new people... (Bozeman, Lewistown: buy, contractors, minimum wage)

[justgothere]

i've heard lots of concerns where californians are 'moving-in' to Montana and most of the reasons for those who moved are because their CA is 'invaded' by immigrants? in lieu of this, are there any other 'immigrants' in MT aside from Californians????

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by justgothere

i've heard lots of concerns where californians are 'moving-in' to Montana and most of the reasons for those who moved are because their CA is 'invaded' by immigrants? in lieu of this, are there any other 'immigrants' in MT aside from Californians????

I don't know if you would consider Californians immigrants....maybe more like "migrants?" The Californians want out because of a lot of illegal immigration. The folks coming across the border illegally from Mexico, bringing with them diseases, poor ethics, and lots of other problems. They are not the only reason I want, out, but they are a big part of it. I figure if they are willing to break the law to get here, they most certainly will break the law once they are here.

My grandparents on my dads side came here from Europe. Not sure about my mom's parents. My mom told me her mother came across Oklahoma in a wagon train in the 1890's

I would love to be able to go to work and hear conversations in english.

[GiftShoppeGuy]

California (along with many other southwestern pacific states) was once a province of Mexico anyway... so we might as well just let them have it back.

We didn't buy California from Mexico like we did Alaska from Russia, nope, we took it by force.... so really, our actions are coming back to haunt us, by way of the Mexican imigration that's going on right now.

We do indeed have a thriving Mexican/American population here in Montana, many of whom are 3rd and 4th generation..... you see... the Mexicans/Spaniards were here first too.

Speaking English really should be the order of the day here in the good ole USofA..... it should be a requirement before citizenship be granted to any imigrant.... regardless of country of origin.

We get many who would sub with us (contractors) out of Bozeman and Lewistown, and they hire migrant workers who don't know any english... and I continue in english.... because this is my country and my language.... If they don't get what I'm saying... I send them home..... it's just as simple as that.

I would be "very expected" to learn the Mexican language if I were to move to Mexico..... hand runnin'...... so I feel that turn-about is fair play in this case....... If you don't want to learn the language?... Then you might as well just go back home.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

It's funny you say that GSG. A lot of the hispanics at my work, have lived here in the US for 25 or more years, yet they can barely speak the language...., unbelievable simply unbelievable

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Originally Posted by johns65vette

It's funny you say that GSG. A lot of the hispanics at my work, have lived here in the US for 25 or more years, yet they can barely speak the language...., unbelievable simply unbelievable

Probably because there are those (primarily us Americans) that are so afraid of being sued that they'll yuck-up to anything.....

I find it just amazing, at times, how we, as Americans, collectively, can allow something to continue, for years, and then turn around and complain about it when the notion no longer suits us........

I look at most all of those Europian countries, both east and west, and clearly, one of their rules is to "learn the language" before you can get citizenship, jobs, benefits.... Doesn't make much of a difference, if you live in France, and you are not legal?..even after living and working there for 15 or 20 years?.. they'll give you the same kind of a boot that they give illegals that just came in yesterday.

Yet, here we are, seemingly so politically inept, that we can't even enforce a few simple rules, or, for fear of "not being liked"..... create a few new ones to better serve our own collective interests.

[SunnyE]

Being a Blackfeet Indian, I personally find it insulting that I'm spoken to in Spanish because - even though I don't look mexican at all - many people assume that I am mexican because my skin is brown and my hair is black.

I especially hate it when someone that's hispanic tells me that *I* need to learn Spanish.

Oh, and for the record...American Indians lived on ALL of California before the Spaniards invaded, and then it eventually became Mexico. So everytime I hear about California "belonging" to Mexico and that they "want it back," it cracks me up...

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by GiftShoppeGuy

We didn't buy California from Mexico like we did Alaska from Russia, nope, we took it by force....

We did buy california from Mexico. We paid 15 mil. (yes we used force, but they started that war ). I think we paid Russia 7.2 mil for Alaska. Interesting trivia, we made 7.2 million dollars from the Alaska pipeline the very first day.

[JoeJoeMan]

I understand MT does have illegals. Now I'm serious when I say this, but I think one of the reasons MT doesn't have as big a problem as other states is because of the low pay, seriously. It's no secrect there aren't many jobs here and they don't pay worth a carp, so the illegals just go somewhere else that pays better.....I guess that's really a sad statement on our state, but there are lots of people here already more than willing to take those minimum wage jobs.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by JoeJoeMan

I understand MT does have illegals. Now I'm serious when I say this, but I think one of the reasons MT doesn't have as big a problem as other states is because of the low pay, seriously. It's no secrect there aren't many jobs here and they don't pay worth a carp, so the illegals just go somewhere else that pays better.....I guess that's really a sad statement on our state, but there are lots of people here already more than willing to take those minimum wage jobs.

Believe it or not, a lot of illegals don't make much more than minumum wage here in Ca also. The way they do it, is they put 10 families in one house I see it first hand here everyday. No way I could livelike that, although I will commend them for being a very family oriented people.

[MontanaGuy]

There's alot of false assumptions regarding state to state population movements, particularly those involving Californians moving to Montana. On the 2000 census, between the years 1995 and 2000 there were 111,530 people who move into Montana from other states and there were 116,696 people who moved out of Montana to other states. That means that 5,166 more people moved out than moved in. Washington state received the largest number of Montanans moving out but there was no single state that was statistically significant as far as the incoming population was concerned. In other words, California was no more significant than say Idaho or any other state. They don't have exact numbers for after 2000 but the generation population increase in Montana is still low.
Californians do account for significant increases in other states such as Arizona, where I live, and Nevada, which received the largest number of Californians of any state. However, Montana did not receive a significant number.
These are actual counted numbers and there's no reason to believe they're not accurate. The supposed overtaking of Montana by Californians is nonsense but I suppose it makes for good bumper stickers and anectodal stories from people who are simply uninformed.