Illegal immigrants struggle to survive in US
by Henni Espinosa,
ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
Posted at 08/25/2011 4:33 PM
Updated as of 08/25/2011 6:57 PM

SAN FRANCISCO - An undocumented Filipino who arrived in the US in 2007 said it was a struggle to survive.

"Wala akong gaanong kakilala tapos, pangalawa, sa situation mo di mo alam mga dapat mong puntahan saka hindi mo alam anong pwede mong pasukan," said the Pinoy worker.

Through perseverance, he found a job as a caregiver, and has since worked full-time. He disputes the growing sentiment that undocumented immigrants like him take jobs away from Americans.

There are 14 million Americans who are looking for jobs, which are becoming harder to find amid the gloomy US economic climate. There are also 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

“Yung mga trabaho na yan na binabanggit nila hindi naman yan yung papasukan nila," he said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who conducted a town hall meeting on jobs in San Jose, also disagrees that undocumented immigrants take away opportunities from Americans.

"Overall, that is not the case. People who are here without their documents are paying taxes and they are not getting benefits for it. A lot of times, we have immigrants especially in the agriculture sector where you can put as many ads as you want on the paper, but there are no lines of Americans at the door who want to become farm workers," said Lofgren.

Bitoy Logarta is an accountant who has not found a full-time job since 2009. While he does not resent undocumented immigrants, Logarta realizes that not all of them work as farm workers or caregivers. However, some of them work in offices, where he could also find employment.

He said, "We have laws right now. It's just a matter of implementing them. If these laws are not implemented, then they're really taking away jobs from people like me."

Logarta said companies who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants should be penalized.

“They are taking away jobs for legal immigrants or citizens,â€