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[sparkle_motion]

Today is the big walk-out for hispanic americans. Is anyone noticing a difference at your jobs? My good friend works in the HR department of a large, mostly hispanic company and he said they are having MANY people not come into work. The company is not going to punish them, which I think is fair.

[RouxB]

I'm not supposed to be here today in solidarity but I'm waiting for a guest and can't leave til she gets here. Not too many people in my office are boycotting-sad because immigration is a huge issue here.

 

[delalluvia]

Yeah, I read about that.  The walkout had zero affect on my job or my clients or the offices in government that we deal with.

I thought it might when I went out to lunch, since the news articles talked about restaurants closing down, but apparently there are plenty of Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants who chose to go to work.  I had no problem at the malls or at a restaurant.

Immigration is a big issue here, too, but many of the legal immigrants are pretty incensed at the illegal immigrants and not sympathetic.

[JennyC]

Immigration is a big issue here, too, but many of the legal immigrants are pretty incensed at the illegal immigrants and not sympathetic.

I agree with Del.  I, myself, is a legal immigrant here.  I won't say that I am not sympathetic to illegal immigrants, but my view on the issue is different from the people who rally today.

I support tightening boarder control and other ways to crack down illegal immigrants.  The word “illegal” is used for the simple fact that there are legal ways to come here, and if you don’t go through that process, then it’s illegal.  Of course, there are many other reasons why boarder control is for anyone’s benefit.  The pressure should also be put on the employers who hire illegal immigrants as they are a very important part of the enforcement effort.

It’s undeniable that there are huge labor needs in US market that can’t be satisfied domestically.  There are jobs that people here normally do not want to take or won’t take for the pay they offer.  To simply deny the needs is just being an ostrich burying your head in the sand.  Washington needs to get their acts together to provide ways for people to come here legally to fulfill those vacancies.  Unless they make some drastic reform/change in the immigration process, currently there is no way they can handle the workload from the proposed “Guess Worker” program. The whole immigration process was so under funded and short staffed; to say it’s a mess is an understatement.

The illegal immigrants put a lot of pressure on the education and healthcare systems.  So the cheap labor you get from immigrants is not so cheap after all.  IMO, the employers who hire immigrants, particularly in the low paying jobs should share part of the burden, this burden in turn will be shouldered by the end consumers and society as we will see price rise for some services/goods.  It may not be a bad thing since it’s probably more fair in terms of how their work should be valued after all. 

[delalluvia]

Immigration is a big issue here, too, but many of the legal immigrants are pretty incensed at the illegal immigrants and not sympathetic.

I agree with Del.  I, myself, is a legal immigrant here.  I won't say that I am not sympathetic to illegal immigrants, but my view on the issue is different from the people who rally today.

I support tightening boarder control and other ways to crack down illegal immigrants.  The word “illegal” is used for the simple fact that there are legal ways to come here, and if you don’t go through that process, then it’s illegal.  Of course, there are many other reasons why boarder control is for anyone’s benefit.  The pressure should also be put on the employers who hire illegal immigrants as they are a very important part of the enforcement effort.

It’s undeniable that there are huge labor needs in US market that can’t be satisfied domestically.  There are jobs that people here normally do not want to take or won’t take for the pay they offer.  To simply deny the needs is just being an ostrich burying your head in the sand.  Washington needs to get their acts together to provide ways for people to come here legally to fulfill those vacancies.  Unless they make some drastic reform/change in the immigration process, currently there is no way they can handle the workload from the proposed “Guess Worker” program. The whole immigration process was so under funded and short staffed; to say it’s a mess is an understatement.

The illegal immigrants put a lot of pressure on the education and healthcare systems.  So the cheap labor you get from immigrants is not so cheap after all.  IMO, the employers who hire immigrants, particularly in the low paying jobs should share part of the burden, this burden in turn will be shouldered by the end consumers and society as we will see price rise for some services/goods.  It may not be a bad thing since it’s probably more fair in terms of how their work should be valued after all. 

Well said Jenny.  My great-grand parents were legal immigrants.  Due to the influx of illegal immigrants, I've seen my parents neighborhood housing values fall through the floor, it become dangerous to go out at night or to even park your car in front of their house.  Me and my family have been blockaded in our own driveway, unable to get out because our illegal neighbors were unaware that it was bad form to block your neighbor's driveway.   I've been in two car wrecks with illegal immigrants.  One carload of young Hispanic men hit and run leaving me and my bashed car stranded on the road, the other gave me false insurance papers, another carload totalled my mother's car - a 15 year old was dirving, without a license and without insurance.  My neighborhood was quite a place growing up.  Despite city ordinances against it, we had goats and chickens and a whole yard full of fighting roosters in our neighborhood, courtesy of our illegal immigrant neighbors. 

The local public school system has been overloaded and burdened with children who do not speak the language, the local city ordinance enforcement officers and social services play peek-a-boo with abusive or neglectful parents who do not supervise their children, nor force them to come to school, yet when social services or truant agencies show up, they do not open their doors or when cited, simply move. The local community hospital failed and had to be propped up with additional funding - read taxes of legal immigrants and actual citizens - due to the overwhelming flood of illegal immigrant needs...

There are plenty of illegal immigrants, I'm sure, who simply want to come to the U.S. to improve their status in life and take advantage of the opportunities to better themselves.  However, there are just as many who are here for the social services they cannot get at home and the quick pay and do nothing to be good neighbors or good citizens.

All the above are true experiences of me and my family and needless to say, we are not sympathetic in the least.

