Well, Mexico seems to be seeing a “benefit” from their population moving abroad to find work:
The remittances, the majority from migrants living in the United States, are Mexico’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil.
Last year, Mexicans sent home US$16.6 billion (euro12.8 billion,) 24 percent more than in 2003.
So now you can go to Wendy’s with a smile on your face knowing that you are helping the 11 million Mexican immigrants in this country increase the money they send back home. There has been lots of talk about immigration since the REAL Id stuff has started. I don’t see it as a very hard problem to solve (and stricter driver’s license requirements have nothing to do with it).
::: more on flip :::
But first, let me just say that immigration is usually bad for all parties involved. People don’t leave their homes and family because things are great. They leave because it sucks, and they want a better life. I believe that people would rather not risk life and limb to enter America if their home countries could provide them with the jobs they needed.
Want to stop the influx of immigrants? Raid the employers. This should be the Democratic line. Just go bust some heads at your local fast-food restaurant, or the kitchen staff at any goddamn restaurant in this country (fancy or not). Send the owners to jail. Fine them huge amounts, and take away their business license.
Do that about 20 times across the country, and threaten to keep doing it, and employers will stop hiring illegals because it won’t be cheaper any more. Remember, illegals lower wages for everyone–including themselves. It’s not that American’s won’t do the jobs. It’s that employers can pay a shit-load less if they hire an illegal, because they won’t get in trouble for doing it.
That needs to change. Hiring illegals means you hate America, and Americans.
If employers didn’t hire illegals, there would be no demand. If there is no demand, there will be no supply.
Cross-posted @ jScoop, where we are still looking for some opinionated front-page posters to join our ranks. Stop by.
I agree with you that the employers should be gone after. I think they should be required to pay a living wage to all their workers, regardless of if they are in the country legally or illegally. Allowing the employers to basically hire people at substandard wages and have their own little serfdom does cause all the wages to go down, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for doing that.
While we’re at it, we might consider stopping the propping up leaders of various countries whose entire purpose seems to be to keep their citizens poor and in need of going to where there are good jobs in order to feed their families (while at the same time rich countries are practically encouraging employers to import cheap, “illegal” labor… what a coincidence!).
Thanks for the good news about the people of Mexico benefiting from the hard earned funds their family members are sending back home. That should help out some families immeasurably. And just think how much they can help out when we require employers to pay them a full wage. What with that, and getting a new President in Mexico (which I hope happens), things are surely looking up.