Posted on 12/29/2006 6:04:19 AM PST by A. Pole
[...]
When Mr. Bailey discovered that Mario was in the country illegally, he wanted to help him. So Mr. Bailey, [...]went to a lawyer to see if he could help Mario get a visa.
That's when the president of Bailey Family Builders ran into a little-understood roadblock to legal immigration for the millions of Mexicans and others who perform manual-labor jobs in the U.S.: Only 5,000 work visas are available every year for unskilled laborers.
"We don't have a system that recognizes the realities of the U.S. economy," said Mr. Bailey, president of the Home Builders Association of Dallas-Fort Worth.
The gap between the law and the economy was highlighted this month in the Swift & Co. meat plant raids, the largest immigration raids in history. And it was addressed in September by a bipartisan task force in Washington, which recommended greatly expanding the visa system.
[...]
Doris Meissner, former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said people are often surprised to learn so few visas exist for those defined as "unskilled" and without relatives in the U.S. legally.
"There are only 5,000 visas in the system for people to come that way," said Ms. Meissner, [now at Migration Policy Institute]. "There are probably 500,000 people added to the illegal population each year, and the large majority are unskilled. Things are so out of kilter."
[...]
Like many business groups, Mr. Bailey and the homebuilders want a larger pool of work visas.
The system, they say, discriminates against Mexican laborers who don't benefit from special work authorizations
[...]
In opposition to many of his fellow Republicans, Mr. Bush has advocated a guest worker program, in which millions of workers here illegally would be allowed to live in the country temporarily while they filled jobs that Americans didn't want.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
"The system initially would allow about 1.5 million visas a year."
Translation: I want an easier way to exploit people and make others pay the true cost of my slaves.
Put up a fence first.
Then we'll talk.
Course those that have need for economic reasons for unskilled laborers will need be tracked as well. Think maybe religious organizations will be willing to assist or will it be through their already established motor voter lists?
The "reality" is that we need to do our own work, and stop importing others. We've become a lazy, corrupt, and feckless nation of nancies.
"That's when the president of Bailey Family Builders ... "
Mr. Bailey of Bailey Family Builders? He wouldn't happen to run a Building and Loan would he?
Unfortunately true. For now though, the work still needs to get done. We need to make it possible for people who are not lazy, corrupt and feckless to come here and do the work. Legally.
Then we need to put an end to the government handouts that make it more appealing to sit at home and vote Democrat than to go out and earn a day's wages for a day's work.
There is no doubt that the flood of unskilled illegal immigants has depressed the payscale in the labor market. But, we created that market by providing government freebies to the undeserving in this country whether they be citizens or illegals.
"Doris Meissner, former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service..." This person, when she was head of INS under Clinton, did everything in her power to prevent our laws from being enforced. A firm believer in open borders, she has bounced back and forth between liberal think tanks and the government for years, and is likely to wind up in a position of authority in the next Democratic administration.
Yes, but Doris Meisner, Billy Jeff Clinton's crack immigration czar, managed to let in all the 9/11 highjackers on student visas. Why in the world should we listen to this loser, who is still on the taxpayers' dole, give advice on immigration? Only the liberal media lapdogs would go to a discredited source such as her.
LOL Clarence will be along shortly... hear any bells ?
Definitely. We need more workers who are willing to live ten people to one small apartment, who do not need to spend money on children (left with relatives in some Third World country or to fetch for themselves) and who can get by using emergency room medical care.
Yes, "lazy, corrupt and feckless" Americans have to learn how to compete with that!
by Robert E. Rector Special Report #9
Introduction
In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty with the goal of eliminating poverty in the United States. Since that time, the U.S. has spent over $11 trillion on anti-poverty programs, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and services to the poor and near poor. Today, government provides a generous system of benefits and services to both the working and non-working poor. While government continues its massive efforts to reduce poverty, immigration policy in the U.S. has come to operate in the opposite direction, increasing rather than decreasing poverty. Immigrants with low skill levels have a high probability of both poverty and receipt of welfare benefits and services.[1]
A good, long read about why the illegals of today are NOT the immigrants of yesterday.
We are not bolstering our society by bringing the dregs of other societies. The elitists in this country see them as servants. The truth is that they are the uneducated detritus that are here to make money and not become Americans. They have no desire to enmesh themselves with our society.
Good link.
ping
If someone proposed a program to boost the number of Americans who lack a high school diploma, have children out of wedlock, sell drugs, steal, or use welfare, he’d be deemed mad. -Heather McDonald-
Given my daily interactions with the human race, I call B.S. on this so-called shortage of unskilled labor.
ping
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