Posted on 03/10/2015 8:08:01 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Illegal immigration has long plagued American craftsman and has far-reaching implications that communities and federal, state and local governments have yet to realize, according to those who have worked in the construction industry.
“If you wait 20 years, you’re going to see what happens to all of these houses and buildings,” said Kevin Larsen, a veteran brick mason with 33 years of experience.
Larsen left his trade several years ago and now works at a railroad yard. He applauds the federal judge’s Feb. 16 decision to halt President Barack Obama’s executive order that protects as many as five million immigrants crossing the border illegally from deportation.
Larsen said the federal government should have taken tougher stance years ago. He is dismayed at the Obama administration’s reaction of continuing to prepare to accommodate the undocumented immigrants and the Department of Justice appealing the federal court’s order.
“If you’re illegal, it’s easy for you to hide everything because nothing is questioned by the administration or questioned by the government,” he said.
Meanwhile, millions have lost good jobs.
“I knew if I didn’t leave when I did that I wouldn’t be able to work at all,” Larsen said.
The former bricklayer said he recently talked with a long-time friend in New Orleans. His friend’s family owned the largest masonry company in the city. The company went out of business and his friend, who has 30 years’ experience, hasn’t worked in a year.
“He can’t get work. He is down to where all he has is electricity in his house. He had to sell his truck to pay the taxes on his house,” Larsen said.
According to Larsen, problems in New Orleans began after a large Hispanic population settled in the city after Hurricane Katrina. Hispanic workers, who had no experience in construction or brick masonry, began taking all the work and agreeing to work for as little as $5 an hour. No legitimate company could compete, especially on larger projects that require larger crews, he said.
Larsen said the same scenario is playing out in major cities across the country. In Atlanta, where he worked in construction, contractors started hiring no one but undocumented immigrants.
He said he was turned away from two jobs, a museum and a baseball stadium, with the foreman telling him they would only hire only Hispanic workers.
E-verify laws have done little to relieve the situation, he said. Construction companies have figured a way around them.
Larsen said an undocumented worker gives the contractor bogus identification, Social Security number and other papers. The employer sends it through E-verify, which gives the employer 90 days to work the employee before a decision is made.
When the E-verify is declined, the employer tells the undocumented worker to get proper papers to continue to work. Larsen said the worker buys more bogus papers and turns them in and the 90-day cycle begins again. He said this goes on indefinitely.
Larsen said contractors are starting to suffer as much as craftsmen now because illegal immigrants are figuring out ways to become the contractor instead of just maintaining worker jobs.
“If they have a brother or a cousin who is legal, they put the business in his name,” Larsen said.
He said contractors’ greed is now returning to hurt their livelihoods.
“They all thought they were going to get rich by hiring all the illegals. It’s biting them in the butt because the illegals are becoming contractors and now they can’t find work,” Larsen said.
He said buildings, which include many public buildings like schools and government administrative offices, built back in the 1980s and 1990s are already starting to deteriorate because the undocumented workers didn’t perform their jobs to fulfill basic standards.
Many of those flaws went undetected because of lax state laws regarding inspections.
One problem surfacing is the lack of wall ties, which affix bricks to the construction wall. All the bricks on Atlanta’s Olympic Village had to be replaced because of construction flaw, Larsen said.
Local governments owning these substandard buildings will end up paying for significant repairs, which will then fall on taxpayers, he said.
He attributes construction flaws to a lack of training and experience. Most undocumented workers have no knowledge of craftsman trades like brick masonry, carpentry, and drywall, he said.
“Brick laying is a craft. It’s an art. It’s not something you can teach someone in a short period of time. It’s a trade. You have to learn that trade,” he said.
Perfect thread to post my new tagline
Bring back the draft and see how long they stay here.
*
I’ve been trying to tell people about this for 40 years.
Mexico looks like Mexico, because they don’t know how to do anything, and they don’t care, now our sheetrock, tile work, masonry, landscaping, roofing, everything is done poorly.
Americans hire the unskilled and praise them to the hilt as hard workers, and I have never seen a Mexican yet that will say “I don’t know how” to whatever is offered him.
They just don’t care, they will do electrical, plumbing, machine work, carpentry, without a clue of what they are doing, as long as they get paid for it.
I’ve been saying this for years. The good contractors have been run out of business, and now the leaches are being killed off one at a time. We are going to be left with a country that has substandard buildings and people are going to be hurt.
Under obamacare, the doctor shortage has already started. Maybe Obama will pronounce them as doctors, if they will swear that they know how to do it.
My friend, Dale Reed knows a thing or two on the subject and he definitely has an opinion about contractors that hire criminal Mexicans.
I am pinging him to this thread.
Absolutely.
ALL of the homes built here in Texas are exactly as you described. The prices keep going up and up for sub-standard homes that anywhere else wouldn’t pass muster.
And that favorite other third World response that indicates you are in trouble:
“No Problem.”
make it harsh, very harsh for these fly-by-night contractors.
> I’ve been saying this for years. The good contractors have been run out of business, and now the leaches are being killed off one at a time. We are going to be left with a country that has substandard buildings and people are going to be hurt.
Ever viisted Juarez? That’s a good example of how the U.S will look here in about 10 - 15 years at this rate...
How many of those guys work when they can get hooked up with all of the benefits under the sun anyway.
I ran volunteer roofing crews after Katrina.
I asked a State Farm inspector why they were paying claims on incorrectly installed roofing. His reply was that it was bad PR to reject claims.
I stood in the road and pointed to house after house that had lost shingles because they installed the shingle with 3 nails and not four on every other course. You could clearly see this because you had strips going straight up the roof were every other course was missing a tab.
on one roof I counted 127 missing tabs that had broke off in the wind. Of the 127 only two had failed because of the high winds. That was 125 that failed because of incorrect installation.
Some thing to think about when you hire unskilled labor. Nearly 100% of the roofers that this area had were illegals. Sure they were fast but that speed came with substandard workmanship.
I worked next to a 3 man illegal crew on the same roof in Iowa. In the same amount of time I laid 9 2/3 squares to their 17 for all three. Seems I had slowed them down by insisting on doing the work correctly. Soon after I quit working for that guy and left.
Everybody loves illegal labor, until it’s their jobs that are taken away.
Wow, you really believe that they (legalized or not) have or ever will register as the law requires?
Some are already predicting the Mother of All Freeloader Invasions this summer. More low life bastards to be “offended” by American history, the English language and the American flag. Thanks Kenyan Boy!
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