Posted on 07/09/2005 8:32:10 AM PDT by pabianice
Embracing Illegals
Companies are getting hooked on the buying power of 11 million undocumented immigrants
Inez and Antonio Valenzuela are a marketer's dream. Young, upwardly mobile, and ready to spend on their growing family, the Los Angeles couple in many ways reflects the 42 million Hispanics in the U.S. Age 30 and 29, respectively, with two daughters, Esmeralda, 8, and Maria Luisa, 2 months, the duo puts in long hours, working 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., six days a week, at their bustling streetside taco trailer. From a small sidewalk stand less than two years ago, they built the business into a hot destination for hungry commuters. The Valenzuelas (not their real name) bring in revenue well above the U.S. household average of $43,000, making them a solidly middle-class family that any U.S. consumer-products company would love to reach. Advertisement
But Inez and Antonio aren't your typical American consumers. They're undocumented immigrants who live and work in the U.S. illegally. When the couple, along with Esmeralda, crossed the Mexican border five years ago, they had little money, no jobs, and lacked basic documents such as Social Security numbers. Guided by friends and family, the couple soon discovered how to navigate the increasingly above-ground world of illegal residency. At the local Mexican consulate, the Valenzuelas each signed up for an identification card known as a matrícula consular, for which more than half the applicants are undocumented immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic center, a Washington think tank. Scores of financial institutions now accept it for bank accounts, credit cards, and car loans. Next, they applied to the Internal Revenue Service for individual tax identification numbers (ITINS), allowing them to pay taxes like any U.S. citizen -- and thereby to eventually get a home mortgage...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Interactive Map: A nation of illegal immigrants
Alternate title:
Selling out your country's values..in a few easy steps.
Very lib, wouldnt you say?
Thank You Washington, DC for WHAT YOU DONE TO THIS COUNTRY. Trust in government is something of the past.
What? Are you saying this story just doesnt warm the cockles of your heart? Living the American dream aren't they?
BTTT
yup , Business Week: " they're breaking the law,and we at Business Week,are so very proud of them! Anything to run this horrid country into the ground..." [/srcsm]("hey,let me outta the brackets": /srcsm]
Go to the article. At the bottom, people get to comment. This are a couple:
See all comments
Leave your own comments
Nickname: Tom Tancredo Supporter
Review: The reason this administration has backed-off on work site and interior enforcement is because they know it is the most effective way to curtail illegal immigration. No jobs, no way to support yourself or your family, far fewer illegals, plain and simple. Also, the myth that they are doing jobs Americans won't do, well, pay Americans a fair wage for undesirable and difficult work (like we use to do) and I think you would be surprised at how many applicants you would have. I am upper middle class and have worked at a car wash, a gas station, and was turned down for a janitorial position in my younger years. I was happy to get hired and do the work in those positions. Illegal immigration is the 21st Century's version of the 18th Century slave trade and there will be a heavy price to pay somewhere down the road. We should all be ashamed of ourselves.
Date reviewed: Jul 9, 2005 3:21 PM
Nickname: Disgusted in So Cal
Review: Some people seem to have the illusion that the taxes illegal aliens allegedly pay offset their costs to our society. First of all, illegal immigration is and should remain ILLEGAL. Secondly, the cost of educating, medicating, and incarcerating a group of approximately 20 million people cannot possibly be offset by taxes paid on minimum wage jobs (although most work under the table and don't pay any payroll taxes). This is especially true when considering that illegals send back remittances to Mexico to the tune of $15-20 BILLION every year, Mexico's second source of foreign income. The myth that illegal aliens are paying their way is clearly debunked. Anyone who believes otherwise isn't concerned with the facts or reality.
Date reviewed: Jul 9, 2005 2:48 PM
Hmmm. Doesn't "guest" imply an invitation? Did any of you here invite millions of unskilled, disease-ridden, social-service demanding "guests"?
Seduced by the 'Dark Side' of Capitalism...
The "Love" of money is the root of all evil according to God..
When the love of money (greed) superceeds the love of the nation...it becomes a traitorous act
Be it from Robber Baron or their Politicans
imo
Good point about leaving comments with the article. Do it. I did.
The "benefits" to our country from illegal immigration are bogus. The only ones who are benefitting are the corporations and the illegals. The corporations are getting cheap labor, while citizens like you and I have to pay for their illegal employees' medical care, housing, food stamps, and childrens' education. We are merely subsidizing businesses. At the same time, we are allowing our blue collar wages to be driven down. Outsourcing is taking care of white collar wages. Before we know it, we will be a country with no real middle class.
"None of them plan the live here more that 7 years. Just enough to save for a home."
That's what most of them say. Most of those who say this stay here in the US.
I'm rapidly coming to the view that the Mexification of America is inevitable and that the best thing anyone who wants to live in American culture can do is move to a small, affluent town with few agriculature jobs and sufficiently high cost of living to deter most illegal aliens. I live in such a town now and I see cities around me filling up with Mexicans, but it hasn't touched us very much yet. I may someday see myself more as a resident of this town than as a citizen of Mexified America.
Embrace illegals with a zip tie on their wrists.
I've heard this before. But, what about all the "anchor babies" parents who are going to be USING that SS (and food stamps and medicaid and medicare and subsidized housing and Lord knows what else that I'm paying for).
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