The Undocumented and Yucky Jobs
There has got to be a better way to deal with this subject than is presently done. Which basically is to look the other way when law abiding citizens of other countries are often (illegally) coming here because minimum wage or even a bit less, paid under the table, is satisfactory to them, given the alternative of staying put. Because employers know that the law of supply and demand would force them to pay legal workers quite a bit more.
If most people like the results of this type of behavior that would be fine. Except that it is clearly technically illegal. Wouldn't it be better if some laws were passed regarding minimum wage for certain jobs and some kind of lessened requirements to be allowed to live here, for those who take those jobs?
8 Replies
The problem happened slowly and needs to be unwound slowly to avoid price-shock to those affected markets.
We look the other way because to do anything else would be too disruptive. People who cosplay as communists on the internet like to say if businesses can't pay a living wage to their workers, then those businesses shouldn't exist, but I'm not sure they know how deep the rabbit hole goes.
It's not just farm workers and risking strawberries and oranges costing $20/lb. A massive number of illegals work in construction and hospitality.
If your only goal is to increase worker pay to the point where your average citizen is willing to do some shitty or mundane task, then some industries will need to die. The price of food in particular will skyrocket, and a lot of those jobs are awful and seasonal. Bad combo.
If your goal is cheap food and plentiful clean hotel rooms and offices, then maybe we do as you say and lower the requirements to enter the country, tie incoming workers to a sponsoring employer, and hold those employers accountable somehow if the sponsored workers don't behave themselves.
All of this needs to be brought out into the open so we can understand the entire problem and make good choices with complete information. Businesses aren't going to tell on themselves if there's any downside risk whatsoever. I don't knowingly fund any work being done by illegal aliens, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think we probably do. The owner of our primary landscaping subcontractor is in Mexico for his mother's funeral as I write this. I've seen the crews that work for him. I'm not a complete idiot.
Everyone I know is fully supportive of expanded immigration. They just want to know exactly who we're letting in.
Trump once talked about building a big beautiful wall with a big beautiful gate in the middle that he'd open to anyone who wanted to enter legally.
So, maybe he's changed his mind about that, but none of the people in my cohort of deplorables has an issue with immigration as a concept. I don't know anyone who would wear a MAGA hat in public, though, so we're just normies.
No that was the theme of Biden let everyone in . It sure wasn't the policy under Obama
You should have seasonal work visas for all the farm jobs and sponsored immigration for hotels and construction . At worst these workers must receive the federal minimum wage . I have no clue what a illegal makes on a farm or construction or in a hotel now
The current system largely works. It’s largely operated the same for a long time too.
You can add administrative burdens and deplete the economic gain or you can heavily restrict immigration to the same end.
The whole immigration issue has been fabricated to prey on biases and prejudice
No - you're wrong. Here's an article citing parole numbers by Presidency. Fake stats right? LOL
No - you're wrong. Here's an article citing parole numbers by Presidency. Fake stats right? LOL
You posted a link to an article that culminates with "we don't know but our assumption is that the number of illegal immigrants increased under Biden"
Ignoring the speculative nature of their conclusion and the inherent biases of the website, you did literally nothing to debunk what I said, which is that the border wasn't "open" under Biden. The first chart clearly shows many expulsions.
So, No - YOU'RE wrong
