Posted on 11/28/2007 11:13:26 AM PST by Dubya
Larry Durrett knows from his experience as an owner of businesses in Fort Worth that it's not always easy to fill jobs at fast-food restaurants.
But if 12 million workers -- the number of illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States -- suddenly leave the work force, the fallout would be dramatic, Durrett said.
"I hear people say we should send those people back to where they came from," said Durrett, president of Jacksonville-based Southern Multifoods and owner of about 30 Taco Bells and KFC restaurants in Fort Worth.
"We can't. We'd shut down."
Durrett and others -- including former White House adviser Karl Rove and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas -- spoke Tuesday about the need to fix what many call a "broken" immigration system during a Texas Employers for Immigration Reform summit in Tyler.
Many said they hope that any solution will allow workers from other countries to stay here to help meet U.S. work-force needs.
"Our immigration system is antiquated and broken, and it will remain that way until Congress has the courage to pass laws to reform it," said Cliff Butler, vice chairman of the board at Pilgrim's Pride, which helped create TEIR.
As the nationwide debate about immigration continues to simmer amid calls for change, top leaders say it's long past time the issue is addressed.
"This needs to be an issue addressed this year," Rove said. "If we don't solve this, we will suffer ... most especially in the soul of the America spirit."
The debate
Immigration overhaul has been divisive for years as some say the borders need to be closed and illegal immigrants should be sent home, allowing for more job opportunities and better wages for U.S. workers.
Others argue that illegal workers here now should be given some sort of amnesty and be allowed to apply for citizenship and continue working as an integral part of the nation's work force.
Many have criticized Congress' inaction, which has even prompted some communities -- including Farmers Branch --- to pass what some call anti-immigration measures.
Many of those new laws have ended up in the courts.
Rove, in a select public appearance, told the crowd of more than 150 gathered at the University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday that 1 of every 20 workers in the United States is here illegally.
Not from crossing over the Mexican border, he said.
From flying in from another country with a legal visa and overstaying it, he said.
"If you are an illegal alien, you are more likely to be working than if you are a legal U.S. citizen," Rove said. "People are scared to death that America isn't going to be American."
Congressional action
Cornyn said finding a solution is "a matter of tremendous national importance."
But he said Congress must have something to go on, to show the direction a majority of U.S. citizens would like the government to follow.
"I think it's important that we demand there be an open and public debate in the presidential campaign about this issue," said Cornyn, whose immigration bill failed in 2005. "We need to have a discussion and then have a vote.
"Let's give the next president a mandate on the issue of immigration."
U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, said he wishes Congress hadn't recessed in August and instead worked day and night to find a solution.
He said he doesn't know the solution but believes that it starts with securing the U.S. borders and includes making people who live in the United States pay taxes and abide by the laws.
"We should forget maybe for a while [in Congress] that we're Republicans and Democrats and realize we're Americans with a problem ... and we've got to deliver," Hall said.
Business concerns
Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond said he believes that three components are crucial to a comprehensive immigration plan:
Border security, which includes allowing enough legal immigrants into Texas to meet the state's work force needs.
Allowing immigrants already working in the United States to "come out of the shadows" and work here legally.
Creating a new program to help employers easily determine which workers are legally working in the United States, so they don't have to serve as immigration police.
"Comprehensive immigration reform is essential to the future economy of Texas," Hammond said. "We are calling on Congress today."
Not from crossing over the Mexican border, he said.
From flying in from another country with a legal visa and overstaying it, he said.
"If you are an illegal alien, you are more likely to be working than if you are a legal U.S. citizen," Rove said. "People are scared to death that America isn't going to be American."
“I hear people say we should send those people back to where they came from,” said Durrett, president of Jacksonville-based Southern Multifoods and owner of about 30 Taco Bells and KFC restaurants in Fort Worth.
“We can’t. We’d shut down.”
So when do I get to pick the law I don’t want to obey in order to make my life easier or my business more viable?
Tell ya what, Larry, I don’t like what you charge for a meal. So I’ll pay half and walk out the door. How’s it feel on your end?
Here ya go, Larry, this guy was last known in Texas, and he's an experienced restraurant worker!
Across Kansas: Fears grow for missing woman
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1931829/posts
[snip]Police began investigating about 2:45 p.m. Saturday after Mireles did not show up to work at a restaurant next to the El Dorado Motel. The restaurant manager checked the motel room where Mireles was staying and reported there were signs that an altercation had occurred in the room.
