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Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:37

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

Comentarios al artículo de ciudadanos Americanos…

Recommended by 32 Readers
1.
Pierce Randall
Atlanta, GA
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
It is better to scour employer records than to round up and deport. Jeff Sessions shows particular lack of concern with what he apparently considers domestic workers' interests when he complains about lower deportation, but fails to note an increase in employment efforts. He just wants what all pro-business politicians (many Democrats, including a good part of this administration) want: a cheap labor workforce that lives in fear that he can exploit, that will never demand better conditions.

I used to support employer-centered border enforcement, because it seems to get at the root of the problem. My thinking has changed, however: I no longer think there's a problem with undocumented workers at all. It's simply insane and inhumane to regard an American's interest to work over a person from a different country. The administration should re-direct the whole populist-directed border nonsense to instead auditing companies that hire legal and nonlegal workers to make sure they comply with OSHA, minimum wage laws, and wage reporting. If you take away illegal business practices that drive down the effective cost of hiring migrant workers, and exploitation goes away, I don't see a problem with foreign workers, documented or not.

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2.
Franklin Schenk
Fort Worth, Texas
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
In the city where I live people get a ticket for speeding. This does not stop everyone from speeding but the high cost of the ticket does keep most people from disobeying the law. It's a win-win situation. The city makes money from the traffic tickets and our streets are a safe place to drive.

If employers of illegal aliens had to pay a stiff fine it would stop most of them from hiring illegal aliens. In this case it is a lose-lose situation. The employers would have to pay higher wages and the cost of their products would increase. Worst of all, some citizens would actually have to take these jobs and work for a living. Now you know why most of the effort is focused on the illegal aliens and not on the employers. I have yet to hear a politician support the idea of a stiff fine on employers.

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3.
Jake Wagner
Santa Barbara, CA
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
"Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted audits of employee files at more than 2,900 companies. The agency has levied a record $3 million in civil fines so far this year on businesses that hired unauthorized immigrants, according to official figures."

Let's see. If there are 15 million illegal immigrants that works out to 20 cents per illegal immigrant. The article seems to make it clear that the current administration is doing nothing about illegal immigration.

The article repeats the misconception that illegal immigrants take jobs that Americans do not want.

With the unemployment rate at 9.5%, there are too many unskilled workers competing for too few jobs. What will it take for America to wake up?

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4.
Ed
Temple Hills, MD
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
So now even enforcement of our laws that don't even lead to deportations is ~~~~~~ed to. Are the Dems planning on running on this no enforcement, no deportation of illegals platform in November?

What's particularly galling is the reporter is being disingenuous. She uses the agriculture audits as an example when a low percentage of illegals work in agriculture. The same week Arizona controversial law was signed, 300 hundred Americans and legal workers lined up for jobs vacated by illegals.

The illegals were found out by the dreaded "silent raids". Evidently working at a grocery store is still a job Americans will do but some people favor the freezing illegals in their illegally procured jobs at the expense of unemployed Americans.

That's not right.

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Recommended by 139 Readers

5.
kumar
westchester,ny
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
If one could always hire an undocumented worker for $5/hr to do dishes, nobody would have invented the dishwasher.

Americans are not interested in doing farm work because the wages are kept low in the first place because of the surplus of exploited, desperate undocumented workers ready to underbid anybody.

The right solution therefore is to force larger farms to through market forces (i.e. higher wages to entice american workers) to improve productivity by inventing newer and better machinery. This will prove win-win for the economy.

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6.
Kevin Rica
Maryland
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm

What is significant about this article is what was omitted: Nothing about wages? What were these people paid? Is the reason that no American's pick these crops is that these jobs pay less, much less, than much less physically demanding work elsewhere. Were these workers offered medical care? Are these workers simply paid poverty level wages for exceptionally hard work? Are the wages below not only the federal poverty line, but way below market wages for such highly demanding work? It may be a market wage in Central America, but Americans would hope that their economy would offer them better options than in Mexico.

Certainly if there is easier, steadier, work available to Americans for the same or more pay, Americans just will go elsewhere. The Federal Minimum wage is not a guarantee of willing workers at this wage. It is a LEGAL MINIMUM. To listen to employers it must be the Federal LEGAL MAXIMUM. Employers seem to think that for certain classes of laborers; they are entitled to pay no more. In other words, they have a right to the poverty of others.

