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So we're getting some dribs and drabs from Obama's jobs plan. One I heard was to launch a spending initiative to create more than 1,000,000 construction jobs. How would this be different than the last stimulus exactly?
I was thinking though since it is estimated anywhere from 10-20% of our construction workforce consists of illegal immigration wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just aggressively enforce immigration laws on construction sites across the country. All you would need is a couple headline grabbing raids and folks would get the message and let go of their illegals and start searching for legal and American workers to replace them. Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Immigrants - New York Times
Quote:
Illegal immigrants played a big if quiet part on the supply side of America’s housing boom.According to the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization in Washington, immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries account for about one in five construction workers. Those who arrived since 2000 — who are likely to be unlawfully in the United States because they had virtually no way of immigrating legally — account for an estimated 7 percent of the construction work force.
They were mostly pulled in by the building frenzy of the first half of the decade. According to the analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center, based on census data, Hispanic immigrants took 60 percent of the million new construction jobs created from 2004 to 2006. Those recently arrived took nearly half.
While there are no equivalent statistics at the state or local level, a glance at a construction crew anywhere in the valley confirms the overwhelming immigrant share. “There are only Mexicans,” said Adrián L., an illegal immigrant from Oaxaca who does interior work on homes here. “Now not even the supervisors are American.”
Like no other job, construction allowed many immigrants a shot at the American dream. After more than five years in construction, Adrián L. was making $25 to $35 an hour leading a 15-strong team for a company building new tract homes in the Central Valley.
Obama was expected to preview the jobs speech he’s scheduled to deliver later this week, though he told his supporters on Monday that he “didn’t want to give everything away right here, because I want you all to tune in on Thursday.”Here’s what he did say about the plan: Roads and bridges “need rebuilding,” companies are ready to do it, and there are “more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.”
1 in 5 ? From the work I had done on my house I'd say 5 in 5 of the workers.
The guy in charge/owner was American.
How do you know the workers were not 100% American ? Did you e-verify them, and track down their history ? Just because a worker has brown skin does not mean he/she is not American. Mexican-Americans have been contributing to this country since the 1800's.
Im willing to bet that the 5/5 workers had brown skin. That really says nothing as to whether or not they are American.
How do you know the workers were not 100% American ? Did you e-verify them, and track down their history ? Just because a worker has brown skin does not mean he/she is not American. Mexican-Americans have been contributing to this country since the 1800's.
Im willing to bet that the 5/5 workers had brown skin. That really says nothing as to whether or not they are American.
A quick trip to any construction site around here in Houston will yield at least a hand full of guys who have no problem admitting that they're illegal.
I think it would work for some people but there are a lot of people that think they are too good for a construction job. They want to get employed but when they say that they mean they want to get employed in some cushy job like the one they had before. There are some souls out there that really mean they would take any job when they say they are trying to get employed again, and for those people, opening up construction jobs would be beneficial. But honestly I can see a lot of vacant construction jobs with no one there happening if we left it all up to our own citizens.
How do you know the workers were not 100% American ? Did you e-verify them, and track down their history ? Just because a worker has brown skin does not mean he/she is not American. Mexican-Americans have been contributing to this country since the 1800's.
Im willing to bet that the 5/5 workers had brown skin. That really says nothing as to whether or not they are American.
And a lot of more recently Hispanic people are legal. My parents employ a lot of Hispanic people, mostly with parents from El Salvador. But they're legal. I'm sure people assume they're illegal all the time too. People probably assume they're all Mexican too. Just because you speak Spanish and look Latino doesn't automatically make you illegal and Mexican. I speak Spanish and I've been mistaken for Uruguayan and Chilean and I immigrated here legally from Russia in 1993.
I've said for years that the best way to curb illegal immigration is to go after teh American Employers who so happily hire them. Take away the jobs and you take away the incentive.
I think the contractor who rolls through the Home Depot Parking lot every morning to hire cheap, illegal workers that he can pay peanuts to is a bigger "criminal" then the illegal worker himself.
But I'm sure that makes me an "anti-business liberal commie."
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