"Who would sweep, bus tables, take all "the jobs Americans won't?
Obviously, Americans and legal immigrants would. Because the jobs would rise to market levels of compensation and appropriate taxation or go unfilled"
The UNFILLED is the scary word above. I doubt very much that U.S. citizens would take many of the jobs now held by illegals, regardless of pay rates. There is more involved than pay scales. How many U.S. citizens would move to farm areas and live 20 deep in the huts provided by the employers. How many U.S. citizens would flock to jobs requiring weeding and mowing in 120 degree heat such as found in many desert gated communities? The fact is that those who are willing to work under extreme conditions and exploitation usually are not U.S. citizens.
People in gated communities can afford to pay enough money to have their property taken care of anyway they want it take care of.
Machines are now replacing humans in the picking of fruit and vegetables.
Machines now wash most dishes and silverware.
And when the fruit picking jobs are gone, what jobs do the illegals take then? Your job? My job? Because the illegals would do the work we do for 1/3 or less of what we are being paid.
Ready to turn your job over to an illegal alien, with the blessing of your governmnet? And the blessing of others like you, who won't care when your job goes "south", but will cry when their own job goes south.
Americans are willing to work in extreme conditions *if* they are properly compensated. Fire-houses, coal-mines, and oil-rigs for example.
Americans don;t like being exploited, however. Third-world peasant laborers, on the other hand, don't mind.
High school and college students would, like my friends and I did every friggin summer 20 years ago.
Now that labor pool is being forced aside in favor of illegals who will work for less and are paid in cash. Employers favor this arrangement because not only do they save $ in wages, they don't have to pay unemployment insurance; they don't have to pay bookeepers to do payroll taxes and they don't have to pay payroll taxes.
Every voter is a consumer.
The only real debate is whether to legalise the immigrants without making them reenter legally. I think it's worth the modest price to make them reenter.
I live in Phoenix. I've climbed Camelback when it was 113 degrees and biked home 15 miles over 6 and 8 percent grades when it reached 118.
Lots of people like the heat.
And most of the "mowing" is in parks and golf courses, most of the homes are "desert landscaped" and don't need mowing in the summer...
Cheers! Full Disclosure: Like the heat? Not me, I miss Minnesota.