I for one, find the idea that employers are entitled to pay no more than the "maximum" offensive. I hope that such articles will offer us more information on exactly what wages are. What do workers typically take home over the year? What is the piece rate (no stories about $15 lettuce)? What is the hourly rate? What the living conditions are like? Is medical care included (or is the government paying what the employer refuses to pay)?

I suspect that the real problem is that wages are too low to attract American workers. Teenage boys could never do this work to save up for tuition or buy a car. Employers feel entitled to pay Mexican wages rather than American wages.

Employers scream that Americans won't take these jobs at $100,000 per year. How do they know? Has it ever been tried? Americans went to Iraq and risked their lives to drive fuel trucks for that much. Given the physical demands of this work, I'd like to see these jobs just earn real middle-class wages and medical benefits no matter who does them.

I'd like the American media to pay more attention to the pay issue when the cover immigration stories.

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7.
landless
Brooklyn, NY
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I am sorry that these people have lost jobs, but the US cannot be the employer of ten percent of Mexico's population--yes, ten percent of Mexico's population illegally immigrated to the US. These laborers are so cheap that companies can defer investing in equipment. Australia has a large agricultural sector that is far more mechanized the the US's. US businesses need to start investing again and employing uppity Americans.

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8.
RD
Baltimore. MD
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I guess I'm amazed at the reaction against illegal immigrants. This situation has been going on for decades, largely without ill effect. Those I've encountered display qualities we all should aspire to; a relentless willingness to work, personal sacrifice to support the family. I admire most such individuals I have met and worked with. Most likely their presence is a net gain. Very sorry to see the Obama administration bow to the political and obvious populist pressures around this issue.

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Recommended by 105 Readers

9.
rangerous
essex, ct
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
what a crock. granted it is important to make sure employers aren't hiring illegal workers but what's to become of the workers and what's to become of the businesses that are ruined by this process? in the case of a farm or orchard the produce may just rot in the field for lack of people to harvest it. how exactly is that helping anyone? too many rotting harvests and there could be a significant reduction in fresh produce thereby driving consumer costs up. ad to the price rise the need to house and take care of the illegal workers while this administration finds other jobs for them. jobs that could be filled by legal unemployed workers.

i am really embarassed by this whole backwards tack by this administration. they keep punishing the law abiding citizens while bending over backwards for people who did make a bad choice to come here illegally.

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10.
ObamaJobDestroyer
Boston, MA
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
This will be the death knell for the economy if kept up. These businesses operate on very slim margin. They will not be able to afford to hire as many "legals" at minimum wage and will be forced to cut back---fewer employees means less product. That, in turn, will drive up the price of food (since most of these illegals work for agribusiness and meat packing)---same demand and less supply....

Continuará

Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:38

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

11.
jerry lee
rochester
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
If we cant get along with imagrints of are here illegal then why do we impose befits to companys who hire minoritys first. Goverment is out of control one hand they give companys money to hire minority an even pay for part of their benfits an salary. If my son had put down on his application he was minority im sure he would been hired by temp company who hires for large international company. Its crazy to say people who are here illegally lose their job an pay tax,s then turn around hire a minority an have goverment pay their salary

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Recommended by 15 Readers

12.
tombaan
dallas, texas
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I don't know if enforcement of laws is such a bad thing. May be this will force the companies to do the right thing and hire workers through proper process. Many of the jobs illegals take are those that will be never done by Americans but this will stop exploitation of illegals and open channels for getting such workers in the right way. All the hue and cry made my rightist about these people taking the jobs away from citizens just hogwash.

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13.
William OConnor
Peekskill, New York
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
With such a high unemployment rate for those who are citizens and with an even higher rate for recent immigrants who are legal residents, it makes no sense to allow those who currently reside in the nation illegally to work undocumented when so many others who are here legally are vainly searching for any kind of gainful work.

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14.
Walter
Dunedin, Florida
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
It is a sad but desperately necessary way to reduce unemployment among American with citizenship here which is a serious problem in itself. It may end up doing little more than putting a dent in business14.
Walter
Dunedin, Florida
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
It is a sad but desperately necessary way to reduce unemployment among American with citizenship here which is a serious problem in itself. It may end up doing little more than putting a dent in business
15.
BC
Paris
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Its as if we havent enough legal unemployed workers to fill these jobs. Why are we ignoring American citizens everytime we talk of the immigration issue. If there are people wholl work in Mcdonalds there will be people to fill the other jobs. Of course it would be harder to swindle someone who speaks english and has legal right to be here. Lets help our people. Why shouldnt we?
16.
Scottsdale Jack
Scottsdale, AZ
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
It's about time the government went after the magnet that pulls illegals here - jobs! Rather than just force companies to fire them, the company executives themselves should face criminal charges for hiring illegals.

