There are no jobs Americans will not do: Liberals say we need undocumented workers to do jobs Americans won't do. Is that true? No.

NOQ Report ^ | 05/05/2021 | Jim Stroud

[SeekAndFind]

So, today, I noticed this tweet about illegal immigrants.

It reminded me of something a celebrity said and was subsequently skewered in the media for it. Yet, based on the twitter comments I shared above, many Americans think the same way.

The people who tend to think this way are not the working-class or those who live below the poverty line. They see illegal immigrants as taking jobs away from U.S. workers, according to this 2017 Rasmussen poll.

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It all made me wonder. The richer you are, the more you think illegal immigrants are here to handle menial jobs in pursuit of a better life. Likewise, the poorer you are, the more you you see them as a threat to your economic well-being. Which of the two arguments is correct? Well, there is an argument for both sides. Consider this 2018 quote from Iowa City Press-Citizen which is provably true and conventional wisdom. (I added links to the quote below for more context.)

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Undocumented workers are used as slave labor in a slave economy. They have no enforceable rights, living conditions are often deplorable, employers can intimidate them without repercussion and force them to work in unsafe conditions. These workers cannot object if they are paid starvation wages– if they get paid– and face termination without cause. They have no protection from industrial predators.

Meanwhile, those who employ them know they are not citizens and also know they face no penalties for hiring them. Let me repeat: there is no incentive not to hire them. If employers were penalized adequately (or at all) these workers would not be here.

This is why in the United States there are over 11 million undocumented workers. California alone has more than 2 million farm laborers yet 1.5 million are undocumented.

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So, yes, illegal immigrants are exploited in America. That is a given. Yet, the left would have me believe that they are a necessary workforce because Americans will not perform certain jobs. Is that true? No, its not. The Center for Immigration Studies has a different perspective based on scholarly research data. Here are some of their findings. They are as recent as 2018. I quote (with my emphasis added)…

If immigrants “do jobs that Americans won’t do,” we should be able to identify occupations in which the workers are nearly all foreign-born. However, among the 474 separate occupations defined by the Department of Commerce, we find only a handful of majority-immigrant occupations, and none completely dominated by immigrants (legal or illegal). Furthermore, in none of the 474 occupations do illegal immigrants constitute a majority of workers.

Notable findings:

• Of the 474 civilian occupations, only six are majority immigrant (legal and illegal). These six occupations account for 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans still comprise 46 percent of workers in these occupations.
• There are no occupations in the United States in which a majority of workers are illegal immigrants.
• Illegal immigrants work mostly in construction, cleaning, maintenance, food service, garment manufacturing, and agricultural occupations. However, the majority of workers even in these areas are either native-born or legal immigrants.
• Only 4 percent of illegal immigrants and 2 percent of all immigrants do farm work. Immigrants (legal and illegal) do make up a large share of agricultural workers — accounting for half or more of some types of farm laborers — but all agricultural workers together constitute less than 1 percent of the American work force.
• Many occupations often thought to be worked overwhelmingly by immigrants (legal and illegal) are in fact majority native-born:

• Maids and housekeepers: 51 percent native-born
• Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 54 percent native-born
• Butchers and meat processors: 64 percent native-born
• Grounds maintenance workers: 66 percent native-born
• Construction laborers: 65 percent native-born
• Janitors: 73 percent native-born

To sum all that up. There are no jobs that Americans will not do.

Illegal immigrants perform jobs that some Americans think are menial but none of those jobs are done exclusively by illegal immigrants and neither are the workers in those roles majority illegal immigrants.

That said, why are we encouraging so many illegal migrants to America where they will be exploited? Perhaps, there is an ulterior motive? Just asking.

[Little Ray]

Translation: “We need illegal aliens to drive down wages.”

[albie]

“Who is going to be cleaning your toilet?” Illegal, legal, destitute, homeless...a major challenge to get anybody to clean a toilet for anybody on The View.

[stanne]

I can’t get anyone to mow my lawn. They’d rather play video games and collect government money.

That’s the competition. The Biden 6 trillion dollars in 3 months budget.

[teeman8r]

Americans know how to set prices for work others do not want to do.

[Psalm 73]

Hmmm, I was born and raised in America and I've picked oranges, washed dishes, dug ditches, laid asphalt, poured concrete, and mowed lawns.

I think those are the types of jobs liberals claim we need illegal immigrants for, no?

[Lurkinanloomin]

George W Bush started that lie about jobs Americans won’t do.

[Titus-Maximus]

They are talking about the correct wage, they bring in illegals and use them as slaves to lower the wages, and then it becomes a truism that Americans won’t do the jobs that pay $3 an hour. Because if they didn’t break the law and bring in slaves the wages would be at the right level.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Only a small percentage of illegal aliens are working in agriculture.
They have taken over most of the construction, food processing and hospitality jobs.

[a fool in paradise]

And then we need them in our colleges because they are “dreamers” who want a better job and a better life doing the jobs that Americans do want to do.

[PGR88]

America is joying a drunken holiday, paid for by our fiat, printed currency combined with the fact that its still accepted as the world’s reserve currency.

[mikelets456]

Americans are not doing these jobs because they’re paid via “Covid cash/unemployment” 3X as much NOT TO DO THESE JOBS!!! End this BS socialism safey net crap and Americans will do what they have to, to get by!

[SMARTY]

“No jobs Americans won't do...” ??

Seriously??

Someone should have told that to my father while he was killing himself, running a crane in the ‘steel house’ for 33 years!!

Crazy cold in the winter and screaming hot in the summer. Of course, ALWAYS dangerous, loud and dirty!

[GreenHornet]

What they really mean is we need illegal aliens to vote for candidates Americans won’t vote for.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Why work when there’s free stuff?

[tbw2]

Data source: There Are No Jobs Americans Won’t Do
A detailed look at immigrants (legal and illegal) and natives across occupations
https://cis.org/Report/There-Are-No-Jobs-Americans-Wont-Do

Only 4 percent of illegal immigrants and 2 percent of all immigrants do farm work. Immigrants (legal and illegal) do make up a large share of agricultural workers — accounting for half or more of some types of farm laborers — but all agricultural workers together constitute less than 1 percent of the American work force.
Source: https://cis.org/Report/There-Are-No-Jobs-Americans-Wont-Do

[Vaduz]

Your right flat line wages is a goal for the socialism program.

[Gay State Conservative]

They say that wetbacks must be imported to pick grapes and lettuce. That's BS. Of course it might be necessary to pay a legal resident *more* than a wetback but pay them enough and they'll do it.

I'm willing to pay a little more for my grapes and oranges in exchange for having no wetbacks within our borders.

[kearnyirish2]

All of my teens worked - but NJ had to up the minimum wage to $12/hour to get many people to do so.

[grey_whiskers]

How about the jobs RINO Congressmen won’t do?