Illegal immigration?
Jan. 3rd, 2007 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageImmigration crackdown
I can see several sides to this story.
First, I can see the side of the people who are stuck in a country that offers few opportunities, and who need to get out, but who have no hope of ever meeting the legal requirements to do so. The requirements to get into Canada are pretty strict in terms of finances and education; I would imagine they're similar in the U.S., and if they are, it means poor Mexicans who are willing to work in meat-packing jobs are never going to be eligible. Maybe the U.S. should start making it possible for worker families to immigrate legally, thereby solving a large part of the illegal problem.
Second, I can see the argument made here - that the identity theft serves to pay into someone's retirement. If that were the only effect of identity theft, it would be silly to enforce this, but there are more effects than that, because the IRS puts the onus on the victim of fraud to prove that it's happening, and that can take years. So, third, I can see why Americans who are legitimately in the country are upset about this, too. Except for those who don't work enough to trigger an IRS investigation into their multiple incomes, most victims of identity theft are going to suffer.
Fourth, I have a lot of sympathy for the argument that immigration law is being used to prevent unions from protecting workers' rights. It certainly seems to be true - and if true, it's nasty. Unions are a valid means for groups without voice to have a say in the conditions of their lives. While it is, of course, possible to abuse them, I have more sympathy for those who want them than I have for those who want to suppress them. (And before anyone tells me that illegal workers have no rights, that, to my mind, is a huge part of the problem. They can't make a living in Mexico, making a living in the U.S. is a criminal activity, they don't have the right to work to feed their families - it would seem their only right is to be poor pawns in a political game.)
Thoughts, friends list?
I can see several sides to this story.
First, I can see the side of the people who are stuck in a country that offers few opportunities, and who need to get out, but who have no hope of ever meeting the legal requirements to do so. The requirements to get into Canada are pretty strict in terms of finances and education; I would imagine they're similar in the U.S., and if they are, it means poor Mexicans who are willing to work in meat-packing jobs are never going to be eligible. Maybe the U.S. should start making it possible for worker families to immigrate legally, thereby solving a large part of the illegal problem.
Second, I can see the argument made here - that the identity theft serves to pay into someone's retirement. If that were the only effect of identity theft, it would be silly to enforce this, but there are more effects than that, because the IRS puts the onus on the victim of fraud to prove that it's happening, and that can take years. So, third, I can see why Americans who are legitimately in the country are upset about this, too. Except for those who don't work enough to trigger an IRS investigation into their multiple incomes, most victims of identity theft are going to suffer.
Fourth, I have a lot of sympathy for the argument that immigration law is being used to prevent unions from protecting workers' rights. It certainly seems to be true - and if true, it's nasty. Unions are a valid means for groups without voice to have a say in the conditions of their lives. While it is, of course, possible to abuse them, I have more sympathy for those who want them than I have for those who want to suppress them. (And before anyone tells me that illegal workers have no rights, that, to my mind, is a huge part of the problem. They can't make a living in Mexico, making a living in the U.S. is a criminal activity, they don't have the right to work to feed their families - it would seem their only right is to be poor pawns in a political game.)
Thoughts, friends list?
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-03 03:33 pm (UTC)They are best off being illegal, it makes it more hireable. They can make decent take home pay but their employers aren't paying insurance, payroll taxes, etc.
Unionizing will put them out of work.
But then at least legal Americans will be working off the books then, I guess.
It's frustrating because illegal immigrants took work away from my husband. All those people who say they only do jobs Americans won't do are wrong. People who say they are paid less than minimum wage are wrong, too. The savings is in the benefits and taxes, for the employer. YES there are illegal immigrants working jobs that few people would want and sometimes less than minimum wage, but that is not always the case and in many places, pretty rare.
If they have a right to work to feed their families, so does my legal American born husband. They have no right to break the law and work on sites that turn him away because he is American. And it's happened to him more than once, and has happened to other people in construction that he knows.
Sure, make immigration easier for blue collar workers, but lets make sure that Americans who want jobs get them, too. In a way it's like parenting. If mom and dad are sick, you can't take care of the kids as well as you could. Same with America. If your taxpayers, your citizens, are going without, it means you can't take care of others as well too. America needs to be healthy to really make a difference.
Which means that war is America's drug or something that is being wasted on, if we're looking at America as a parent...I could go somewhere with this but I'm tired. ;)