If no one would hire them, the illegals would stop coming here.

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17.
Kathryn
San Francisco
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Actually, Ms. Cervantes, I picked cherries when I was 12 years old and everyone else was white. I've also worked as a janitor, a fast food worker, etc. to pay my way thru college. White people have done these jobs for decades, and the continuing slur on Americans by the illegal community needs to stop.
18.
Don Sheeley, MD
Saratoga Springs, NY
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I am not allowed to engage in illegal activities, and neither should illegal immigrants be allowed to engage in illegal activities. Removing illegal immigrants from jobs and returning them to their homelands is entirely consistent with the standards we expect of our own citizens.
19.
madrona
washington
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Without deportation, this enforcement is a hollow victory for opponents of illegal immigration. Obama is trying to have it both ways, but his ploy is quite transparent.

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20.
Charles
NYC
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Illegal means they are breaking the current immigration laws. Meanwhile, honest and legal American workers are facing a grim 9.7% unemployment rate which is far higher in some areas of the country. I see only positives in enforcing the law.

If they are in the country illegally then it is time to leave. Goodbye!

Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:39

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

21.
Outraged
Oakland
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
This is the right way.

I applaud Obama for enforcing our laws.

He deserves credit for this.

Now can we deport them too and fix our laws so children of illegals are denied citizenship?
22.
uofcenglish
wilmette
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I think this makes a lot of sense. These people are being hired illegally. These jobs should go to unemployed Americans. But the violators should be deported as well.

23.
Ralph Deeds
Birmingham, Michigan
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Perhaps this will help generate some support from employers for comprehensive reform.

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24.
charles
alaska
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I suppose that beats trying to offer a reasonable solution. Now perhaps he's trying to show his republican leanings. Always the conciliator , never the leader, never the fighter for what's right!

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25.
mickeyrad
Centerville Iowa
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
“Show me one American — just one — climbing a picker’s ladder.”

Exactly. Either we pay $12 per hour for these jobs, & $3 per pound for apples, or we let hard working people pick those apples.

Americans are addicted to cheap food, cheap clothes, cheap everything. And our morals are cheap & demeaning.

Pay the fair price - for work & for products. Repeal the laws killing unions. Reinstate the taxes & regulations in place from 1933 to 1981.

Reagan & the right wing zealots since his time - including Clinton & Obama - are turning the US into a banana republic. It's probably already too late to change our decline into third world status.

Micheal Radosevich
26.
Kurt
Arlington, VA
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Good, it's about times we went after those businesses.

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27.
coleman
dallas
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
afghan war campaign promise kept- check
gitmo open- check
fisa in place- check
now this!
he might just win me over yet.

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Recommended by 12 Readers

28.
Thomas Payne
Cornelius, NC
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
This is the correct way to enforce our immigration laws. None of the dramatic "Shock and Awe" show business blitzkriegs as favored by the rightwingers. used to say that people came to the U.S. because of our "freedoms". Now that those have been abridged by the kooks (Tom Tancredo as but one example) in the republican party, the only genuine incentive is economic.
I have long said that is you really want to solve this problem, then make hiring an illegal a felony. If there are no jobs, then there is no incentive to be here.

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29.
eat real food only
usa
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
good. And let's jail the rich business owners for pulling the rug out from under the American worker.

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30.
Cathy
Colorado
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
Obama needs to get in line with the rest of the country when it comes to illegals. They need to be fired and then deported. Period. BTW, I am a liberal on most issues, but not on this one.

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Recommended by 106 Readers

31.
MmePapillion
Santa Cruz, CA
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
I'm happy to see immigration enforcement on the employer-side of things. Hopefully soon it will be made easier for those who lost their jobs to immigrate legally.

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Recommended by 30 Readers
Continuará

Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:41

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

32.
JenofNJ
NJ
July 9th, 2010
10:50 pm
If this article was meant to evoke sympathy for the illegal immigrants, it failed. I cannot feel sorry for them or the company that hired them. They should not be working in the US if they are not here legally.