Simply discontinue all social services to illegals; that will discourage a lot of them. Their minor children who were born here, and thus by a quirk of the law are citizens, will not typically be able to apply on their own behalf. An illegal should not be able to apply on behalf of himself or anyone else.
Since when does the government have a responsibility to keep a business IN BUSINESS?
Not being able to use "slave labor" to stay in business is shameful -- his customers should help him realize that fact.
Oh My God! Shut Down? What would we do? The sky is falling.
I guess you'll have to sell the 40 foot boat and pay a decent wage....
ping
There's another Rove lie tied up with an insult to the USA citizen worker.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/06/AR2005120601491.html
A majority of Mexican nationals who crossed into the United States illegally in the past two years left behind paying jobs that, in some cases, are similar to the agriculture, construction and manufacturing work they find north of the border, according to a study of Mexican immigrants released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center. The study seemed to explode widely held beliefs that Mexicans risk deadly trips across the Rio Grande and through broiling Arizona and New Mexico deserts solely to find work.
"There's one very clear finding and that's that unemployment per se is not a very large factor in determining whether people migrate or not," Suro said. "This is not a flow of people without jobs. Unemployment is not pushing people out. . . . "
The study, "The Economic Transition to America," is part of a series of reports culled from a survey of more than 4,000 Mexican nationals at consulate offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Fresno, Calif., between July 2004 and January 2005. Thirty-two percent of men questioned said they worked in agriculture in Mexico, followed by 15 percent who were employed by manufacturers and 13 percent in commerce and sales. Women -- 19 percent -- mostly worked in commerce and sales, followed by manufacturing and domestic service. After arriving in the United States, 82 percent of the illegal immigrants lived with relatives. "The strong family ties, and the social network they comprise, are clearly important to the economic assimilation of respondents," the study stated.
Unemployment is a fact of life in the transition from Mexico. A high percentage, 38, said they were unemployed for at least a month in the previous year. Women in particular, 48 percent, had trouble finding work, and 40 percent of people without a high-school education were jobless for a significant period.
Well said, thank you.
Tough. If hiring criminal illegal aliens in violation of federal law was how your business gained an unfair advantage and thus is now open for business - then that business needs to be shut down. The person running the business and the direct owners need to be in jail.
NO, no fines, none of that buying your way out.
JAIL.
I’d like to see the basis of his statement - did he mean welfare bums or did he include families where Mom stays home ?
Or was he just pulling bs out of a deep dark place.
I’m also a business owner, and one of them is located in Texas.
To owners like this guy in the article I say ‘go to hell’.
They should all be prosecuted for hiring illegals, and jailed. The CEO’s, the CFO’s, the COO’s, the HR managers, the whole lot of them.
"We can't. We'd shut down."
The manager of our local Chick Fil-A deals with this by hiring a large number of high school students who work an average of 18-20 hours per week. All three of my kids worked for him before they graduated.
Even though the pay was low (minimum wage to $1 over minimum), the guy has no problem attracting workers. The reason is because he has so many kids on his payroll, his manager can be flexible and accomodate their requests for time off during certain school activity seasons. About the only complaint I ever heard from my kids is that they didn't get enough hours. I told them that was one of the trade-offs they made to work for a good boss who accomodated their school activities.
His business is thriving and the locals love the service they get from kids who are competiting to get more hours and modest raises, but not trying to make fast-food a career. My wife and I still stop in frequently to eat and the owner, when he is there, always greets us and asks about our kids. I'm sure he has had a few kids who wouldn't work over the thousands he has hired over the years, but I also see his customer base is made up of a lot of empty nest parents (like us) who appreciate the effort he's made to give a lot of kids their first job over the years. I'm sure he is making money, but he also seems to be genuinely delighted in hearing about the academic and professional successes of the various kids who used to work for him.
I've yet to find a fast-food franchise who couldn't benefit from his management model.
Maybe PETA will start speaking out against illegal immigration.
Exactly: Can I help myself to the contents of one of Mr. Durrett’s cash registers?
Soooo, by his own admission, he is violating American law and American sovereignty by employing people he knows are not legally entitled to work in the Umited States.
Durrett doesn't sound like the spiciest taco in the bag, based on that statement alone.
“I hear people say we should send those people back to where they came from,” said Durrett, president of Jacksonville-based Southern Multifoods and owner of about 30 Taco Bells and KFC restaurants in Fort Worth.
“We can’t. We’d shut down.”
Where’s ICE, this guy belongs in prison and stripped of his assets!
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