The vast majority of Americans favor tightening Immigration Enforcement

[UdoKier]

The vast majority of Americans in BOTH parties favor tightening Immigration Enforcement.

Majorities of naturalized citizens also favor stronger enforcement.

Yet both parties ignore the will of the people and continue to encourage companies to import illegal cheap labor.

So why do some people insist on trying to make this partisan or ideological?

I'm sick of reading that any effort to curb immigration is "right-wing".

Demagoguery and demonization of immigrants is right-wing.

Wanting to send them back to the countries where they legally belong is NOT. It is the law.

It's unfair to people like my wife, who have paid thousands in fees and gone through years of paperwork to come to this country to simply say to someone - "Oh well, you're here now, I guess you can stay."

I don't blame illegal immigrants (undocumented workers) for being here, and I agree that they are just trying to find a better life, I blame the scofflaw employers who hire them.

But again, my main question is - why do people try to make this partisan? To me, as a democrat whose primary focus is labor, it is unconscionable to bring in armies of cheap labor because it has been shown that doing so brings down wages for everyone, not just crop-workers.

I understand the logic of those who say we should welcome these people, that they are productive members of society, pay sales tax, etc. but this is not a partisan issue.

There is a process for legally immigrating to this country. I welcome those who go through it with open arms.

[coloradodem2005]

1. I agree with you.

There is a process that needs to be adhered to and we need to make sure that it is enforced. Though, I am not a fan of the xenophobic nature of some politicians like my congressman Tom Tancredo.

[ranosgol]

2. I agree totally.

The United States can not become the worlds third world flop house. This marriage of business and cheap illegal labor is devastating. It is only cheap for the business. States are going broke and people are losing their income because of it. I blame the business for filing to pay wages high enough for legal citizens to work. Steel Mills and other hard labor used to pay well and they got plenty of people willing to work hard for good wages now they wan t pay the minimum so no wonder people no longer are willing to work in those Fields. Its not a problem of lazy Americans. Why would you work in horrible conditions for the same wage you can receive at Wal-Mart.

I am a democrat and I want a strong enforcement of the border. I wont legal immigration. More can be done to stop this influx that is also destroying the middle class.

[UdoKier]

4. Wal-mart foists its costs on to the government.

Thanbks to their low wages and no benefits, the low-paid workers at wal-mart are forced to apply for AFDC and medicaid. So if you think you're getting a barrgain by shoopping at Wal-mart, keep in mind that you are also subsidizing their operations by paying for their employees benefits through the government, when THEY should be the ones doing so.

[ranosgol]

5. The GOP rationale on business taxes.

They say business just pass on their taxes to the consumers that buy their products so they should not pay taxes since the consumers pay it anyways. Yes this maybe true but if you take this rationale further. The consumers pay for the wages, the electricity, everything. So if business should not pay taxes since it gets passed on then maybe my electric bill should have a few cents for all the business that use electricity. My wages should also have the names of employees I will help pay for since they too get passed to the consumer.

[FatSlob]

3. AMEN!

We need to tighten border security, both North and South. We need to round up illegals and ship them back to where they came. At the same time, we need to lessen the bureaucracy and make it easier for people to come legally to work!

[Cleita]

6. Look to the millionaire class who are willing to exploit the cheap

labor. Drive through residential Beverly Hills at seven in the morning and you will see the buses disgorging the immigrant maids and nannies that work there. There are more even more exploited ones who live-in. Then watch the gardeners and groundskeepers arrive. Most of the landscaping and maintenance companies use illegal day labor.

The trouble is that since the class of people who contribute to this problem are most likely to influence the politics involved, no one has been able to pass laws to impose hefty fines and maybe even jail time to the employers who are legal citizens using immigrant labor. Methinks, you guys have to clean your own house first before you blame the immigrant.

THERE WOULD BE NO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IF THERE WERE NO ILLEGAL JOBS. Ending this cycle of exploitation would open up dialogue for guest worker programs and other kinds of legal and controlled immigration.