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33.
joer derosa
connecticut
July 9th, 2010
10:51 pm
and what do we replace these workers with??? higher food prices, smart move. there is something missing here.

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Recommended by 22 Readers

34.
Cathy
ME
July 9th, 2010
10:52 pm
Dear President Obama,
If I wanted George W. Bush and his immigration policies in the White House, I would have written his name on the ballot rather than voting for you--a mistake I will not make again.

Sincerely,
Cathy from Maine

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35.
Michael
Texas
July 9th, 2010
10:52 pm
If this activity is indeed happening - GREAT! Now, let's lock down the border, implement a legitimate guest worker program, and continue to identify and deport criminal illegal aliens. Once criminal aliens are deported they can go to the end of the immigration line and go through the legal process of migrating to the United States.

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36.
Giant Glen
Downtown Verona NJ
July 9th, 2010
10:52 pm
There's nothing wrong with enforcing the law.

Now let's enforce the fraud and unjust enrichment laws against the banksters and Wall Street fraudsters who have stolen America's treasury and wrecked the American economy.

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37.
john
Portland, OR
July 9th, 2010
10:52 pm
Yup, nothing has changed, same old, same old.

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38.
W Morgan
Virginia
July 9th, 2010
11:00 pm
Poor us: damned if you do and damned if you don't. we don't want the jobs they take, but those are our crappy jobs to spurn, by God!

Poor them: their country of origin is devolving into an abattoir because of our appetite for dope. we, the shameful secret that is their only source of livelihood, both loathe and need them.

"By the Rivers of Babylon, where he lay down, and there he wept when remembered Zion."

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39.
I believe
Las Vegas
July 9th, 2010
11:01 pm
The notion that Americans are unwilling to do certain types of work is absurd. During the 1980s and 1990s, I had three different lawn services that were made up of only American white males. Our garbage collectors were white and black Americans. My white American uncle worked summer jobs picking cherries in Michigan. During my recent trip to Florida, I stayed at hotels in some cities where all the housekeepers were either white or black and American born. We have black and white Americans who are willing to go deep into coal mines to work one of the most brutal, dangerous jobs in the world.

It is not true that Americans are not willing to do those jobs. Americans are not able to earn a living at the severely depressed wages those jobs are now paying. Why are those jobs paying such low wages? It is the economic law of supply and demand. Over 10 million low-skilled illegals have flooded our country and have oversupplied the job market, pushing down wages.

Americans should not have to compete with illegal aliens who are willing to live with 40 people in one house, each willing to rent that house for only eight hours a day. That is not the standard of living we want.

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40.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
patalarga
Mexico
July 9th, 2010
11:17 pm
I'm so angry about this that I am as good as speechless.

Silent raids? The American public knows very little about the Mexican hands behind the produce on its grocery shelves, the meat packaged and ready to be purchased from the butcher's case, the boards hammered into its new homes--the very tip of a shameful iceberg is what's in this article. Instead, the Arizona law and the lies about who's taking jobs from whom create further havoc in the lives of people who merely want a chance to make a living.

Guest worker program? In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, over 500,000 Mexican Americans were deported or pressured to leave, during the Mexican Repatriation. During the so-called Bracero Program (1942-1964), 'guest workers' from Mexico were allowed into the States to flesh out the labor need after WWII. The program was later kept in effect so that Mexican workers could work in the States in agriculture. Deductions were taken from the braceros' pay, with the promise that the funds would be repaid to those legal and sought-after workers.

Those workers and their wives and widows are still waiting for their money. More than 40 years after the fact, elderly men and women have been tricked into believing that they will soon...soon...soon...receive their money. How soon is soon? Apparently the answer is still 'mañana'.

And how will this 'guest worker' program be different? It's always all about exploitation of those needy, powerless people who are willing to do the jobs that American citizens no longer care to take.

How will this be different, President Obama? And how exactly do you sleep at night?

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41.
Chilo45
Southern Oregon
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
In the 21st century and with the technology available to just about every 15 year old in America, why is it that our government will not utilize this vast array of talent? Hold contests to find the smartest, least costly methodologies to do what 19th physical audits are being mentioned about in articles like this. Find every registered company's indexed files across all of the governmental department databases to determine those companies not in compliance within the law.

