Aren't we just asking for it? (green card, website, born, illegals)

[ProLogic]

American Renaissance News: Immigrants Rush to New Orleans as Contractors Fight for Workers (http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/10/immigrants_rush.php - broken link)

[Hawkeye48]

I've seen this reported a couple different places. Many local politicians are complaining that the jobs should be going to local poor residents who are struggling to survive.

[ProLogic]

LOL!! And do you really believe the people who are survivors have the skills and willingness to do back breaking work for little money? I think not. A large portion of the New Orleans residents were on Welfare btw..

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye48

I've seen this reported a couple different places. Many local politicians are complaining that the jobs should be going to local poor residents who are struggling to survive.

I would like to see these residents lining up for this kind of work, any pictures or proof at all of local Americans applying?

[ProLogic]

I would like to see this too.. I HIGHLY doubt they are.

[ArizonaBear]

Not being in New Orleans I am not sure admittedly------like the rest of us; I have heard it both ways about locals either not wanting or desiring to work.

My 'gut' tells me that illegals are so damn desperate that they will work under conditions that Americans/green card holders refuse to do so------and, rightly so for the latter.

All the more reason to invoke (and sternly enforce) Employer Sanctions Laws like the one pending here in Arizona.

Despite the negative stereotypes; I truly doubt that all Blacks in NO are lazy shiftless bums-----even the Lower Ninth Ward crowd.

[ducter]

The question is if they are illegal?
With all that local hiring it should be easy to monitor and catch...unless they dont want to catch them.

That area is so poor and desperate I have a hard time believing that the locals wont work.

[nicolem]

This is such a lie that only illegals will do this work. When the rebuilding was starting, I saw a woman being interviewed on Fox. She was from an employment agency and had lined up Americans to work in the rebuilding. The day before she was to send these Americans to their posts, she received a phone call saying don't bother sending them-the Mexicans are coming. I almost fell off the couch. I will try to see if I can find the transcript on FOX website as I am sure some will not believe me without it. This really happened.

After Katrina, all the politicians ran around and said the residents would rebuild the city. That is until under the table labor came along. Americans want these jobs and are willing to do these jobs. However, it is not always a matter of pay. Some employers who hire illegals-only hire illegals. Why wiukd an American waqnt to work along side of a buch of lawbreakers?

I think this is disgusting. There should be one huge ice raid in New Orleans and send them all home. Not only did these residents lose NO once with Katrina, they are losing it again. Places that used to be jazz or blues clubs are now check cashing companies. Illegals are opening businesses-where do they get the $$? Crime is even worse than before.

There have been many examples that Americans want these jobs. After a poulty plant was raided down south they had no employees left because they had all illegals. The next day there was a line out the door-of Americans black and white-who wanted these jobs. They paid them more money and gave them benefits. So much for the garbage that this country would fall apart without illegal lawbreakers.

[NewToCA]

Boy, this discussion gave me a flashback to a somewhat similar situation a long time ago. The major difference is that illegal labor wasn't the issue, but use of appropriate local labor was the discussion.

President Johnson had a series of initiatives in his War on Poverty Program. One was called "Model Cities" in which new construction projects for residential units and small commercial/retail centers were built in the center of designated blight areas. This program was part of a larger program known as Urban Renewal.

I was in Philly at the time this program was initiated, and lived in the "working class" area of the city, adjacent to the slums. I worked at a hospital in the slums, so I spent quite a bit of time there too. I read about the program and all it was going to do, provide decent housing and new local retail centers to replace a lot of vacant and boarded up buildings and homes. As part of the program, training money was set aside, to allow folks to be trained and participate in the construction process. This would give them stake in the new properties, hopefully encouraging them to keep them up in good condition, and skills for future employment.

That never happened, the money all disappeared into studies initiated by the city, and the jobs went to the typical city contractors. If my hospital experience was an indication of how things were run (we were partially funded by Philly to take in poor folks) the giving out of jobs, and construction oversight, was not on the up and up. In other words, this became yet another mechanism for providing favors to supporters.

I hope that New Orleans isn't doing similar stuff. I would like to think what I saw in Philly 40 years ago was just a quirk of that historically very dishonest city. Although this discussion is more about use of foreign born labor, the contractors hiring them may fit somewhat into the story I just conveyed, that they bypass the training and use of locals to maximize their political favors and profits.

I hope that isn't the case. I have noticed that virtually all of the regular posters in this forum, no matter your position on alien workers (legal or illegal), seem to favor a fair process enabling the poor to better their lives.

[ducter]

Its bad enought that the citizens cant get the fed assistance or home insurance companys to pony up the money they paid or raised.
Now we wont even give them the jobs when they have finally become available. THat is truly a case of keeping the poor American down...in favor of illegals