Comments on: Illegal Immigrants — Still Doing the Jobs Americans Won’t http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/ Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:26:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: rjjrdq http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-158860 rjjrdq Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:52:52 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-158860 The writer is a Latino immigration advocate. Specifically Latino. He's-a story himself. Americans will do the jobs-if the wages are decent. It's common for Americans to low-balled out of jobs by illegal aliens. Between outsourcing and in-sourcing, the American worker is being hit from all sides. Are they upset? I guess they could be. The writer is a Latino immigration advocate. Specifically Latino. He’s-a story himself.

Americans will do the jobs-if the wages are decent. It’s common for Americans to low-balled out of jobs by illegal aliens. Between outsourcing and in-sourcing, the American worker is being hit from all sides. Are they upset? I guess they could be.

]]> By: Chuck Lyons http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-102112 Chuck Lyons Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:41:53 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-102112 How dare you denigrate the millions of Americans that Do do the jobs that Americans can or won't do! If I had known it was below me to have picked weeds at a nursery, flip burgers or shovel manure, I could have saved myself a lot of back breaking work. Or my sister who worked at a hotel cleaning rooms. Or the American men and women I encounter each week as I travel throughout the U.S. as I do my, now, white collar work. I, the Republican, who worked my way up from doing the jobs American can't or won't do, started to get turned off when President Bush started spewing that line. I'm sure a lot of other Americans who still do 'that' work, were as well. I must have missed it where the Monopoly game of the American Dream now starts at New York Avenue instead of at Baltic. You have a habit of generalizing the American people with the broad brush of anti-immigration smears, but this is a case where the facts dispute your rhetoric. How dare you denigrate the millions of Americans that Do do the jobs that Americans can or won’t do! If I had known it was below me to have picked weeds at a nursery, flip burgers or shovel manure, I could have saved myself a lot of back breaking work. Or my sister who worked at a hotel cleaning rooms. Or the American men and women I encounter each week as I travel throughout the U.S. as I do my, now, white collar work.
I, the Republican, who worked my way up from doing the jobs American can’t or won’t do, started to get turned off when President Bush started spewing that line. I’m sure a lot of other Americans who still do ‘that’ work, were as well. I must have missed it where the Monopoly game of the American Dream now starts at New York Avenue instead of at Baltic.
You have a habit of generalizing the American people with the broad brush of anti-immigration smears, but this is a case where the facts dispute your rhetoric.

]]> By: Kalroy http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91667 Kalroy Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:13:37 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91667 In '95, after I got out of the Air Force, I worked sixty hour weeks welding. Then 60-72 hour weeks welding, driving a forklift, painting and cutting grass. Then overseas where 60 and 72 hour work weeks were the norm. Then back to the states working rotating 12 hour shifts. Funny thing, with the exception of the first job (where the illegals made more than I) it was all Americans. Perhaps in the author's circle American construction workers, American maintenance workers, and American fabricators are unheard of. In the blue-collar world of America they are still plentiful. Employers aren't complaining about a lack of skilled labor, or a lack of workers willing to work the hard and dirty job, they're complaining about workers who want to be paid more than dirt. I'm also going to back up what vashnugal says, from personal experience and observation. Kalroy In ’95, after I got out of the Air Force, I worked sixty hour weeks welding. Then 60-72 hour weeks welding, driving a forklift, painting and cutting grass. Then overseas where 60 and 72 hour work weeks were the norm. Then back to the states working rotating 12 hour shifts. Funny thing, with the exception of the first job (where the illegals made more than I) it was all Americans.

Perhaps in the author’s circle American construction workers, American maintenance workers, and American fabricators are unheard of. In the blue-collar world of America they are still plentiful. Employers aren’t complaining about a lack of skilled labor, or a lack of workers willing to work the hard and dirty job, they’re complaining about workers who want to be paid more than dirt.

I’m also going to back up what vashnugal says, from personal experience and observation.

Kalroy

]]> By: vashnugel http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91646 vashnugel Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:41:51 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91646 Did you hear about the shortage of coal miners? Nope! Why? Because there is none. Coal miners make a decent buck. The work is miserable but decent pay gets people to do it. How the shortage of sand hogs - the guys who build tunnels. That's truly horrible work, hard, wet, loud, work. It pays quite well, so there's no shortage. In my neck of the woods, guys that needed work used to be able to pick up roofing jobs. That paid well because it's hard and a bit dangerous. Today, you're out of luck. Every single roofing contractor is 100% illegals. Not only do they get to pay them less but they also get to escape the very high workman's compensation insurance rates (rates are high due to high injury rates) and the high unemployment insurance rates (due to the regular winter layoffs). It's total BS when the liberals yap about "jobs Americans won't do". Did you hear about the shortage of coal miners? Nope! Why? Because there is none. Coal miners make a decent buck. The work is miserable but decent pay gets people to do it.

