Ah, but that's changing, rapidly.
I live in a very rural midwestern county. It wasn't that long ago that high school kids took summer jobs "working in the fields." Now, the population is about 15% Mexican -- probably for the most part illegal, going by what I've observed (and conversations with cops). Crime is up, and high school kids don't work during the summer anymore. The Mexicans came in and undercut them. Sort of like "block-busting, country-style."
So, more and more people -- even people living in "way out of the way" locations -- are coming "face-to-face on a daily basis" with this nightmare. And it ain't pretty.
The government's response has been a redefining moment in the concept of "cynical." A year or so ago they DID have something of a "crackdown." The feds came in, and busted something lie 50 to 75 illegals.
The surreal thing was that they were NOT the Mexicans that they had to wade through in order to get to the target of the crackdown -- which was a single Chinese restaurant.
I guess the Chinaman took one look at things, figured it was perfectly safe to run an operation based on illegal alien workers, but DIDN'T realize that this sort of Above The Law pass ONLY applies to Mexican illegal aliens.
Bottom line appears to be that so long as "prominent" employers -- deep-pocket big-fish types with political clout -- WANT to have their "virtual coolie labor force", Washington will look the other way, and when necessary to make it LOOK like they're doing something, go after some two-bit Chinese restaurant.
That’s truly pathetic — I feel especially bad for the high school kids who can’t find work.
I live in Pittsburgh — we’re just now starting to run into the beginnings of issues with illegal immigrants. It’s a safe bet that it isn’t a top issue for many folks around here (although I’m sure it would be if the steel mills were still in operation). My brother lives in Phoenix, so between his accounts and those I read online I’m aware of how out-of-hand things are in many parts of the country. And I’m outraged by the hidden costs, and by the failure of politicians to enforce our laws just on general principle.
I still believe that if politicians start getting tossed out of office in large numbers based on this issue, things will change. Commentary like Thompson’s can only help.