[Cobalt Violet]

10. If living wages were being paid...

A lot of those jobs "Americans won't do" Americans would do.

[Cleita]

12. My point exactly.

If we filled many of those jobs with legal immigrants and American nationals, the ones left over that no one wants to do like picking strawberries could be given to guest workers, as long as they make the same wage as an American. Trust me nobody wants to pick strawberries for more than a few days. It's easier to clean toilets.

[OHswingvoter]

7. I support LEGAL

immigration. We need to know who is here. And we need to have some protections for them so that they are not working as slaves and indentured servants.

I know that Bushie has a plan for a guest worker program, which actually is not a terrible plan (at least we would be keeping track of who is coming in and trying to give them some protections). I haven't studied up Kerry's plan on immigration. Can someone educate me? Thanks.

[Cleita]

9. Be sure that Bush's plan is not going to protect the workers

either here or from there. It's a way to bring in cheap labor and undercut our wages here. I am not against guest workers for those jobs that Americans won't and can't do. That being said, we need guarantees that the workers will be adequately paid, will have health insurance for the duration of time they spend here, and safe working conditions. It also should be the understanding that they go back to their homes, when the job is done.

[OHswingvoter]

13. yeah--I already

understand Bushies plan. Don't worry--I wouldn't vote for a Bushie if he promised to give me a million dollars.

Can someone tell me about Kerry's plan for immigration? I haven't heard anything about it and I would like to know what he is going to do.

[Cobalt Violet]

8. I agree.

It also put an enormous strain on low income housing in areas with high immigrant populations. Rents go up, up, up. At least where I am.

I worked a department store during the x-mass rush(for a week)and they were not even checking documents as the law says they must. That is why Filenes department store in Framingham MA had no trouble getting help for x-mass paying only $.25 above minimum wage.

If they didn't rely on illegal immigrants there is no way they would have got enough help at that rate of pay. It's the people like me and legal immigrants that were robbed in that situation.

[lpricanprynces]

24. How would you know?

I am an executive with another May Company division. Unless you worked in Human Resources, which does not hire seasonal employees, you do not know what is or is not in another employee's personnel jacket. We routinely hire people on the contingency that they have to furnish ALL proper documentation to complete their I-9 and W-2 forms. Some people do not always carry the proper paperwork with them, and have to return with it BEFORE they can enter training.

[DebJ]

11. How do you feel about this? I worked with about a dozen

people from El Salvador. Good, decent, family-oriented, incredibly hard working, 2-job minimum wage 80 hour a week people. I loved them dearly. They want to be citizens, but if I recall properly, they have to wait TEN YEARS. Hell, I'd rather have them as citizens then the other lazy SOBS whose job I always end up doing for them. Why the hell do they have to wait ten years? And if you are from El Salvador, the waiting lines to come in are very long in the first place. These people aren't taking work from anyone, because no one lazy white American will do the hard work in kitchens these people do. Do you think they should have to wait ten years for citizenship?

[Cleita]

14. I too have worked with these people.

Considering that most restaurants, at least the ones I worked in, paid all the workers the same minimum wage, the big difference was that the servers also made tips, which the kitchen staff didn't. Therefore, the Americans didn't want the kitchen jobs. So there is a place for these workers. I think a program could be worked out that could legitimize these laborers as long as they aren't taking a job from an American and they are paid the same as an American.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Don't blame the immigrants. Blame the Corporations who forced

them out of their own countries by ripping off their natural resources, used them as virtual slave labor, and then abandoned them for cheaper labor elsewhere.

Where would you have them go to survive?

