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U.S. workers and taxpayers pay heavy price for illegal immigration (Phyllis Schlafly)
Town Hall ^ | 4/24/2006 | Phyllis Schlafly

Posted on 04/24/2006 4:24:45 PM PDT by HEMICRASHBOX

Illegal immigrants in this country are threatening a massive boycott on May 1, purportedly to demonstrate they are so essential that the U.S. economy would shut down without their labor. On the contrary, such a boycott will expose the lie expressed by President George W. Bush in Cancun, Mexico, that they are "doing work that Americans will not do."

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, illegal immigrants make up less than 5 percent of the U.S. labor force. If every one of the 20 million illegal aliens in our country plays hooky from his job on May 1, the overwhelming majority of those same types of jobs will be worked by millions of U.S. citizens.

All over America, U.S. citizens will flip hamburgers in fast-food shops, wash dishes in restaurants, change sheets in hotels, mow lawns, trim shrubs, pick produce, drive taxis, replace roofs on houses, and do all kinds of construction work. Americans are quite willing to work unpleasant, menial, tiresome and risky jobs, but not for Third World wages.

An employment service in Mobile, Ala., recently received an "urgent request" to fill 270 job openings from contractors who were hired to rebuild and clear areas of Alabama devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The agency immediately sent 70 laborers and construction workers to three job sites.

After two weeks on the job, the men were fired by employers who told them "the Mexicans had arrived" and were willing to work for lower wages. The U.S. citizens had been promised $10 an hour, but the employers preferred Mexicans who would work for less. Employment agency manager Linda Swope told The Washington Times: "When they told the guys they would not be needed, they actually cried ... and we cried with them. This is a shame."

Swope said that employment agencies throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi all face similar problems because an estimated 30,000 men from Mexico and Central and South America, many in crowded buses and trucks, came into those three states after Hurricane Katrina, willing to work for less than whatever was paid to U.S. citizens.

Meanwhile, President Bush signed the Katrina Emergency Assistance Act extending for 13 weeks the unemployment benefits to U.S. citizens displaced by Katrina. Thus employers get the benefit of cheap foreign labor while you and I provide taxpayer handouts to workers whom the government allowed to be displaced from the jobs they were eager to take.

There is no penalty on employers who replace U.S. citizens with illegal immigrants at lower pay. Homeland Security even announced it has suspended the sanctioning of employers who hire illegal immigrants, and President Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires local contractors to pay "prevailing" wages.

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that the surge of immigration in the 1980s and 1990s lowered the wages of our own high school dropouts by 8.2 percent. The surge has accelerated since that report was issued. The Congressional Budget Office reported that 60 percent of Mexican and Central American workers in the United States in 2004 lacked a high school diploma.

The Kennedy-McCain-Bush guest worker plan would import more uneducated, unskilled workers, and thereby deny our own high school dropouts (of whom we have too many) the opportunity to get started in building their lives in the labor force. U.S. citizens are threatened that the cost of lettuce will rise precipitously if we don't continue to import Mexican agricultural workers. But a farm worker gets only 6 or 7 cents out of a $1 head of lettuce, so even if the pay doubles, consumers would hardly notice the difference.

On the other hand, the costs taxpayers are forced to pay for social benefits for low-paid workers are astronomical. The National Research Council reports that an immigrant to the United States without a high-school diploma consumes $89,000 more in government services than he pays in taxes during his lifetime.

Low-paid illegal immigrants obviously pay very little taxes, but they cash in on all sorts of benefits paid by other taxpayers, such as schooling for their children, emergency health care, housing subsidies, Earned Income Tax Credit and law enforcement. If the 20 million illegal immigrants are legalized, they will also become eligible for Medicaid, and that's a real break-the-bank prospect.

These figures don't even count the rapidly growing underground economy, in which millions of illegal immigrants are paid off the books in cash. That enables both employer and employee to avoid paying taxes, and enables employers to avoid paying workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, and assorted other taxes.

If the Internal Revenue Service collected all the taxes that should be paid by the underground economy, our current budget deficit would disappear overnight, according to a Bear Stearns study released in 2005. The Americans who pay taxes are giving a free ride to those who are not paying taxes, and a 7-cent increase in the price of lettuce should not be on our worry list.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: aliens; borderlist; dividedtheyfall; dusrupter; illegalaliens; illegalimmigration; illegals; immigrantlist; immigration; mexicanhater; newby; onetrickpony; racists; schlafly
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Anybody wanna badmouth Phyllis Schlafly?

You can post this stuff all day.....

1 posted on 04/24/2006 4:24:48 PM PDT by HEMICRASHBOX
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To: HEMICRASHBOX

Illegal immigrants bother me less than illegal aliens; at least the immigrants intend on having a life here, rather than simply viewing our country as an extended job site.


2 posted on 04/24/2006 4:27:01 PM PDT by kingu (Yeah, I'll vote in 2006, just as soon as a party comes along who listens.)
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To: kingu

Huh?
susie


3 posted on 04/24/2006 4:29:20 PM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: kingu

Double "Huh?"


