I've had it.

[BeerSwillr]

I've had it with illegal aliens, illegal immigration, and the complicit attitude of US immigration policy!

My 16 year old has been looking for a summer job for the last 3 months, what he's found has been surprising. Not only are there no summer jobs available, there are no jobs available, period, for someone with no experience.

So you say he's not looking hard enough? That the jobs are there, you just have to find them. HA!

All the entry level, low skill jobs that would normally be taken by teenagers and young adults during the summer are being taken by illegal immigrants, at least here in Texas. The few places that don't hire illegals have to contend with 10 or more applicants for each open position.

So who is this hurting you ask? Just a few teenagers who will be back in school in a couple of months? Just a few teenagers that will contribute little to the overall economic picture? WRONG!

You know the answer. It's hurting everyone. Teenagers would spend almost every penny they earned, contributing immensely to the overall economic health of the US. They would be in the malls, movie theaters, and restaurants spending their hard earned pay, leaving their parents free to spend their money on something else.

The illegal aliens? They used to maintain a low profile. Now, they don't bother. They can be seen everywhere; mowing lawns, planting trees, roofing & framing houses, working at the lube shack, pouring concrete, gathering at several official and unofficial day worker hang-outs in the mornings (when it would be extremely easy for immigration to swoop in and arrest them.)

Where you don't and won't see them is out spending their money (except for at Wal-Mart.) You don't see them at Bennigans, Chilis, Tony Romas, Cinemark, the mall, car dealerships, etc.

Know why?

They don't have any money to spend on the US economy because they're sending everything except a small subsistence back to Mexico.

The illegals are not here to help us or the US economy. Anyone that says they are here to take jobs that US citizens don't want is being disingenuous.

They're siphoning off millions of dollars a year from the economy. Not only by taking jobs, but a host of other ways; education benefits, medical assistance, government assistance, thievery, robbery, drug dealing, you name it, they're involved in it.

And what is the Department of Homeland Security™ doing about this? They're putting on a dog and pony show.

They're outlining major new methods of monitoring ports of entry, airports, etc. with biometrics, fingerprinting, radar, facial recognition technology, and who knows what else, while at the same time doing nothing to monitor thousands of miles of open space where, apparently, it is relatively easy to cross into the US.

It seems to me that simple reconnaissance flights over that vast unmonitored territory would be able to identify these border violations and put a stop to, or at least slow, this illegal invasion of our country.

The Department of Homeland Security™ is largely ignoring the issue. Illegal entry into the US continues unabated across our borders.

It makes me sick.

What can we do about it? Other than mew weakly and post articles like this on the large wasteland that is the internet?

Contact your elected officials and let them know what you're thinking. Let them know you will hold them accountable. It's all in our hands.

http://www.senate.gov/

http://www.house.gov/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

[WRhine]

They're siphoning off millions Billions of dollars a year from the economy.

[Gritty]

The Democrat Candidates are missing the boat.

If any of them came out and swore to immediately stop this problem of illegal immigration, he would win the Presidency in a landslide!

Of course, he would first have to win the Nomination, which is unlikely.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Contact your elected officials and let them know what you're thinking. Let them know you will hold them accountable. It's all in our hands.

Unfortunatley, it's our own government that is sponsoring and encouraging this nationwide lawlessness. Going to them for help is like asking criminals to help fight crime.

[2right]

If a the kid is healthy, can walk and can't find anything else mowing lawns is the way to go. I grew up in the country and there was plenty of opportunity for me to mow lawns. I started in the 7th grade and did it past college graduation when the job market was tight. After several years of working for the same people I did painting, driveway sealing, automobile detailing and house sitting. I chaparoned 3 children on their trip back to Rome to live with there mother and stayed there for two weeks. I house sat the summer of my junior year in college in $250,000 house. Being a self employed kid is more than just pushing the lawn mower. It teaches you responsibility, pride in a job well done, satisfaction that you are making more money than your peers do, identifying people who respect what you do and how you do it and above all identifying the cheap skates who are out to take advantage of you.

[Trust but Verify]

This is the post I was referring to with my post:

I live in an area affected quite heavily by illegal immigrants but my children have had no problems locating jobs ... the only problems are things like dealing with their idiot supervisors who won't let them claim "exempt" for their taxes.

The poster was implying that his kids can find jobs but their 'idiot' supervisors would not let them claim they're exempt from taxes.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Well i'm not sure where you're at, i'm assuming that we are talking about the same type of Agricultural breaking your back work.

I'm in upstate NY near the Canadian border, and we have literally hundreds of dairy farms and orchard fields. The kids work on them, mostly rural who are used to farm work anyway, but it's getting done without illegal Mexican labor.

What I'd like to see is more of an attempt to mechanize farms as much as possible, Studies have shown that could cut down on as much as 35-50% of the intense labor needed on farms. I'd be willing to pay taxes to help farmers in that respect, it's cheaper than subsidizing millions of illegals and their endless social needs.