[tomorrowsashes]

16. I like these lyrics

These lyrics sum up my feelings on the issue of immigration and the border:

FUCK THE BORDER
By Propagandhi

A friend of mine dropped me a line, it said, "man, I gotta run to the USA. I got no money, got no job." She skipped out of Mexico to stay alive. You've got a problem with her living here, but what did you do to help her before she fucking came? What did the country do? What did the people do? I stand not by my country, but by people of the whole fucking world. No fences, no borders. Free movement for all. Fuck the border. It's about fucking time to treat people with respect. It's our culture and consumption that makes her life unbearable. Fuck this country; its angry eyes, its knee-jerk hordes. Legal or illegal, watch her fucking go. She'll take what's hers. Watch her fucking go. Fuck the border.
---
Corporations cross borderlines routinely. They rape and pillage the countries land and resources, and hurt the people, call it globalization, and all dissenters are labeled as extremists. Other countries are poor in part for the same reasons our country is rich. Just because we won the battle in terms of colonial imperialism doesn't mean that billions around the world should have to obediently suffer for it. If a mother must cross the border so her children can get an education, and eat on a regular basis, she has every right to do so.

I think that we should allow open immigration by all people who are willing to live peacefully. Everybody should be legal, and nobody should get an unfair wage. If the world doesn't have enough resources to sustain its population, that is in a big way, the fault of US interests. It is unfair for us to keep out those running from conditions caused by our greed, especially while we're still allowing multinational corporations to create those conditions throughout the rest of the world. If respect for life, and the right for a person to live with dignity conflict with the interests of my country, I will readily take the former.

[CanIgonow]

17. It is not just illegal immigration that is affecting our wages.To

circumvent the legthy process involved in legal immigration, the big corporations like Microsoft, Cisco, Intel etc. have gotten Congress to authorize a fast track visa process for temporary workers from India, China etc. the so called H1B and L type visas.These allow the workers to come in and work in this country ( I think it is for a period of five years,I am not sure).This has devastated the income levels of our IT people.The L type visa also has the potential to do similar damage.With this type of a visa, if I understand it correctly,an employer in the US with a branch plant say in China can bring the Chinese workers as though he is effecting a transfer between two plants belonging to the same corporation.He will not be bound to obey the wage scales in this contry.This is a trojan horse that can just about kill off our workers ability to earn a living in this country.

So, yes, I agree with your post but just wanted to remind you that even if we insist all immigrants be legal, the problem will persist because the H1B and the L visa holders are legal.Screwed either way, don't you feel better now?

[The Flaming Red Head]

18. Start with the Canadians first, please

Australians next. Every one else is welcome.


Just kidding, sort of.

[UdoKier]

19. No I want total fairness.

And that includes professions, too. I don't think we should only allow "skilled" workers.

It should be a good mix of people from all countries. I also think the ridiculous wet ffoot/dry foot policy for Cubans MUST be ended. Conditions in Cuba are no worse than in Haiti or East Timor, but those people don't get a special pass to get an automatic green card. (Besides, Cubans vote republican.) :P

[guajira]

21. Conditions in Cuba are a hell of a lot better than Haiti

and many other countries. People have told me they saw more poverty in Nicaragua and El Salvador than in Cuba.

Cubans who are coming to Miami admit they are here for economic reasons, just as Mexicans, Dominicans and many others.

Of course Americans are not allowed to go to Cuba to see the truth for ourselves. We are expected to believe the Miami Batistiano propaganda!!

[thestatusquo]

20. agreement here

our borders need to be tightened. stopping the illegal underground trade of shipping people over the border will help everyone.

[norml]

22. RNC infomercial hosts cover for guest worker program

With their "put troops on the border" nonsense. What are troops going to do,drop bombs,and shoot bullets at people trying to come across? They never mention easy to implement solutions such as streanghtening the Border Patrol,and fining employers who employ illegal aliens. Fine them every day,for every illegal worker found,and it will be too expensive for them to hire them any more,and they will stop coming. No need to go through the cost of deporting anyone. Fines would bring in money. Problem solved. To fill the jobs employers will just have to pay workers more,and treat them better.

[UdoKier]

23. Unfortunately, neither party has the backbone to do that.

The democratic party is slightly less sold out to corporate interests, but it's still pretty sold out.

(Not to sound like a Naderite - it's just a fact of life we have to deal with.)