Time to piss Mia off....
Mia, who is a most eloquent writer, asked me to give my two cents on the immigration issue. In my ordinary, briefly worded manner, I will respond, and I will respond directly to you, Mia:
I hope that being an illegal immigrant becomes a felony.
Now, before you blow a gasket in that pretty little head of yours, let me tell you why. It's probably not for the reason that you would think. It's not because I have a problem with el Mexicanos, or any hispanics, for that matter. It's because I don't think that it'll stick, and that it would cost the Republicanos the Hispanic vote for the next forty years. Frist is pushing hard for making illegal immigration a felony, and it could kill him, and his entire party, for a generation, in much the same way that Johnson handed the South to the Republicans when he signed the Civil Rights legislation in '66. Lemme 'splain.
I work in the restaurant business, and our dish crew is all Mexicanos. They've been teaching me smatterings of Spanish for the past two years, and I (ironically enough) have been teaching one of them common greetings in Arabic. It's been fun, and they're generally a decent bunch of guys. I could be friends with two of them if it wasn't for the pesky language barrier, but since the extent of our conversation ends up being "que pasa", "como es stas", and slang about delicate parts of the human anatomy, we haven't found many common interests.
I've heard the arguement that illegal immigrants take jobs that legals and citizens wouldn't take, and I disagree with some of it. In the agricultural business, for the most part, I agree. Now, John McCain said that he could offer $50 an hour to go pick veggies in Huma, Arizona, and he doesn't think any American would do it. For $400 a day, I'd do it, and do it without complaining. That's an income equivalent to $100,000 a year for the duration of the growing season, and I can't think of anywhere else I could make that kind of money except Iraq. But it's a moot point, because McCain was speaking hypothetically, and I sure as hell wouldn't do it for the 6-14 dollars an hour that most agri-workers actually make, and that's the reality of the situation. And few Americans would, if any.
I have a friend who is a roofer; it's hard, physical labor, often in crappy weather, and they get paid between 10 and 15 an hour for it. He makes more, because he's a foreman, but his crew makes a decent salary for being low-skilled workers. And he's learning to speak Spanish, because a lot of his crew is comprised of immigrant labor. Most of it illegal.
What do I think about that? To be honest, I don't know. I do not believe in the unregulated flow of either capital OR labor. I think that immigration SHOULD be regulated. I don't believe in quotas from certain countries. I do believe that there should be special categories for political or religious refugees. I do believe that there should be special categories for people who can contribute specific skills and talents to our country, like scientists and engineers. And I do believe that the "huddled masses" should be invited from all over the world, so that America has a wide variety of races, ethnicities, languages, ad infinitum. These are things that I think are good for America. I believe in the "mixing bowl" concept of what the USA should be.
On the other hand, I don't agree with illegal immigration. I think that it's important for countries to control their borders. Can't we have a real guest worker program, designed to keep tabs on those who come into the country for gainful employment in a way that allows them to do jobs that there is a demand for? One that isn't being fulfilled by American labor?
The law of supply and demand vis a vie labor suggests that if there is a large demand and small supply for jobs, that wages will go down, wheras if there is a large demand and small supply for labor, wages will go up. I tend to agree with that. That's bad for my roofer friend. His wages are depressed because of competition. It doesn't have any bearing on wages in agri-business, where Americans won't do the job until wages become cost-prohibitive.
What it comes down to is that I think that guest workers SHOULD be allowed in the country, but only for jobs that Americans (including legal immigrants) either can't or won't do. And real, honest analyses should be done to figure out what and how many of those jobs are available. Right now I think that we're too heavily entrenched in the spin to see the truth on the numbers. But it should be regulated, monitored, "blue-carded", et cetera.
------------------------------------------------
Regarding the illegal immigrant debate and 9-11, I think it's all a political ploy. All of the 9-11 hijackers came here legally, and that didn't stop them from killing. Anyone who uses 9-11 as a justification to crack down on people who swim the Rio Grande are either lying, misinformed, or stupid. There's no two ways about that.
And I hope that Mia doesn't hate me now....
I hope that being an illegal immigrant becomes a felony.
Now, before you blow a gasket in that pretty little head of yours, let me tell you why. It's probably not for the reason that you would think. It's not because I have a problem with el Mexicanos, or any hispanics, for that matter. It's because I don't think that it'll stick, and that it would cost the Republicanos the Hispanic vote for the next forty years. Frist is pushing hard for making illegal immigration a felony, and it could kill him, and his entire party, for a generation, in much the same way that Johnson handed the South to the Republicans when he signed the Civil Rights legislation in '66. Lemme 'splain.
I work in the restaurant business, and our dish crew is all Mexicanos. They've been teaching me smatterings of Spanish for the past two years, and I (ironically enough) have been teaching one of them common greetings in Arabic. It's been fun, and they're generally a decent bunch of guys. I could be friends with two of them if it wasn't for the pesky language barrier, but since the extent of our conversation ends up being "que pasa", "como es stas", and slang about delicate parts of the human anatomy, we haven't found many common interests.
