[angkor]

The whole point of hiring illegals in the first place is cheap labor.

I've heard some anecdotes here in the DC Metro area which don't support the "cheap labor" argument. Like employers who can't keep "native" Americans in manual labor jobs for more than a couple weeks or months, or newspaper ads that go unanswered for weeks at $14 and $15 an hour.

Which is why I support GWB's original and *minimalist* "temporary worker" proposal from January 2004. Not this insane mess the Senate has produced.

[TomGuy]

I've heard some anecdotes here in the DC Metro area which don't support the "cheap labor" argument. Like employers who can't keep "native" Americans in manual labor jobs for more than a couple weeks or months, or newspaper ads that go unanswered for weeks at $14 and $15 an hour.

Scrutinize those reports heavily.

A couple of weeks ago, a lady from California was making the rounds on the cable news channels. She was crying that her company couldn't get job applicants for jobs at $34.00 per hour (IIRC).

Well, that smacked of suspicion, so some FReepers investigated her claims and found them VERY conditional. The actual jobs started at $6.00 to $7.00 and MIGHT develop into state contractual positions that paid the higher rate.