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Victor Davis Hanson : Illiberal aspects of illegal immigration rarely voiced
Jewish World Review ^ | 6-9-05 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 06/09/2005 4:48:29 AM PDT by SJackson

A group of citizens calling themselves the Minutemen patrols the border looking to stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States. Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, states that Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. are "are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do."

Meanwhile, many Republicans think President George W. Bush's guest-worker program either mocks the law or is unworkable, while in California a frustrated Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blurts out, "Close the borders in California and all across Mexico and the United States."

Illegal immigration is again in the headlines, but the debate isn't going anywhere. Instead, all the tired controversies are again being aired.

Some believe illegal immigration is a win-win bargain: An impoverished Mexico obtains critical dollars, while job-hungry America receives industrious unskilled workers.

Critics counter that millions of illegal workers undermine the sanctity of the law, and only abet a corrupt Mexican government that uses remittances to avoid needed reform.

Both sides agree that when newcomers arrive legally from Mexico in the thousands, rather than unchecked in the millions, these immigrants become among our best American citizens.

The politics are by now surreal. Those of the corporate right want cheap labor. So they join the self-interested multicultural left in politics, journalism and academia who don't mind seeing a growing presence of unassimilated and dependent constituents.

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: aliens; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; immigration; vdh; victordavishanson
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To: junta
Its called the New World Order the fusion of Lefty fantasy and Rightist corporate hustling, and VDH is describing a symptom.

Corporations have learned how to sucker the Left into supporting what *they* want. I wonder how much longer Leftists are going to remain blind to the fact they are merely 'useful idiots' to the very people they profess to hate. I just heard on the radio that Latinos are the only group where real wages have decreased over the past 5 years.

21 posted on 06/09/2005 8:38:34 AM PDT by nosofar
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To: pfony1
Does anyone REALLY think that those "cheap" illegals who assemble every morning in "no-hassle-zonas" are being picked up for day-labor "corporate" jobs?

You are confusing people hired by corporations with 'corporate workers', by which I assume you mean office workers. Corporations hire agrigultural workers, construction workers, restaurant workers, assembly line workers, anything that does not require a great deal of training. Especially if you are a smaller business, you often don't have the luxury of NOT hiring illegals and paying extra in benefits or salary if you don't have to. I certainly don't think large corporations have a policy of hiring illegals, but they turn a blind eye to the practice if it helps the bottom line.

22 posted on 06/09/2005 8:46:34 AM PDT by nosofar
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To: pfony1
Are you bayourod in another Freeper ID? :-)

Many of the construction-related companies rely heavily on illegal immigrants.

And try finding janitorial staff in the Southwest US that speaks English as a primary language . . .

23 posted on 06/09/2005 9:51:25 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: nosofar

They are so blinded by fantasy that I would hesitate to take that guess.


24 posted on 06/10/2005 4:58:09 AM PDT by junta ("Racism" a word invented so as to allow morons access to the political debate.)
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To: pfony1

Why the reflexive defense of corporations? How is that conservative? I think conservatives should demand at least as much responsibility from corporations as from anyone else.

A good friend of mine used to clean floors at Walmart and other big box stores. He hired Americans, who worked hard. He paid them well, averaging over $20/hour.

Five years ago he began losing contracts to contractors who used illegals and could cut his price by more than 50%.

Those hiring these companies were perfectly well aware that the price they were paying would not allow a legitimate company to do the work with legal labor. They hid behind a facade of pretending they didn't know this.

I have personally been involved with situations where insurance companies would not pay a price that would allow reroofing by a company that paid worker's comp, hired legal labor, followed safety rules, etc. They pretended that all such concerns were only the responsibility of the contractor.

IMHO, this is all corporate BS. They know exactly what they are doing and their pretense that they don't know the results of their refusal to pay a price for services that allows them to be done legally is sheer hypocrisy.


25 posted on 06/10/2005 6:50:43 AM PDT by Restorer
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To: Restorer

Well, it looks like we've moved away from Mr. Hanson's statement (admitedly, as understoood by me),

"Those of the corporate right want [to hire] cheap [illegal] labor."

to

"...companies were perfectly well aware that the price they were paying would not allow a legitimate [vendor or contracting] company to do the work with legal labor."

IMHO, this second statement confuses a proper corporate motive (to cut costs) with an attribution of an improper motive (to induce other businesses to hire "illegals") -- with no proof offered.

As I said originally -- a cheap shot...


26 posted on 06/10/2005 7:27:02 AM PDT by pfony1
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To: 1_Inch_Group; 2sheep; 2Trievers; 3AngelaD; 4.1O dana super trac pak; 4Freedom; 4ourprogeny; ...

ping


27 posted on 06/10/2005 9:11:42 AM PDT by gubamyster
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To: SJackson

Dear VDH, hardly do you ever miss, but in this you do.

Read CAFTA. Study Border XXI. Read the Carnegie Summary of the Ford Foundations recommendation on Migration.. all of this fits together, then America's immigration / border policy will make sense. Heard of Maurice Strong? How about tuning in to the WEF at Davos and see how national sovereignty elimination is buried within the masks of the war on Poverty, and Environmentalism. This has been in the works for years.

It is indeed a goal of Global Governance.


28 posted on 06/10/2005 9:22:10 AM PDT by JesseJane (2008 is TOO Late.. Toss the RINOS in 2006.. remember the Ratpack 7.)
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To: pfony1

I disagree.

Would you feel the same way if the "contracting companies," who are often just a veil to provide plausible deniability, were hiring children to do the work? Would that be none of the business of the corporation?

