California Group Seeks to Curb Flow of Legal Immigration Until Jobless Rate Falls

Fox News ^ | March 12, 2011 | foxnews.com

[mcosta79]

Californians for Population Stabilization says the federal government continues to admit more than 1 million immigrants and temporary workers a year "to take American jobs despite the country's highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression."

The group launched a TV campaign last month, with ads airing in San Francisco, San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield, where the group says the jobless rate exceeds 16 percent but has topped 18 percent within the last year.

In the ad, a man separates the first two letters from the word "illegal."

"Attention is turning to the millions of illegal workers in the state. It's about time," he says. "But what about these workers: legal foreign workers?"

[mcosta79]

From the article: But the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles strongly disputed the group's message and said it only revealed the true intentions of the anti-illegal immigration movement.

"Many of these organizations have said their only problem was with illegal immigrants. What they're now showing in fact is they also have a problem with legal migration," said Angelica Salas, the coalition's director told FoxNews.com.

What an austoundingly inane attempt at a rebuttal. Instead of refuting the restrictionist group's argument, she's simply restating it, and implying that nothing could possibly be both a) bad and b) approved of by the government.

[bgill]

IOW, they’re only concerned when the jobless rate is high. What exactly is the number for them to stop being concerned with illegals?

[paul51]

they want to curb the flow of legal immigrants while they ignore the flood of unemployed, uneducated, non english speaking illegal immigrants? Idiots

[algernonpj]

hey want to curb the flow of legal immigrants while they ignore the flood of unemployed, uneducated, non english speaking illegal immigrants? Idiots

What's wrong with doing both?

While unemployment, if calculated in the same way it was in Reagan's day is:



125,000 new LEGAL workers (guest workers and green cards) are brought in each MONTH, for a total of 1.5 million per year. Keep that in mind while looking at this chart from Pew, an Hispanic advocacy group.



Foreign Born Gain Jobs; Native Born Lose Jobs

Currently our legal immigrants are a mix of low skilled and professional. Some waltz into the US onto SSI and all other kinds of freebies. Others work at salaries so low that their employment is subsidized by our safety net. Guest workers often pay no or partial taxes.

The Fiscal Cost of Low-Skill Immigrants to the U.S. Taxpayer

The Most Generous Nation in the World... at Giving Jobs Away

[Kenny Bunk]

Wow, are you two guys off base!

You see, the 314 legal immigrants who hit CA lat year, had a far more severe economic impact than the 1.6 million illegal Mexicans who joined their relatives in LA County.

In many cases, those dratted legal immigrants show up with their own, privately purchased leaf blowers and throw deserving illegal aliens out of work and onto welfare!

Amigos, think before you speak. Besides, Karl Rove has personally assured me that "anchor babies" and their offspring are the "¡Republicanos del Nuestro Futuro!"

[TXConservative25]

It is not the fault of employers that the “unemployed” get passed over legal immigrants for employment.

Maybe if the unemployed would actually seek employment instead of filing 3 bogus applications every 2 weeks for jobs they’re not qualified for just so they get their unemployment handouts, this wouldn’t be a problem.

It’s also a frigging irony that the liberals support restrictions on legal immigration but have no problem with illegal immigration. Liberals have no respect for the rule of law.

[TXConservative25]

The unemployed who are passed over by legal immigrants are less qualified. That’s what wrong with restricting both.

[The Antiyuppie]

They don’t want too many so as not to interfere with being overpaid, but not too few to drive up the cost of maid service and lawn care.

[kcvl]

[kcvl]

Angelica Salas

ANGELICA SALAS (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles): We have a fundamental belief that an individual has inalienable human rights and that those rights are not diminished once they cross a border. There is a belief by the general populace that the undocumented do not have rights. So because of that situation you have employers who are more than willing to pay individuals less than minimum wage, but unfortunately we see people who are not paid at all.

[kcvl]

Angelica Salas parents had come to the United States illegally roughly 40 years ago out of economic desperation. They made a life, became legalized and raised a family.

And now their 36-year-old daughter Angelica, smuggled into the country by an aunt at age 5, was being called up to the podium by Dean Eric M. Frank, who spoke of her work to convince both Democrats and Republicans that the immigration system is badly broken.

[kcvl]

Since her entire family came here ILLEGALLY what do we expect from her?

******

When she lobbies for day laborer centers, in-state tuition fees or driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants

Salas believes the tone of the debate has been and will continue to be changed by humanizing it.

