[Mattie Jo]

Higher prices for plants. Yipes! I am glad that I purchased a lot of my plants this spring. I just hope they all live through the winter. They have a lot of mulch around them. Then belonging to the Garden Club I get a lot of free plants.

[peggydavis]

I think it is really sad what has happened in the US over the past few decades. The US used to have factories that provided a good living for their workers. Cheaper products made by foreign workers who make a few cents a day became available here and Americans rushed to buy them. Probably very few people will wear any clothing or shoes made in the US when they get dressed today. Just take a look at the tags on your clothes and shoes to see where they were manufactured.

People have left the stores that were run by home-town people to go buy cheap junk at WalMart made in China. Most of those stores are out of business now. It is not even possible to buy many things made in the US anymore.

Some people might be willing to pay higher prices for things made and sold by Americans, but our track record says that most people will not.

[_redbird_]

A good wage is pretty high for Americans.

During college I worked at a Quaker (oats) factory. We had about 25 full time employees making 9/hr and up and about 300 minimum wage employess doing all the grunt work.

Those minimum wage employess worked their a$$es off for a penny.

The almighty dollar is the bottom line.

To stay on topic. I have a friend who has a factory here in OK. He opened one up in Mexico. He said a lot of factories are beginning to open up factories in Mexico. Its an economic choice. Same reason that GM plant closed in OKC. We know someone who worked there for 30 years. He was making BIG BUCKS!!! They priced themselves out of a job.

[Dariosmom]

That's sad, but anymore you have to have a good education to have a good job, and your lucky to find one that will hire you if you have a degree!

[raelynn]

i live in oklahoma and honestly i have seen little change. i live around and within a large part of were the hispanic culture lives in oklahoma and people are functioning like normal. kids going to school, mom and dads going to work, living like they were before the bill passed. im not going to lie and say that some havent moved away but they have not gone back to mexico i know that for sure. the ones that i know moved to south carolina and one family moved to texas. also the amount of police on this side has not increased either. i see maybe 3 a day by where i live on week days and on weekends maybe 5 and i live in a large part of ok. i go to a hispanic club also to dance on the weekends and the amount of people who went before the bills went into effect is the same amount and maybe more going now after the bill is in effect. my cousin who is actually anti-illegal works in a factory in ok were the large amount of the workers are hispanic he siad that they all come to work like normal as well...he siad that when you go into the refrigerated part of the factory its like a mexican fest...so really little has changed. until they really start getting hit in the pockets i dont think they will force the illegals out.

[peggydavis]

I like being around the hispanic culture, isn't that what Oklahoma is about--a mix of cultures?

If any Mexicans have left, I think it is more due to the end of the lawn-mowing season. We need to get a better system so people who need green cards for work can get them. Employers should all be checked to make sure they are paying minimum wage at least, withholding taxes, and paying unemployment and workers compensation so we have a fair system. If green card holders are not working or are criminals revoke the green cards and send them home.

[Jammie]

Raelynn, maybe that means that the Mexicans in your area are legal American citizens or at least have green cards. We have a few up here and they're nice people. They have a good sense of humor, too. They're hard working and family oriented. I don't think the Mexicans who are citizens here actually even make the crime go up. But the ones that have been caught and taken back to Mexico seem to be from a totally different world. They'll live 20 people to one rental house and it has to be burned down after they leave. It's unfortunate, but they're just used to a third world way of living.

Maybe the people who have had green cards for years and kept coming back here and finally became citizens sincerely wanted to be Americans. They speak English and will talk to you in the store and seem to honestly want to assimilate. They have jobs and don't seem interested in getting something for nothing. That may be the situation for those in your area.

[raelynn]

I honestly think its a mix of people who are illegal and legal. Like i siad in my first thread i let an illegal boy mow my lawn during the summer and he is still here with his family. i do know some that are illegal that are still here and are going to stay here and the others have left but plan on coming back later. The others are legal and are here to stay because they can. I do know some really nice hispanics that are illegal and legal and honestly i could careless of their status because in my neighborhood we all watch out and take care of each other and our families.

[Mattie Jo]

Problem is raelynn if you hire an illegal now you go to jail. I personally think they should come here legally like everyone else. I love the diversity of races too and am glad that we have them in OK, but I would like to see them all legal.

[raelynn]

i do understand that but im sure that they are going to come looking for me cause i pay a kid cash to mow my lawn for the summer. i feel the same way you do about how yes they should come here legally but also i understand the reasons they dont and why they want to come here so quickly.