[littledarlin]

it really affected my workplace, and all around, traffic was light.  i didn't buy anything today in solidarity.

i agree with several of the sentiments made on this thread, but what people need to realize is that it comes down to racism.  we need to do everything we can to help illegal immigrants become legal, if anything, to help them with healthcare, education, getting fair wages, etc.  this nonense of sending people back for a few years (knowing full well most would not be able to come back) is bs.

i don't think people realize that it is not only mexicans who can be illegal, but people from all over the world.  they wouldn't think twice about deporting a polish person, or an irish person, but if they're from mexico, or the middle east, or india, or africa then they're evil leeches bent on stealing our jobs.  it's those non-white illegal immigrants they're worried about, and not for their safety or well-being, just their old fashioned prejudices.  people can be very ignorant.

deportation is not the answer.  and how quickly we forget how many of us were immigrants in this country.

[starboardlight]

to me the whole debate over immigration is a red herring. politician stirring the bee's nest for the sake of political gain. I agree with littledarling that there is an exploitation of subtle racist sentiments. When we talk about illegal immigrants we all know what kind of illegal immigrants everyone think of. We talk about border control, but which one? the Mexican border. We don't talk about the illegal immigrants coming in from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. Living in LA, I've actually met quite a few from Canada and Australia. But no one's bothered by these illegal immigrants. Though we don't think of non-Mexican immigrants, they put as much strain on our resources, in terms of uninsured health costs along with other demands on public services.

that's not what bothers me, however. To me as an econ major graduate, I just don't see how any thing that's being debated in the Congress will actually solve the problem. If they were serious, there needs to be approaches to the situation on both sides of the border. Our leader needs to get into negotiations with the leaders in Mexico to find solutions on both sides. I see the whole thing, right now, as just saber rattling to rally the party faithfuls for the up coming mid term election, on both sides.

[JennyC]

I don’t think I am in much disagreement with Andrew or Starboard here.  I am a Chinese, so when I talk about illegal immigrants, I don’t just mean Mexican or Latino.  There are probably more illegal immigrants from Mexico than from Asia, but essentially people take the same risk or more risk to illegally enter US, just like in the movie “Crash”.  Discrimination comes in many different ways; people are discriminated by class, by race, by sex orientation, by religion, by culture, etc.   Some discrimination are blunt, many are more subtle.  Just because I have a decent job, can speak English, does not mean that I don’t feel being discriminated from time to time.

I don’t support the deportation of illegal immigrants here in US already that are contributing members of the society.  To simply put, the US economy can not afford that and it’s inhumane to send people who have already built their life and family here back to their home country.  For those people, the government should provide a roadmap for them to become legal residents or citizens given if they satisfy certain criteria.  It’s not an amnesty and those people should not get ahead of other people who come here legally and are already in the process. How can the administration handle the volume once a plan is put forward, that’s the big question I have. At the same time, you need to tighten the boarder control (not just US-Mexico border, but all borders by land, by sea, and by air) to reduce more illegal immigrants from coming. 

I don’t think the illegal immigrants issue is a republican vs. democrat issue.  They may use the issue to play politics for mid term, but essentially it’s the same issue both need to face and neither have a good solution for it.

[delalluvia]

I don’t think I am in much disagreement with Andrew or Starboard here.  I am a Chinese, so when I talk about illegal immigrants, I don’t just mean Mexican or Latino.  There are probably more illegal immigrants from Mexico than from Asia, but essentially people take the same risk or more risk to illegally enter US, just like in the movie “Crash”.  Discrimination comes in many different ways; people are discriminated by class, by race, by sex orientation, by religion, by culture, etc.   Some discrimination are blunt, many are more subtle.  Just because I have a decent job, can speak English, does not mean that I don’t feel being discriminated from time to time.

Agree.  The bulk of my experience is with illegal Mexican immigrants because they are the most numerous, but there are also other illegal immigrants that have also impacted our lives.

I don’t support the deportation of illegal immigrants here in US already that are contributing members of the society.  To simply put, the US economy can not afford that and it’s inhumane to send people who have already built their life and family here back to their home country.  For those people, the government should provide a roadmap for them to become legal residents or citizens given if they satisfy certain criteria.  It’s not an amnesty and those people should not get ahead of other people who come here legally and are already in the process. How can the administration handle the volume once a plan is put forward, that’s the big question I have. At the same time, you need to tighten the boarder control (not just US-Mexico boarder, but all boarders by land, by sea, and by air) to reduce more illegal immigrants from coming.

Agree.  It's not that we're forgetting we're a nation of immigrants.  It's just that we haven't forgotten that the majority of historical immigration was legal. 

I don’t think the illegal immigrants issue is a republican vs. democrat issue.  They may use the issue to play politics for mid term, but essentially it’s the same issue both need to face and neither have a good solution for it.

Agree.  The illegal immigrant issue is a serious issue that has always needed to be dealt with simply on the economic problems it causes, now, with threats of terrrorism, the vulnerability of our extensive border areas in the U.S. is even more glaring and the lack of followup on green-card/student visa violations was made all too evident on 9/11.

[littledarlin]

you're so right starboard.  the immigration issue came out of nowhere.  it was to be used as a distraction from other pressing issues, as the administration often does, but it backfired.  i can't imagine they were expecting the response they got yesterday.

and jenny, immigration is definitely not a democrat vs republican issue, but people try to turn it into one.  you're absolutely right though, we need to secure all the borders.  it just kills me that bush can let the UAE control our ports, but the real problem is people coming over here from mexico who want a better life for their families?  yeah.. ok..  that's why it isn't about security, or wanting to help illegals become legal.  it's veiled racism.  we have the biggest debt in history, we're in an unjustified war, and i can't even start the list because there are so many things, and this is their solution?  making people leave their families, their jobs, their friends, their LIFE?  argh!!!