Serefino Salas, a broad-shouldered young man hungry for work in the 1960s, came to the United States from Durango, Mexico, in the bracero program. He later sneaked back to work at a Los Angeles laundromat, followed by many years as a racetrack groomer.

Rosie Astorga came shortly after her husband did and worked in the garment industry, while relatives in Mexico cared for Angelica and her sisters Rosa and Nidia.

“My mother’s factory was raided,” says Angelica, who recalls her father searching for help after his wife was deported.

Salas discovered that because his wife had given birth to a son while living in Los Angeles, the child was a citizen and they could all become legalized under a program in place at the time.

Salas became a roofer, Mrs. Salas is a hospital janitor, Rosa is a fifth-grade teacher, Nidia works in production for HBO and Serefino Jr. is a groundskeeper at Dodger Stadium.

http://tinyurl.com/4hgutnl

[algernonpj]

The unemployed who are passed over by legal immigrants are less qualified. That’s what wrong with restricting both.

Not at all true! Importing legal workers is all about 'cheap labor', i.e. labor arbitrage! In the process salaries for all americans are suppressed.

Legal immigrants in the form of guest workers often pay no or little taxes, and effectively are 'cheap pliable labor' who work under conditions akin to indentured servitude.

Again legal immigrant workers often take salaries so low that their employment is subsidized by taxpayers.

Legal immigrants (guest workers and green cards) are frequently 'minorities' who in compliance with affirmative action are hired over native Americans to meet racial quotas.

Then there are those LEGAL immigrants (including anchor babies) who along with their extended families are and plopped onto SSI making full use of the safety net.

[moonshinner_09]

I know she’s right. I know because of the gardener who was shot in the chest on a job in Inglewood and returned the next day because he’d promised the homeowner he’d be done by Christmas.

I don’t quite understand how this guy who was shot in the chest where all the vital organs and blood vessels
are, that by some miracle was able to apply pressure to the wound to prevent blood from gushing out and he was able to do this overnight,he still had the strength & would still be applying pressure to wound, to be able to go onto work the following day.Does not sound plausible to me.if my family were starving in a country with an incompetent and corrupt government. So dispite decade after decade that having more kids then you can afford to support, has not stopped Mexicans to continue on with high birth rates, even as she said families are starving and still everyone thinks its a great idea to go ahead and have kids anyway.

[TXConservative25]

It’s not “labor arbitrage”,; it’s supply and demand. Labor arbitrage would be artificially inflating the wages of underqualified people or giving them the jobs they don’t deserve because you want the government to restrict the competition.

Employment based legal immigration is wholly different from illegal immigration in that legally immigrants who are employed are net contributors to the country.

Changing the playing field to make it easier for underqualified people to get jobs is anti-capitalistic.

(The guest worker plan has not been approved so there is no legal guest worker plan, and we are talking about immigration, not people here on visitor visas, so the anchor babies logic doesn’t follow as these people already have green cards.)

[algernonpj]

First of all, you’ve conveniently redefined the labor arbitrage (importing cheap labor) - nothing to do with quality as you assert.

Secondly, you have completely overlooked the cost of legal immigration, including anchor babies in those instances where brand new immigrants are plopped on SSI, etc along with the extended family.

Thirdly, I’d refer you to the links in my original post about the costs of LEGAL immigration to tax payers but that would be a waste of my time as de-nial is not only a river.

[mcosta79]

Nowhere is it stated, nor does logic imply, that this organization's opposition to high levels of legal immigration is accompanied by deliberate ignorance towards the illegal variety. The article, which I would suggest you read before calling its subjects "idiots," mentions that they object to illegal immigration.

It's possible to aware of one bad thing while focusing one's efforts on combating some other bad thing.

[mcosta79]

Maybe if the unemployed would actually seek employment instead of filing 3 bogus applications every 2 weeks for jobs they’re not qualified for just so they get their unemployment handouts, this wouldn’t be a problem.

If you think the bulk of unemployed Americans are represented by your caricature of them as scam artists, I question your intelligence, sanity, and patriotism. At least produce some data that gets close to supporting your ridiculous generalization.

It’s also a frigging irony that the liberals support restrictions on legal immigration but have no problem with illegal immigration. Liberals have no respect for the rule of law. First, educate yourself by reading my reply to Paul51. Second, explain how opposition to high levels of legal immigration equals, or even implies, liberalism.

[paul51]

I read the article in full and my comment stands. The guy who stands with his finger in the hole in the dike while he is awash with a flood spilling over the top of the dike is an idiot.