How the shortage of sand hogs – the guys who build tunnels. That’s truly horrible work, hard, wet, loud, work. It pays quite well, so there’s no shortage.

In my neck of the woods, guys that needed work used to be able to pick up roofing jobs. That paid well because it’s hard and a bit dangerous. Today, you’re out of luck. Every single roofing contractor is 100% illegals. Not only do they get to pay them less but they also get to escape the very high workman’s compensation insurance rates (rates are high due to high injury rates) and the high unemployment insurance rates (due to the regular winter layoffs).

It’s total BS when the liberals yap about “jobs Americans won’t do”.

]]> By: Jim http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91605 Jim Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:48:59 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91605 "That’s one of the big lies that immigration restrictionists keep repeating in the hopes that the rest of us start believing it — that the problem is one of low wages and that Americans would rush out and do the crummiest of jobs if the salary were decent. Baloney. Americans have moved beyond these types of jobs. Grandpa and Grandma may have done them, but their grandkids prefer to keep them at arm’s length. " Bullshit. Plenty of local people applied for Agriprocessor jobs. They left after a few months because of the pay scale. The pay scale amounted to slavery. Specifically in the case of Agriprocessor there were horrible thngs going on at the facility. These raids are the only thing that comes close to stopping that kind of thing. maybe one day the unions will get to these workers, but unitl then this blunt instrument is all there is. "Americans will put up with none of that, but we should also continue the raids. These people broke one law when they entered the country illegally and broke another when they used fake documents to secure employment. They have to be punished for their crimes, and the just punishment is not this “identity theft” nonsense but deportation to whatever country they came from." First thing: deportation is not a punishment. It is just a corection to a crime, like returning stolen property to the owner or finding a kidnapped child. Returning someone to their home is not a punishment. Second: The only reason to prosecute these idnetity offenses is to build a case against whoever sold them the documents, and that will lead right back to the employers in 99% of the cases. We need asset forfeiture in these cases much more than we need it in drug cases. Confiscate and auction off businesses, seize houses and cars purchased with the proceeds of these businesses. “That’s one of the big lies that immigration restrictionists keep repeating in the hopes that the rest of us start believing it — that the problem is one of low wages and that Americans would rush out and do the crummiest of jobs if the salary were decent.
Baloney. Americans have moved beyond these types of jobs. Grandpa and Grandma may have done them, but their grandkids prefer to keep them at arm’s length. ”

Bullshit. Plenty of local people applied for Agriprocessor jobs. They left after a few months because of the pay scale. The pay scale amounted to slavery.

Specifically in the case of Agriprocessor there were horrible thngs going on at the facility. These raids are the only thing that comes close to stopping that kind of thing. maybe one day the unions will get to these workers, but unitl then this blunt instrument is all there is.

“Americans will put up with none of that, but we should also continue the raids. These people broke one law when they entered the country illegally and broke another when they used fake documents to secure employment. They have to be punished for their crimes, and the just punishment is not this “identity theft” nonsense but deportation to whatever country they came from.”

First thing: deportation is not a punishment. It is just a corection to a crime, like returning stolen property to the owner or finding a kidnapped child. Returning someone to their home is not a punishment.

Second: The only reason to prosecute these idnetity offenses is to build a case against whoever sold them the documents, and that will lead right back to the employers in 99% of the cases.

We need asset forfeiture in these cases much more than we need it in drug cases. Confiscate and auction off businesses, seize houses and cars purchased with the proceeds of these businesses.

]]> By: roybme http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91372 roybme Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:43:24 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91372 I am soooo tired of the absolutely ridiculous argument that American’s will not take the less desirable jobs. It is all about the money stupid! I promise you that there is a number between $1.00 an hour and $10,000 an hour that will get you all the American workers you want for ANY job! Wages are as much a part of the free market system as any other resource, and the wage equation is being enormously distorted by cheap and abusive illegal labor. Wake up America! I am soooo tired of the absolutely ridiculous argument that American’s will not take the less desirable jobs. It is all about the money stupid! I promise you that there is a number between $1.00 an hour and $10,000 an hour that will get you all the American workers you want for ANY job! Wages are as much a part of the free market system as any other resource, and the wage equation is being enormously distorted by cheap and abusive illegal labor. Wake up America!