4 posted on 04/24/2006 4:34:01 PM PDT by jwh_Denver (Illegal immigration 24/7, the GOP ain't making it 24/7.)
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To: HEMICRASHBOX

Phyllis Schlafly BTTT


5 posted on 04/24/2006 4:36:00 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker ((Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: HEMICRASHBOX
I thought they were here to just take the jobs that I didn't want - ?

Does the President know about this?

6 posted on 04/24/2006 4:37:19 PM PDT by LasVegasMac (Islam........not fit for human consumption.)
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To: HEMICRASHBOX
Anybody want to badmouth Phyllis?

I'll take a shot at it.

In the first line of the second paragraph she uses the Pew Hispanic number. In the second line of the second paragraph she uses the number 20 million that Pew doesn't use.

She is picking and choosing numbers. This is called dishonesty.

If she is being dishonest about this, what else is she being dishonest about?

7 posted on 04/24/2006 4:48:45 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: HEMICRASHBOX

Phyllis Schlafly has only pointed out that 20 million illegal aliens in our country is a problem, but this problem is only a symptom of a much more serious disease. The disease that is afflicting our economy and the future of our country is an inept and uncaring government. It is said that a people deserve the government that they have, so we only have ourselves to blame for the oncoming disaster.


8 posted on 04/24/2006 4:50:36 PM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: LasVegasMac

Like I posted before, "...a job an American won't do is a job that doesn't need doing..."


9 posted on 04/24/2006 4:51:28 PM PDT by wastoute
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To: ancient_geezer; Taxman; pigdog; Principled; EternalVigilance; PhilWill; kevkrom; n-tres-ted; ...

Fair Tax Ping!


10 posted on 04/24/2006 4:51:59 PM PDT by Man50D
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To: kingu
Illegal immigrants bother me less than illegal aliens; at least the immigrants intend on having a life here, rather than simply viewing our country as an extended job site.

Illegal Immigrants and Illegal aliens are one and the same. Regardless of how you describe them they are here ILLEGALLY!
11 posted on 04/24/2006 4:55:04 PM PDT by Man50D
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To: Man50D
If taxes were paid on consumption rather than [reported] income, the illegals would demand pay sufficient to earn a living AND pay taxes - just like all the legal workers demand.

Illegals would always pay the maximum rate of federal tax on retail purchases of new goods and services. INdeed, they'd pay a higher rate than me.

12 posted on 04/24/2006 4:56:11 PM PDT by Principled
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To: Ben Ficklin

For two years Bush has defined "amnesty" (which he is of course against) as any reform that provides a path to citizenship for illegals. In his speech in Irvine today he explicitly endorsed a path to citizenship for illegals. Bush has been "dishonest" with us when it comes to illegal immigration.


13 posted on 04/24/2006 4:58:06 PM PDT by mthom
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To: LasVegasMac
"All over America, U.S. citizens will flip hamburgers in fast-food shops, wash dishes in restaurants, change sheets in hotels, mow lawns, trim shrubs, pick produce, drive taxis, replace roofs on houses, and do all kinds of construction work. Americans are quite willing to work unpleasant, menial, tiresome and risky jobs, but not for Third World wages.

As Americans have been doing for decades and proud of it!!

14 posted on 04/24/2006 4:59:09 PM PDT by stopem (If we need a "guest worker" we'll call........if the phone doesn't ring it's me!)
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To: Man50D
I truly like reading The John and Ken show out of Las Angeles... It's one of the few places you can find out about the Irvine, CA speach this morning. But I found this article "Immigration Forum Gets Intense" from LATimes.com very interesting. What do ya'll think??
15 posted on 04/24/2006 5:08:24 PM PDT by DaisyGirl
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To: mthom
You are wrong. Bush has been very consistent in his guest workers only proposal.

The Bush Plan has not been a viable option for a long time, if it ever was at all.

In as much as 19 of the 22 senate republicans who, up to now have been loyal supporters of the Bush Plan, abandoned that position and fell in behind Martinez-Hagel, don't you think its about time Bush abandoned the Bush Plan to support something that is politically feasible.

16 posted on 04/24/2006 5:10:39 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: HEMICRASHBOX

17 posted on 04/24/2006 5:15:04 PM PDT by joesnuffy
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To: Principled
If taxes were paid on consumption rather than [reported] income, the illegals would demand pay sufficient to earn a living AND pay taxes - just like all the legal workers demand.

Illegals would always pay the maximum rate of federal tax on retail purchases of new goods and services. INdeed, they'd pay a higher rate than me.


Also, the underground economy would be reduced considerably with the Fair Tax.
18 posted on 04/24/2006 5:15:55 PM PDT by Man50D
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To: kingu

Say what?


19 posted on 04/24/2006 5:16:47 PM PDT by Nickname
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To: HEMICRASHBOX

Phillis for president.


20 posted on 04/24/2006 5:17:05 PM PDT by R.W.Ratikal
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