I've heard the arguement that illegal immigrants take jobs that legals and citizens wouldn't take, and I disagree with some of it. In the agricultural business, for the most part, I agree. Now, John McCain said that he could offer $50 an hour to go pick veggies in Huma, Arizona, and he doesn't think any American would do it. For $400 a day, I'd do it, and do it without complaining. That's an income equivalent to $100,000 a year for the duration of the growing season, and I can't think of anywhere else I could make that kind of money except Iraq. But it's a moot point, because McCain was speaking hypothetically, and I sure as hell wouldn't do it for the 6-14 dollars an hour that most agri-workers actually make, and that's the reality of the situation. And few Americans would, if any.
I have a friend who is a roofer; it's hard, physical labor, often in crappy weather, and they get paid between 10 and 15 an hour for it. He makes more, because he's a foreman, but his crew makes a decent salary for being low-skilled workers. And he's learning to speak Spanish, because a lot of his crew is comprised of immigrant labor. Most of it illegal.
What do I think about that? To be honest, I don't know. I do not believe in the unregulated flow of either capital OR labor. I think that immigration SHOULD be regulated. I don't believe in quotas from certain countries. I do believe that there should be special categories for political or religious refugees. I do believe that there should be special categories for people who can contribute specific skills and talents to our country, like scientists and engineers. And I do believe that the "huddled masses" should be invited from all over the world, so that America has a wide variety of races, ethnicities, languages, ad infinitum. These are things that I think are good for America. I believe in the "mixing bowl" concept of what the USA should be.
On the other hand, I don't agree with illegal immigration. I think that it's important for countries to control their borders. Can't we have a real guest worker program, designed to keep tabs on those who come into the country for gainful employment in a way that allows them to do jobs that there is a demand for? One that isn't being fulfilled by American labor?
The law of supply and demand vis a vie labor suggests that if there is a large demand and small supply for jobs, that wages will go down, wheras if there is a large demand and small supply for labor, wages will go up. I tend to agree with that. That's bad for my roofer friend. His wages are depressed because of competition. It doesn't have any bearing on wages in agri-business, where Americans won't do the job until wages become cost-prohibitive.
What it comes down to is that I think that guest workers SHOULD be allowed in the country, but only for jobs that Americans (including legal immigrants) either can't or won't do. And real, honest analyses should be done to figure out what and how many of those jobs are available. Right now I think that we're too heavily entrenched in the spin to see the truth on the numbers. But it should be regulated, monitored, "blue-carded", et cetera.
------------------------------------------------
Regarding the illegal immigrant debate and 9-11, I think it's all a political ploy. All of the 9-11 hijackers came here legally, and that didn't stop them from killing. Anyone who uses 9-11 as a justification to crack down on people who swim the Rio Grande are either lying, misinformed, or stupid. There's no two ways about that.
And I hope that Mia doesn't hate me now....
posted by sadiq at 4/06/2006 08:45:00 PM
5 Comments:
Na I don’t hate you…pinche guey (joke) lol You made a lot of valid points there even though we disagree on some issues. As a Latina it’s an emotional issue for me so sometimes my vision tends to be cloudy. See the thing with me is I’m really wary of the temp guest worker program b/c I can see how it will be twisted out by some. You know I see all of these politicians courting the hispanic vote and it amazes me. The hypocripsy of it all. I think the one thing that irks me the most in this is when they try to justify this bill by lumping in the undocumented with the 9-11 terrorists. WTF man like you said those guys came in here legally people tend to forget that. This was a fantastic post btw, thanks for doing it.
I'm wary of ALL of it, because I see how the "system" has been perverted by ALL sides! The employers, the employees, the politicians, et al are all complicit in making the situation a cluster f***, and it's a load of crap to listen to somebody bitch about policies, trying to pander to both the pro- and anti-immigration lobbies simultaneously! I don't like any of the "solutions" that have been suggested.
As far as the 9-11 thing goes, the REAL cluster f*** is with the CIA and the FBI not having a data clearinghouse that ties to the same people, so when some FBI agent gets a report about a couple of Arab guest students taking flying lessons he can't find out that the CIA has evidence linking them to the Hamburg cell and Muhammed Atta. That would have nipped that shit in the bud right there.
For god's sake, sometimes I think that no matter how smart the people are and no matter how hard they're working, the Institution is just going to fuck everything up anyway.
Anyhow, I just finished taking the Foreign Service exam, so I'm going to take a nap.
How was the test? I hope that nap thing went down well for you.
heh... I won't find out how the test went until late July. Most people don't pass it until the third or fourth try, though, so if I don't make it I won't be too broken up. Hopefully by the time I pass the written, pass the oral, go through the background check, and get a job offer, there will be another administration in office.
Well here's hoping that you pass it on the 1st try. As for a new administration in place (sigh) let's hope we don't get more of the same because between you and I'm going to go bald if I keep ripping my hair out everytime these folks muck up.
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