http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinio ... ws-letters

Americans can do labor once more

Alexandria Ostrowski
DELRAY BEACH
May 20, 2005

I enjoy Thomas Sowell's columns very much and agree with him almost all the time. His article on May 6 was about "illegals in America taking jobs away from Americans and those who say we need them to do the work Americans will not do." He ended by saying, "Americans worked as laborers before there were undocumented workers to do the work and they can do it again."

Well, I'm not so sure. I can remember after World War II and for decades after, the mantra, "Go to college, get a degree and you won't have to labor like your parents did on the farm, in coal mines, in factories, as maids, servants, construction workers, road and bridge builders, gardeners, painters, etc., all kinds of manual labor you won't have to do if you have that degree."

Well, they went to college, more and more every year, by the millions. It is true, they don't want to labor when they finish. So who will do these jobs? We created the problem we have now by wanting better for the next generation and the next. They say that this generation, now, is the first that won't do as well as their parents. Thousands can't find a job upon finishing college and take almost anything. My husband had a job waiting for him in 1957 when he received his electrical engineering degree; his father worked in a factory.

I'm opposed to illegals coming into the country. My parents came here legally, as part of a quota. There were social services or food stamps to help when there were no jobs during the Depression. I resent the illegals coming here to birth their babies, use the hospital emergency rooms for free, and work for less than other U.S. citizens. A recent article says the administration will start paying hospitals $1 billion for emergency care of illegals. We'll have twice as many coming when this word gets around.

Since the government is not providing enough personnel to guard the borders, we need thousands more helping those unarmed "vigilantes" who started watching the borders. We need the militia doing this. Why are so many people against this?

You know, we took over the land that belonged to Mexico in the Southwest and California starting from the 1830s on. Well, they are taking it back and even more, and without fighting a war for it.