War on Immigrants

[kliljedahl]

Get ready for a Republican assault --
their opportunity for election-year demagogy.
By Harold Meyerson
Web Exclusive: 12.31.05

The conventional wisdom is still unpersuaded that the Republican Party is about to mount a full-force attack on American's undocumented immigrants -- of whom, by some counts, there are 11 million. After all, the Republicans are the party of employers -- large (agribusiness), medium (construction companies), and small (restaurateurs) -- who have long depended on immigrants for cheap labor. The cheap labor sectors of American capitalism are a huge source of donations for the GOP. How could the Republicans turn their back on them?

But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Republicans are coming up on a midterm election in which their control of both houses of Congress is very much at stake. Their advantage in foreign and military policy has been diminished by the president's stunningly inept handling of the war in Iraq. And on the domestic and economic fronts, they have nothing to offer at all -- save only a greater zeal than the Democrats possess to “do something about immigration.” With control of Capitol Hill very much in the balance, they will beg the forbearance of their longtime friends at the building contractor, big agra, and restaurant lobbies, and go after the immigrants tooth and nail.

And no wonder. Fear and resentment of the effects of an open border -- primarily the economic effects, and only secondarily the cultural ones -- are rampant throughout the American working class. That is clear from all available polling, and to any journalist who writes about the economy and gets responses from his or her readers. That's certainly been the case with my own column in the Washington Post. Whenever I write about wages and incomes, characteristically in columns that take the side of unions and question the benefits of globalization, I always get dozens (at least) of e-mails from readers sympathetic to my viewpoint and to liberal politics generally, but who want to impress on me that the other huge problem is all those immigrants who are taking jobs away from the native-born and driving down wages across the land.

There is a response to this argument that is popular among both employers and pro-immigrant liberals: that immigrants take jobs that no native-born workers would want. Among affluent liberal professionals, comfortably cocooned, it is almost possible to see how this illusion could be sustained: immigrants mow the lawns and take care of the kids, something nobody else in the neighborhood would do. But this belief is utterly wrong, and pro-immigrant liberals who invoke it are doing their cause, and themselves, no favor.

For there are all manner of jobs in which the immigrant labor force has supplanted the native-born one, uncomfortable as it may be for the champions of immigration to acknowledge.




Keith’s Barbeque Central

[William Bloode]

1. Honestly i have no problem with immigrants.

But they are reeking havoc on the job scene here. Mostly hispanic immigrants willing to work for less have stagnated the wages. I could expect to make as much or more money in 91' than i can expect to make now for the very same job.

Also business willing to hire them over citizens has forced many citizens into lower paying retail jobs. This is because the manufacturers will hire the lower wage immigrant 1st(i've had 1st hand exp with this)over a citizen. Retail on the other hand requires a good deal of people who have a good grasp of the english language.

Last job i applied for before i was disabled i had all the qualifications, the experience yet they called me "over qualified"(yeah right! i only have an 8th grade education!) and gave the job to the hispanic who could not even fill out his own application. Last job i was at working, i got my seasonal lay off, and was never called back. Why? They hired an immigrant to work for less.

Folks don't need to even try that "they only take jobs we don't want to do" because it's utter bullshit.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I am predicting this will be THE domestic issue in 2006

That idiot conservative Tony (can't remember his last name) on McLaughlin Group this week called the spending on bilingual education the worst waste of govt money. He (a non-educator to boot) says full immersion is the best way for the kids to learn English. I was shouting at my TV: How many foreign languages have YOU learned, Tony?

I am still in shock over the plans to build this wall on the Mexican border. Reeks of Eastern Europe and Korea. I really don't think any wall will keep people who just want a better life from coming here.

I am also finally starting to see the logic behind Clinton's support of NAFTA. The answer to the illegal problem is to improve the economies in the native countries so immigrants are not so desperate to leave their homes and come here. No, I don't like the negative effects of NAFTA, they still bother me. I just think I finally understand why Clinton pushed it so hard.

It has also been quite revealing to see the racism on the right immerge as this illegal immigration problem becomes more severe.