Bush seeks "a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill the jobs that Americans are unwilling to do"

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

President Attends Naturalization Ceremony

DAR Administration Building

Washington, D.C.

10:12 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you very much. It's good to be with you. I am grateful for the chance to witness this joyous and uplifting ceremony. It is inspiring to see people of many different ages, many different countries raise their hands and swear an oath to become citizens of the United States of America.

[...]

Our nation is now in the midst of the debate on immigration policy, and it's good. Immigration is an important topic.

[...]

I've laid out a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that includes three critical elements: securing the border, strengthening the immigration enforcement inside our country, and creating a temporary worker program. These elements depend on and reinforce one another, and together they will give America an immigration system that meets the needs of the 21st century.

The first element is securing our border. Our immigration system cannot function if we cannot control the border. Illegal immigration puts a strain on law enforcement and public resources, especially in our border communities. Our nation is also fighting a war on terror, and terrorists crossing the border could create destruction on a massive scale. The responsibility of government is clear: We must enforce the border.

[...]

To end catch-and-release, we're increasing the number of beds and detention facilities by 12 percent this year, and by another 32 percent next year. We're also expanding our use of a process called expedited removal, which allows us to send non-Mexican illegal immigrants home more quickly.

[...]

The second part of a comprehensive immigration reform is strengthening enforcement of our laws in the interior of our country. Since I took office, we've increased funding for immigration enforcement by 42 percent, and these resources have helped our agents bring to justice some very dangerous people: smugglers, terrorists, gang members, and human traffickers.

[...]

The third part of comprehensive immigration reform is to make the system more rational, orderly, and secure by creating a new temporary worker program. This program would provide a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill the jobs that Americans are unwilling to do. Workers should be able to register for legal status on a temporary basis. If they decide to apply for citizenship, they would have to get in line.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...3/20060327.html

[dalegg 143]

So basically the solution is to deport all non-mexican illegal immigrants faster and give mexican illegal immigrants a legal job. Problem solved.

[Autumnal 25]

To the topic of voting, I think a lot of it has to do with the accessibility of these jobs and reduced wages (probably the annoying effect of capitalism, but I digress). I'm working a job at Illinois' minimum wage, because finding the job as anything but an intern is next to impossible unless you've got two or three years of experience or connections. It's a far cry from the roles taken on by illegal immigrants, true, but this minimum wage is horrid and I can only imagine the pain of people paid $3-4 an hour for gruelling labour that's hardly pleasant.

Society in some areas, too, seems to really support having an influx of cheap labour. For example, in areas of southern California, you could ostensibly get a nanny, landscaper, maintenance person/labourer, pool cleaner, and maid extremely inexpensivelly if they were illegal immigrants because they're willing to do work at a very cheap rate. There isn't much recourse otherwise. So these very well to do, SUV driving families living in lovely homes are taking full advantage of people that are often in desperate straits. This is only a stereotype and not the norm, but I've friends enough in SoCal that have confirmed it's often this way.

I think, too, that we've started a trend to pay people less and less for certain 'less desirable' jobs (or entry-level/low income potential employment) and as the overall income drops lower and lower, most people can't afford to take them. Then we annul the jobs, ship them elsewhere (where it's fine to pay people pennies on the dollar ) or take on workers who will work in those conditions and worse.

It's not a healthy solution.

[almaty 19]

i think there are people willing to do the jobs, except the salary is too low...

[slim 1,525]

This poll is missing one option:

Because Americans are lazy and unwilling to work for "less money" than what they think they're worth.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

This poll is missing one option:

Because Americans are lazy and unwilling to work for "less money" than what they think they're worth.

You don't think the wages are low precisely due to the existence of a workforce of low-wage illegals?

[pax 0]

Moreover, you don't think that the vast majority of work available to a low-skilled workforce is worth more than what individuals in this workforce are paid?

Edited March 27, 2006 by pax

[Carola 0]

I wonder who are the two that voted "Because some jobs are menial and Americans have too much self-respect to do them" , we the foreign people have self-respect too, just to let you know.

And Slim you are totally right

[Scott & Lai 12]

This poll is missing one option:

Because Americans are lazy and unwilling to work for "less money" than what they think they're worth.

So, Slim, how little money are you willing to work for?

[irishgirl73 0]

This poll is missing one option:

Because Americans are lazy and unwilling to work for "less money" than what they think they're worth.

