Posted on 03/01/2011 6:19:42 PM PST by jazusamo
Hearing on immigration policy underscores partisan divisions
Calling for stricter enforcement of existing laws, House Republicans said Tuesday the nation’s broken immigration system is making it more difficult for minorities to land jobs because they are competing with illegals willing to work longer hours for less pay.
Democrats, though, countered that the GOP was using immigration to pit blacks against Hispanics while ignoring the “real” problems in minority communities, including the lack of education and job-training resources, that drive unemployment.
The sniping came during a hearing of the House Judiciary immigration policy and enforcement subcommittee as Republicans sought to highlight potential conflicts that could break the coalition that Democrats put together to try to pass broad immigration reform in recent years.
It also served as the latest reminder of the Republican takeover of the House, where the GOP is now in position to shape the agenda and appears determined to make immigration enforcement part of the debates over federal spending and the nation’s 9 percent unemployment rate.
Reading from a prepared statement, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, pointed to a Pew Hispanic Center report that showed more than 7 million people are working in the country illegally and noted that the unemployment rates in minority communities - about 12 percent among Hispanics and nearly 16 percent among blacks - are well above the national average.
“These jobs should go to legal workers, many of whom would be minorities,” Mr. Smith said.
But Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, the ranking member of the committee, said that instead of tackling the “deeper issues underlying our weakened economy, high unemployment and continued inequities, we seem to be blaming all of our problems on undocumented workers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Conyers is living in lala land, none of those issues will help minorities any more than illegals.
No kidding huh? Illegals taking jobs from Americans? That’s a new one on me(sar.) If homey can ever get his lazy ass out of bed he might beat Jose to the job. But after some forty years on paying homey to sit on his ass he’s not likely to be wanting to get a job.
Mayhap if minorities would quit playing the “minority card” and get off their collective arises and strive to be better rather then complain, things would improve. IMHO
Bump.
Know MANY employers here who will hire “Mexicans” (their term for any Latino) over blacks. Illegals work harder for less and (their view) cause less problems.
Dems want hispanics here for the votes but it’s directly to the determent of ... blacks and UNIONS. Nobody points this out?
Good point...Union thugs scream about scabs in many union type jobs but they don’t go after illegals through their Dem elected cronies in Washington.
Most unions support illegal immigration. They want the union dues.
I used to argue with an SEIU guy who had no problem with illegals, until he lost his job to one.
It would help if the federal and state governments would stop paying able bodied men and women to NOT to work.
These guys are whistling past the graveyard, the untrained and uneducated ARE taking American jobs.
7 million? I assume with this number they are just talking about Southern California. This isn’t startling news. Illegals and shipping mfg. overseas are the two biggest contributors to unemployment in this country.
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