Make it known that this technology driven enforcement of our immigration laws is being implemented and expanding rapidly. Watch the mass firing of illegals and undocumented workers and the creation of a lot of legal worker demand. And since most of the fired workers will not get to stay on any other job for more than a pay period by the screening in place for every newly hired worker and the immediate crackdown by those federal agencies responding to the violations reported by the kids of America software creations.

The cost to every single American household to support the illegal immigrants in our country is over $1800. That's a tax break of $150 per month. I do not think that I will be spending that much for the increase in farm worker related food products when the prices rise so that the legal workers are being paid the fair rate per hour the jobs demand.

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Continuará

Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:41

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

42.
greg789
San Diego
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
Farm work may account for 600,000 illegal workers out of a total 12-20 million illegal workers. Just one company, opting to cut cost by employing illegals, forces all competing companies to follow the practice.

Americans, legal workers, can and will do any job if they are paid a living wage. My Anglo parents worked on ranches in Arizona long before air conditioning. Their parents and grandparents and worked ranches in Texas and Arizona going back 175 years. I worked in construction in Arizona and 1500 feet underground in a Arizona copper mine, Magma Copper. I doubt I could find a job there today.

Cesar Chavez, the great union organizer of the western farm fields fought against illegal immigration and guest worker programs all his life. He believed that the government, influenced by agribusiness (bribed), allowed illegals to break his labor movement. Nelson Mandela once said that illegal immigration was the greatest threat his country faced.

I am continually amazed that progressive, liberal thinkers are on the side of agribusiness, multinationals owners of sweat shops and business lobbies working to tear down 150 years of U.S. labor law. There is no bottom for these people. If Mexicans were to successfully demand equal pay, the corporate exploiters of labor would simply find a new source of cheap labor to further attack labor here and where ever we export.

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43.
David Elliott Lewis, Ph.D.
San Francisco
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
I have mixed feelings about US companies hiring illegal or undocumented immigrant workers when so many of our own citizens are out of work.

These individuals not only take away jobs, they also degrade existing jobs by their willingness to work for less. In the Great Recession our nation now suffers, the argument that they take jobs nobody wants is no longer true.

Twenty years ago, the average meat packer wage was $19/hour. Today, their average wage is $9/hour and that industry is dominated by undocumented workers.

Additionally, these workers by transmitting their funds back home, drain our economy of capital that could have been spent or invested here.

Sure many are hard working and honest. Others, however, take advantage and exploit our social services. None the less, their presence here has lowered wages and drained our country's wealth. How is this good? I hope some day our country will wake up to the true cost of illegal immigration.

http://www.facebook.com/ideaman

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44.
Joe
Raleigh, NC
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
“To those kids, this is their country.” That says it all. Most of these workers have children who are U.S. citizens, and everyone, including Obama, knows this. Depending on whose figures you quote, the number may be over two million. Crushing these families, forcing a whole generation of Hispanic U.S. citizen children either into an underclass without opportunity or out of the country, is simply ethnic cleansing. If this were happening in another country we would be outraged. Most ironically, we seem intent on crushing a generation of U.S. citizen children while calling for increased immigration of “desirable” young people from other countries (who, unlike us, make serious investments in education, and can supply tech industry employees).

As to the adults: These “illegal alien invaders” have in many cases been here for 20 years or more. Their U.S. citizen children die for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, teach in our schools and practice law in our courts. (Yes, I can cite examples of all these.) The parents have grown our food for a generation and they built our cities during the boom years of the 1990's. They have paid billions into our Social Security fund with no hope of recovering a cent. They came when our economy needed them, and when most of us welcomed them.

President Obama knows this, as one can tell from his speeches when he needs to placate the immigrant advocacy groups. In light of this, his sheer cynicism is astounding.

Aside from the federal enforcement practices that your article describes, the Administration continues to promote the 287(g) program, giving vast powers to sheriffs, many of whom build their careers by demagoguing race-based fear and bigotry. How can it be, this President, of all Presidents? I know he’s too young to remember some things personally, but didn’t they teach history in the Hawaii public schools?

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Rafael Norma · 10-julio-2010, 10:42

Re: En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

45.
swatter
Washington DC
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
I recall when I was a kid, another kid who we all didn't like chipped my baseball bat when he threw it after getting up. We marched him to his house to demand that he pay for the bat. The father paid us and then said "ok, now it's his bat" and took the bat so that we couldn't play anymore.

