Where are you going to get the new workers to replace the 8% of he workforce that is supposedly made up of Illegals?
The sad fact is that we don't know how many illegals are here, where they work, how many receive EITC payments, pay into SS, pay taxes, receive social services, etc. How can you set good public policy without knowing the extent and breadth of the problem? Secure our borders and enforcement of our existing laws first before cmprehensive immigration reform.
Oh, a couple of million Chinese, Indians, Argentinians, Congoese, et al may qualify. The important point is that WE get to choose who we allow in, not the illegal immigrants.
That wasn't the point but I'll respond anyway. There is no shortage of workers who want to come into the United States "legally" to work and who want to be US citizens, not guest workers.
I initially favored a guest worker program but have changed my mind because I do not think the US want to create and maintain an underclass of non-citizens working here. It seems to me to be a better decision to encourage people who want to be US citizens to come to America.
I have asked that question 100 times and yet to get a serious answer, have you?
It's always raise the wages and workers will magically appear or machinary. If there was a machine to do it economically it would already be made.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
That accounts for at least 8%. Number 5 all by itself probably accounts for 10% on it's own.
The above is only half serious. I get your point, but can you see mine, however exaggerated? We don't need an exploitable under class of low skilled low paid workers, which is what McCain and others are arguing for.
It boils down to corrupt employers paying people off the books at sub minimum wages because they can't complain since they're illegal. That part of the problem, the part that talks about "jobs Americans won't do," we have to eliminate, above all else. That accounts for probably a third of the illegals. There's another third that are truly here as invaders, intent on "taking back their land." We need to root them out and imprison them for a very long time as enemy aliens, then send them back where they came from. Then there are a third who are truly hard workers who have sunk roots and become part of the fabric of our country, particularly those that have started their own businesses. Those I want to keep.