Not ALL of us Americans are lazy.........................There are so many people here "illegally" and willing to work for nothing that it is making it almost impossible for a lot of AMERICANS to find decent paying jobs.

Why hire a "union" carpenter who makes $35 and hr when you can hire a mexican that will do the work for $15 an hour(not singling out all mexicans just using this as an example).

That is not a fair statement at all Why should we work for LESS money? Why would anyone want to work for LESS than what they deserve?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Why would anyone want to work for LESS than what they deserve?

If their market value is less than what they think they deserve, then it's their own fault they're unemployed.

However, when the labor market itself has been manipulated by corrupt businesses, corrupt politicians and criminals who work without authorization, that logic gets thrown out the window. At that point, American workers deserve redress.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This poll is missing one option:

Because Americans are lazy and unwilling to work for "less money" than what they think they're worth.

You don't think the wages are low precisely due to the existence of a workforce of low-wage illegals?

Exactly. It's not that lazy Americans expect more money than they are worth. It's that certain profiteers are unwilling to compensate their workforce fairly. Thanks to crowds of illegals, they don;t need to.

Bush continues to say that his guest-worker program would match foreign workers with American employers, "when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." I continue to wonder how hard those employers are looking.

As I have written before, there's hardly any job that Americans won't fill if you offer decent pay. But why offer more pay when you're seeking someone to work your fields, baby-sit your kids, tend your garden, work your factory, bus your restaurant tables, lay your bricks or put up your drywall, when you can hire an illegal worker who will work longer hours for less money and with less complaint?

...

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, which politely calls them "unauthorized workers," illegal immigrants make up about a fourth of all drywall and ceiling-tile installers in the U.S. [meaning that 3/4 of that workforce are leaglly employed], about a fourth of all meat and poultry workers [meaning that 3/4 of that workforce are leaglly employed] and a fourth of all restaurant dishwashers [meaning that even 3/4 of that workforce are leaglly employed]. Truth be told, it is not a desperate need by America's employers that draws most illegal immigrants here. It is the higher income that they can make here than for the same type of work back home.

Source

[Carola 0]

What would happen if one day all the illegal workers make a strike? what would happen with the productivity?

I personally believe that United State is what it is because all the 40 millions legal and illegal foreign people that works really hard to make this Country even better.

[irishgirl73 0]

Why would anyone want to work for LESS than what they deserve?

If their market value is less than what they think they deserve, then it's their own fault they're unemployed.

However, when the labor market itself has been manipulated by corrupt businesses, corrupt politicians and criminals who work without authorization, that logic gets thrown out the window. At that point, American workers deserve redress.

[pax 0]

I do believe in general that a healthy immigration policy is beneficial for any country. But I cannot agree with the statement that illegal immigration, such as it is today, has made our nation any stronger, wiser, or better. I don't mean to personally knock illegal immigrants here, as many of them are hard-working and decent people. But the "race to the bottom" is sadly and quickly becoming a fact for American workers--not lazy, degenerate Americans demanding handouts or concessions, but Americans who went to school, played by the rules, and assumed they would be rewarded fairly for doing so.

As others here have pointed out, the "jobs that Americans will not do" largely compose a myth of illegal immigration. Low-skilled Americans, or even more skilled Americans facing temporary employment difficulties, would, indeed, do many of these jobs were the wages not so insultingly low that even working 40+ hours a week at such jobs would be insufficient to feed a couple or a small family. This is not a case of American workers refusing to swallow their collective pride and tough out an undesirable job for some amount of time; rather, the situation is such that Americans can often make better livings through public assistance than they can by working. Which is an insult to any American who wants to see Americans work rather than survive by the grace of the government.

Illegal immigrants unfortunately help to both cause and exacerbate this race to the bottom. A Mexican is willing to work for $3 an hour not because he or she rationally concludes that his or her work is only worth that amount; rather, it's because $3 an hour is better than nothing, it is probably not taxed, and he or she is unable to demand more because of immigration status. Americans certainly cannot even subsist on such a low wage--not even a single American renting a small apartment and doing without a car, cable television, Internet access, and the like. It's impossible.

Illegal immigrants may be wonderful people individually. Their cultural backgrounds and values may well enrich any society in which they live. But the economic and moral costs of allowing the current situation to continue will bankrupt us in the end.