Point: some may get great platitudinous/anecdotal satisfaction from illegals being fired or even deported, but after the fact, without a good plan to transition businesses that rely on the illegals, we'll be worse off rather than better.

This isn't the time or way to focus on this. Sessions and other like him just don't get it:
1) Legal workers are mostly not interested in these jobs at the going rate - those unemployed will remain unemployed
2) raise the rate and many of the jobs that were cheap disappear with few legals taking those available
3) as previously cheap jobs disappear, jobs and some businesses that relied on the disappearing cheap jobs may disappear as well

Feels good, but not smart.

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46.
mr.independent
MA
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
The article stated that 60% of the workers who do agricultural work are illegals. If this is the case and we stop them from working and also deport them, others will leave due to lack of work, who's going to pick all the produce?

I wonder how many people commenting here about the illegals picking lettuce and apples will be the first to complain about the shortage of these items in their local Walmart.

Will Americans pick lettuce 10 hours a day in the searing heat of a summer day in California? Will they pick apples all day?
75 years ago we had conditions that brought about Steinbeck' "The Grapes of Wrath". I guess if we go back to that kind austerity long enough more Americans will take these low wage jobs without benefits.

I'm all for controlling our borders but somehow I don't think shutting down growers is the answer. What is the answer to this problem? I don't really know. Maybe we need a documented migrant worker policy that gives these illegals temporary work permits. After which they have to go home.
I'm not sure if this would work but somethings got to give.

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47.
nikolas van egten
New Amsterdam
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
What is one to make of an administration that genuflects from one ideological extreme to another; first, cattle prodding the Justice department to challenge the Arizona Immigration measure and then, here, sending in the gestapo-like Feds to sweep through and find the illegals.

These conflicting actions seem to be wrought out of the haphazard gesticulations of an executive branch that is both politically uncoordinated,and ideologically maladroit.
It is concerning, no matter what side of the political spectrum you are from, because it suggests that there is no coordinated strategic guidance, and that does not bode well for the very leadership that this country so desperately needs in so many areas such as health, Finance, the environment and foreign policy.

I can only surmise that the Tea partyers are wreaking a certain amount of havoc on the No Drama Obama
schema. It would be unfortunate if this was all just some sort of smokescreen strategy to obscure the real policy positions that deserve the courage of conviction.

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48.
Mouse
PS
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
There are plenty of legal immigrants that would take these jobs. Legal immigrants work in meat factories throughout the nation, unpleasant jobs that give them a foothold to the American dream for their children.

It has always been this way. Employers are paying illegal immigrants slave wages that are subsidized by free health care courtesy of the American taxpayer.

Without illegal immigrants to fill these jobs, the law of supply and demand will kick in and more legal immigrants will come to this country to fill these jobs, while the illegal immigrants will stay home and fight to fix the problems in their native countries. Win/win.

With the current political stalemate, neither of these positive outcomes is likely to come to pass.

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49.
Steve B.
USA
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
I think we can all admit we as a country made it past the child labor laws that were said would shut down industry. And we can make it past immigrations enforcement that returns jobs to legal residents. The whooping and hollering are people who in earlier times were screaming in their own self-interests.

The article did not mention whether or not our immigration services enforces the departure of all those temporary workers when their visas expire. That has been a problem in the past, and if those workers are allowed to just wander off, isn't the government adding to the problems instead of fixing them? Are they sent home or not?

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50.
Mike A.
Livermore, CA
July 10th, 2010
12:25 am
Frankly, I'm so distrustful of the politics of immigration lately (BTW, nice transparency Mr. President), that I doubt this a serious enough effort to affect anything. Kinda like those 1200 extra border patrollers - a token effort with not much more than the intent to show that the Obama administration takes its immigration enforcement role seriously.

At least it addresses mass deportation ~~~~~~ions. But, then again, why not just require all employers to use E-verify? 'Cause it makes an absolutely trivial number of mistakes that can be easily corrected and wouldn't lead to any deportations under this administration, anyway?

Not very convincing. But hey, if they government is really interested in getting the enforcement propaganda out, then let's get that number of illegal workers fired above 0.1% of the number of illegal aliens working in this country. Maybe we could get even, like, 1%. Wow.

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En una obra de psiquiatría sólo me interesa lo que dicen los enfermos; en un libro de crítica, las citas.

Émile Michel Cioran.

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En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

En redadas silenciosas, se barren a los trabajadores ilegales en lso EUA

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