegals and non resident aliens.
There are plans for over 40000 new condos just within Miami, FL proper currently on the drawing board. There is no way these will be built without illegal alien labor.
Many illegal aliens are currently commuting 60 miles a day each way to get to Miami, to save money on rent.
Something has to change to balance out the RealID law.
If there are not enough workers that are here legally, there soon will be. It is called the capitalist system. It works brilliantly if it is not undermined by illegals here working for subsistence wages.
Yeah yeah yeah. My point was there is going to be some amount of time where there is labor shortage in respect to new housing demands if any strong corrective steps are taken. Or we'll end up with a compromise with weak corrective steps, where illegals currently here will be able to openly convert or buy their legal immigrant status.
Putting a brake on housing market labor will increase new housing costs, which will add another reason to expect a housing market bubble burst or slow long decline.
Liberal states still hold the States' Rights to pass laws regulating intrastate driving privileges. The real estate industry will lobby en masse for intrastate driving laws if their cheap labor supply is threatened. RealID itself doesn't fix this. Labor law enforcement doesn't appear to be on the Republicans' federal agenda. AZ Republicans put together a good bill this legislative session: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0507budgetfolo07.html
I saw Kolb and someone else on O'Reilly pushing a plan that doesn't shut the barn door. That will be on the Republican agenda.
I am told by aquantences formerly in the building trade that the Latinos do everything possible to alienate gringo holdouts. Untanned non-Spanish speakers can expect accidents, tool theft, vehicular vandalism and friction as a matter of course. They have been chased out of the industry by these tactics while their own government's oversight agencies studiously look the other way.
And that was American workers trying to do the work Americans supposedly aren't willing to do. It's a miracle that none of the displaced has returned to their former worksite with retribution in mind. Or it's a tribute to their restraint and ability to adapt while their government turned it's collective back on them.
PS: I'm ahead of ya'll. I already speak Spanish and Portugese...and I have migra-cred btw.
PSII: We are prejudiced against everyone in the second and third world in favor of the Mexicans. That is so wrong. We should be ashamed. Let's empty Haiti. It'll make me feel good.
I was thinking, if the law lets Illegals drive "legally" right? How about a driver that had his license taken away or never had a license, gets pulled over, would they be treated as lightly as the illegal as long as they had insurance and reg like they are proposing? Then what's the incentive in anyone getting a drivers license....
What does that have to do with being in the United States legally?
We clearly have not let in enough illegals! Maybe ten million more and we will have that wage down to $5.15/hr where it belongs. /sarc
>>>Osorio is particularly upset about a law recently passed by Congress that will make it more complicated for undocumented workers to get drivers licenses. <<<
hmmm... just more complicated? we were sold on this socialist pos law because it would supposedly make it IMPOSSIBLE for Illegals to get drivers license. why am i not surprised?
I thought illegals (former or otherwise) only took the jobs "Americans don't want". I know a lot of citizens who'll settle for a paltry $24.50 an hour.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
I'm having a hard time understanding why my tax dollars should help support laborers so that a contracter can make more money. It just isn't computing.
susie
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