Why We Desperately Need Illegal Immigrants
Some claim that we need to keep importing high school drop-outs (either illegally or in guest worker programs) because they are urgently needed:
Developer Louis Breland is finishing the first phase of a $750 million beach condo project.
“Subcontractors could not function without immigrant laborers for painting, rebar and steel work. They are the best workers,” he said. “Without them, the cost of construction would be 10 times as much and nothing would get built.”
Hmm, I seem to recall that a lot of buildings got built before the boom in illegal immigration started in the 1970s. In fact, my great grandfather worked as a carpenter. His son worked as a carpenter and then a construction foreman. And my father started his career as a carpenter. He also owned a small construction company while I was growing up, and no immigrants, legal or illegal, worked for him.
It used to be that Americans could make careers for themselves as skilled construction workers such as carpenters, bricklayers, drywallers, painters, etc. In fact, in areas of the country not yet overwhelmed with illegal immigrants, this is still true.
But once an area has enough illegal immigrants to underbid Americans for construction jobs, then the jobs all go to illegal immigrants. At that time we are informed by altruistic developers that “Subcontractors could not function without immigrant laborers … They are the best workers.”
So you are supposed to conclude that our information age economy is in desperate need of importing high-school drop outs. In fact, this is so important that we taxpayers must pay for their kids to go to school in the US, pay for their family’s medical care, and pay for other social services for them. We must subsidize these workers so that high-income developers can hire the “best workers”. Without this, our economy is doomed! Construction of new buildings will halt, our food supply will rot in the fields, restaurants will shut down, highway construction will end, and so on.
So I hope now it is clear why we taxpayers need to subsidize bringing in the “best workers” to replace American blue collar workers. Those American workers are obviously no good, want too high of pay, or they just won’t work at all.
June 27th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Wonder who’s going to be living in those posh condos? Of course, legal Americans won’t be able to afford to BUY the condos now will they?
I know who will eventually end up living in them..the illegals! After all, illegals built the condos, being the “best workers” right?. But wait…$1million for a condo? Oh no, we poor uneducated, amnestied illegals can’t pay that, you have to subsidize us Mr. Subcontractor!
Beware what you wish for, it will come back and BITE you.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:13 am
[...] Dan Morgan of NoSpeedBump.com puts this load of greedy **** to rest pretty handily: I seem to recall that a lot of buildings got built before the boom in illegal immigration started in the 1970s. In fact, my great grandfather worked as a carpenter. His son worked as a carpenter and then a construction foreman. And my father started his career as a carpenter. He also owned a small construction company while I was growing up, and no immigrants, legal or illegal, worked for him. [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 2:31 am
Dan,
The old right needs to calmy and reasonably debate this issue purely on its merits. To wit: paying more for help (legally) might add a thousand bucks to a 150 thousand dollar home. Maybe even 2 thousand.
However, getting eye surgery in India is probably only half as expensive as getting it here. Getting a foreign online accountant to do your taxes or do your business accounting (just send him all receipts via fax) is probably half of what one pays here. Getting legal help (outside the courtroom) via a lawyer in Dubai is much cheaper than it is here. Getting tech help in many places is much cheaper than it is here.
Its the unfairness of it all towards the regualr black and white Joe’s and John’s thats so appalling. If we kicked out all the illegals working on construction sites, costs would definitely go up for a period of six months to a year while new guys tried construction and were learning. They would never work for the seven bucks an hour either. Contracters would certainly take a bite on the big money they have been making for the last several years.
However, I NEVER SEEN A MEXICAN WORKING ON HOUSES UNTIL 1990 where I live. And one still saw lots of whites and blacks here in Tennessee working on houses until the late nineties. We still got things done. The market would settle what wages on sites would be over a period of a few years, like in any other line of work and business. This should be no different. If thats 12 bucks an hour, so be it. If contractors think thats too high, they can put on a belt and grab a hammer. If Paris Hilton wants a nose job, she will pay market price for it, unless she wants to go to the kitchen, grab a bottle of asprin, and do it herself with a kitchen knife. Thats how the world has worked for umpteen years.
We wouldn’t let foreign nurses come here and displace our own nurses. We wouldn’t let foreign doctors replace our own doctors. How about engineers, filmmakers, college professors, teachers, dentists, artists, etc. ? This is what so dissapoints me about the backers of this bill. They really are putting the hurt on our own for the benefit of a very few, and claiming they are doing the moral thing and that its racist to resist them.
What repeatedly astonishes me about the bill and its republican backers the most is the demographic consequences for the Republican party. If one likes lower taxes (like me) and less regulation (like me) and less invasive government (like me) and our own traditional culture (like me), this is a no-brainer. When is the last time a bill that Ted Kennedy was so enthusiastic about a good thing for America? Yeah, me neither.
This will not be “over” anytime soon. The old right needs to remember who was for this and donate to their primary opponents next time out and even vote Democrat in some senate races where a decent more conservative Democrat who is strong on border security is running against an open-borders RINO. The Lindsay Grahams, Arlen Spectors, Dick Lugars, Trent Lotts, Mitch McConnells, and John McCains need to be defeated by old-school conservatives to kill this thing for good. We need to elect an old school conservative (Paul, Tancredo, Thompson) for president also.