]]> By: Stepan http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91367 Stepan Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:10:17 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91367 This piece is total BS. There is a difference between legal and illegal immigration that, unlike the 22 cal round that is used in slaughterhouses, never seems to dent the foreheads of those who favor the latter. This piece is total BS.

There is a difference between legal and illegal immigration that, unlike the 22 cal round that is used in slaughterhouses, never seems to dent the foreheads of those who favor the latter.

]]> By: urbanleftbehind http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91184 urbanleftbehind Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:33:45 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91184 Michael, The French are gonna need our Mexican anchor babies to save their effete a$%es from the Muslim hordes that probably would be broken out of their religious fervor by backbreaking days in the field. Blacks got freed to stop Confederate bullets. McCain is going start more trouble that needs more bullet stoppers. Now you know the real reason behind McAmnesty. Michael,

The French are gonna need our Mexican anchor babies to save their effete a$%es from the Muslim hordes that probably would be broken out of their religious fervor by backbreaking days in the field.

Blacks got freed to stop Confederate bullets. McCain is going start more trouble that needs more bullet stoppers. Now you know the real reason behind McAmnesty.

]]> By: Michael S http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91106 Michael S Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:18:08 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91106 Me? I'd like to do their jobs. I'd like to do 20 or 30 of them. Or hundreds. See, I'm an engineer and my current job is to make my employer more productive. Over 20 years we're now outputing 3 times as much with 1/6th the employees. The author would have you believe that we should have just hired illegals back 20 years ago. But if we had done that, we would not be in the commanding position we are today to compete against Japan, Europe and China. The illegals here in the U.S. are holding back innovation. The French pick thier grapes with machines while we pick them with Mexicans. Who will be in a better position in the future? Me? I’d like to do their jobs. I’d like to do 20 or 30 of them. Or hundreds. See, I’m an engineer and my current job is to make my employer more productive. Over 20 years we’re now outputing 3 times as much with 1/6th the employees. The author would have you believe that we should have just hired illegals back 20 years ago. But if we had done that, we would not be in the commanding position we are today to compete against Japan, Europe and China.

The illegals here in the U.S. are holding back innovation. The French pick thier grapes with machines while we pick them with Mexicans. Who will be in a better position in the future?

]]> By: farrar http://pjmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91096 farrar Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:32:57 +0000 http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/illegal-immigrants-%e2%80%94-still-doing-the-jobs-americans-wont/#comment-91096 Are you kidding me? Yes, there is a lack of work ethic in the US currently, but saying an American won't work in a meatpacking plant is just absurd. Americans work as janitors cleaning toilets, serwer inspectors, hide tanners, grocery store stockers, plumbers, and any number of other "distasteful" jobs. Saying that we need illegals because Americans "won't" do X or Y is a fallacy started by people who want to pay no taxes or benefits, or decent wages, to or on their workers. Americans would pick fruit and bus tables. Start shutting down employers who knowingly employ illegals, and start requiring real documentation through social security of all workers, and the illegal immigrant problem would disappear. No one would pour over the border if there were no jobs. Just like no one would pour over the border if there was no free medical care, schooling, and automatic citizenship for their anchor kids. Our medical system is being overwhelmed by illegals who do not pay. Guess who does? Your tax dollars. Walk into an ER on any weekend. Who is packing the waiting room? Lots on non-english speaking families who's kids have colds. Drs are overworked and have less time to attend to those who truly need emergency care. Are you kidding me? Yes, there is a lack of work ethic in the US currently, but saying an American won’t work in a meatpacking plant is just absurd. Americans work as janitors cleaning toilets, serwer inspectors, hide tanners, grocery store stockers, plumbers, and any number of other “distasteful” jobs. Saying that we need illegals because Americans “won’t” do X or Y is a fallacy started by people who want to pay no taxes or benefits, or decent wages, to or on their workers. Americans would pick fruit and bus tables. Start shutting down employers who knowingly employ illegals, and start requiring real documentation through social security of all workers, and the illegal immigrant problem would disappear. No one would pour over the border if there were no jobs. Just like no one would pour over the border if there was no free medical care, schooling, and automatic citizenship for their anchor kids. Our medical system is being overwhelmed by illegals who do not pay. Guess who does? Your tax dollars. Walk into an ER on any weekend. Who is packing the waiting room? Lots on non-english speaking families who’s kids have colds. Drs are overworked and have less time to attend to those who truly need emergency care.

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