[Mr. Mojo]

My 16 year old has been looking for a summer job for the last 3 months, what he's found has been surprising. Not only are there no summer jobs available, there are no jobs available, period, for someone with no experience.

It's amazing that some people - not you, obviously - defend illegals by saying that "they take jobs no one else will do." It's complete bullsh/t, of course. But the sheeple will believe almost anything, if repeated often enough.

[ndafill]

It's the same in Arizona. We have serious problems here.

[BeerSwillr]

It may be a quandry for politicians, but it's not for me.

I'd love to send them all packing back south or where ever they come from.

The most important thing to do now is to stop people from illegally entering the US. We need to do that first, then worry about what to do with the ones that are already here.

[Trust but Verify]

Both places were in upscale suburban neighborhoods.

More than likely the owner couldn't find any 'local' teenagers willing to work because mommy and daddy give them money to go to the mall, so why work? I know that's the way it is in my area. Believe me, there are way more teenagers who have no intention of working anywhere, let alone a disgusting fast-food outlet. They are a bunch of spoiled rotten brats who sleep until mid afteroon and run all night.

Not mine, though.

[45Auto]

The illegal alien problem is all about money. There is no will whatsoever in the Congress nor in the executive branch to do anything about it, other than supply water and survival kits to those entering the country illegally, or to simply grant amnesty and hope the problem will go away. Hell, the government is more intent on prosecuting those Americans who make up small bands of armed civilians trying to stop the flow.

Agribusiness and to a lessor extent other business interests benefit greatly from having a workforce for which they do not have to pay any of the usual benefits that American citizens get. They do not have to pay social security, nor do they need an extensive accounting system for income tax witholding, medicare payments, etc, etc. The result is that the costs of these benefits (like healthcare) are simply passed on the the taxpayers. The powerful business interests lobby Congress and grease the palms of the high and mighty in the Senate to make sure that nothing is done about closing the borders. The latter could be implemented in a short period of time if there was a will to do it, which there isn't. Its going to take a major disease epidemic with a proven link to undocumented border jumpers, or a major terrorist act committed by foreign agents who crossed the southern border undetected. Until then, we are SOL.

[Joe Hadenuf]

will vote 3rd party in next election. i don't care who wins anymore.

That's exactly what it's going to take. This better of two evils crap is a farce. It's a two headed snake, either die quick or die a little slower is no choice! It's my opinion that the two party cartel and the corporations that support them are all really one in the same, as they obviously don't give a damn any longer about the direction America is headed...

[Beck_isright]

"They're not exempt from taxes."

If they are paid in cash, they are. They do not exist on a government computer database so they can live without their knowledge for years.

[tame]

I've had it, too. Carry on:-)

[Flyer]

Anyone that doesn't agree with you hasn't experienced the third world conditions growing in many cities. Houston has large pockets of illegals that have no desire to assimilate. They don't want to become American, they want to bring Mexico here.

Hiring illegals drives down wages for all of us and sends billions of dollars out of the country.

[Consort]

We need to do that first, then worry about what to do with the ones that are already here.

Under that scenario, if the first one doesn't get done, then the second one won't even be addressed and everything gets worse. Maybe we had better look at both problems.

[HELLRAISER II]

Please don't mistake what I've said as being for illegal migrant workers, i'm not. All I can speak for is the attitudes of the teens & labor force here and they won't get out there and pick tobacco & bale straw in 100 degree temperatures all day long.

[EBUCK]

I understand your frustration and I don't disagree with what you say, however in the business's defense I'd have to say that the Mexican's (illegal aliens) usually only get the jobs that Americans don't want. For instance in S.E. Georgia the Mexicans do most of the Blueberry hand picking, Onion planting and harvesting & Pinestraw baling. Trust me when I tell you that the High School kids and most Americans won't do this type of labor work anymore.

I picked strawberries, blueberries, garlic and the like while a kid......farmers would advertise in the paper every spring to get ready for the season. Not anymore though....all those positions are filled by ILLEGAL LABOR and I'm sure that more than one skateboard shop, movie theater etc.. will suffer for lack of my kids dollars.

[new cruelty]

SENSELESS WAXING OVER THE WORD 'IT'

Just to be clear, to what does the word 'It' refer in the sentence: 'It has been going on since the beginning of time' ?

Does the word 'It' refer to man's rush to blame others first or does the word 'It' refer to mass immigration / invasion?

In either case, ACAC is correct, Joe. History books are replete with events such as this, though perhaps not direct through references to your description of this 'epic, titanic invasion of literally millions of illegals that are pouring into America'. However, ACAC's use of the word 'It' does not suggest that since the beginning of time there has been a titanic invasion of millions pouring into America. ACAC seems to suggest that either man has been blaming others before blaming himself since the beginning of time or since the beginning of time, economics has held sway over the migration of civilization.

That said, I agree, this is a crisis, but it is nothing new.