Is it ethically proper for a corporation to do anything that saves it money as long as it can claim it didn't know laws were being broken to do so?


29 posted on 06/10/2005 9:39:58 AM PDT by Restorer
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To: gubamyster

Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!

Be Ever Vigilant!

Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!


30 posted on 06/10/2005 9:43:24 AM PDT by blackie
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To: SJackson
Those of the corporate right want cheap labor. So they join the self-interested multicultural left in politics, journalism and academia who don't mind seeing a growing presence of unassimilated and dependent constituents.

Hey, Mr. Bottom Line Republican, how do you like your new bedfellows?

May you wake up with a good case of crabs tomorrow.

31 posted on 06/10/2005 10:10:59 AM PDT by skeeter ("What's to talk about? It's illegal." S Bono)
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To: SJackson
And it is past time for them to explain why it is moral or liberal, rather than merely convenient, to import millions outside the law to do the jobs we supposedly cannot.

This is what I keep waiting to hear, and never do.

32 posted on 06/10/2005 10:32:19 AM PDT by Bahbah (Something wicked this way comes)
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To: Restorer

I marvel at the ease and frequency with which people ascribe human attributes to inanimate entities (such as corporations), which exist only as a matter of legal convenience. The truth is that "corporations" don't "claim" anything and "corporations" don't "do" anything. It is the EMPLOYEES of corporations, who "do" things and who "claim" things on behalf of their respective corporations.

With that background, let's correct your question:

Is it ethically proper for [the employees of] a corporation to do anything that saves ...[the corporation's] money as long as ...[the employees] can [honestly] claim ...[they] didn't know laws were being broken to do so?

As presented above, the answer is obviously "Yes".

If the word "honestly" is replaced with the word "dishonestly", the answer is obviously "No". Dishonesty is unethical, per se.

And if the word "honestly" is omited from your question, the answer, IMHO, is a conditional "Yes".

The "condition" is that the employees are NOT to be assigned blame, merely for having less-than-perfect knowledge.

I deal with many tradesmen in the course of a month. If my laundryman beats his children, is that MY ethical lapse? If my barber "fools around", is that MY ethical lapse? If my cleaning woman breaks the speed limit, is that MY ethical lapse? If my grocer sells me tomatillos picked by children in Chiapas last week, is that MY ethical lapse? Is it HIS? I could go on, but I think that these are enough examples to make my point. PEOPLE can be "ethical" or "unethical" based on their OWN behavior - not the behavior (or alleged behavior) of other people.

I know... I know...

The tort bar has gotten rich by successfully shifting the "blame" for countless problems from the guilty parties to the "parties with the deep pockets". In many, many cases, this means: to the "corporations".

But I think that playing along with that "game" is itself unethical.


33 posted on 06/10/2005 10:33:15 AM PDT by pfony1
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To: pfony1

Multinational-Corportation besides hiring illegals to do low level work, also love to import H-1 visa workers and pay them half the price of Americans, while outsourcing as many jobs as possible.


34 posted on 06/10/2005 11:49:39 AM PDT by Evolution (Tolerance!? We don't need no stinking Tolerance ! ! !)
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To: pfony1; All
Ask yourself, "What employee would risk jail for the sake of increasing earnings for the "shareholders"?

Enron,Global Crossing, Arthur Anderson,etc....

35 posted on 06/10/2005 11:51:10 AM PDT by Evolution (Tolerance!? We don't need no stinking Tolerance ! ! !)
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To: SJackson

I'm glad he touched on the money sent back to Mexico as it is used to keep the citizens receiving it complacent by being indirectly dependent on the US economy dole, instead of motivating them to do what they need to do to bring their country into the 21st century


36 posted on 06/10/2005 12:26:10 PM PDT by tertiary01 (What are those pro illegal aliens, so cranky?)
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To: Evolution

I wonder if this is hearsay, conjecture or experience talking.

My company has several H-1B visa employees because we need certain skills which are in short supply in the US.

One investment manager is fluent in English, Japanese, Arabic and Hindi.

Another speaks English, Spanish and Portugese and is able to write legal contracts in any of those languages.

These guys receive 6-figure incomes, because they EARN them.

OTOH, I doubt if any of Ward Churchill's "students" has ever had a resume pass the first stage of the screening process we use.

I know the lazy DUmmies fall for this "evil corporations" propaganda all the time, but I think that we are smart enough to get beyond the "sound bites" and check the facts.

What do you think?


37 posted on 06/10/2005 12:38:06 PM PDT by pfony1
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To: pfony1

Well, in Colorado and Kansas, large corporations enjoy a cheap labor force of immigrants in meat packing and corporate farming enterprises; around the Chesapeake Bay, corporate interests employ cheap immigrant labor in poultry and seafood packaging plants. I could site corporate use of cheap immigrant labor in many other parts of the country, particularly in the case of large (corporate) residential and commercial construction companies. In all of these places, the rest of the community is forced to subsidize the corporate cheaply paid labor by providing health care, subsidized housing ect. Hanson isn't taking a cheap shot, you just need to expand your definition of corporate enterprise beyond the Fortune 500.


38 posted on 06/10/2005 12:42:20 PM PDT by 3AngelaD
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To: 3AngelaD

Point taken...


39 posted on 06/10/2005 1:05:23 PM PDT by pfony1
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To: Dane

I'll give you credit, you show up for every illegal invader debate and get bashed over and over. I disagree with you 110% , but at least give you credit for taking a beating over and over.


40 posted on 06/10/2005 1:09:07 PM PDT by chris1 ("Make the other guy die for his country" - George S. Patton Jr.)
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