Thread: Homeland security now means jobs

[quote]Homeland security now means jobs
By Cynthia Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, December 14, 2008

If Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano becomes secretary of homeland security next year, she’ll need to scramble to secure the nation’s southern border. Not from terrorists, but from illegal immigrants.

Since the construction industry began hemorrhaging jobs last year, many undocumented workers who helped to build houses, condominiums and office complexes have returned to their native countries. Since they could no longer find work, they left. That’s among the reasons that illegal immigration was barely mentioned in the general election campaign.

But President-elect Barack Obama has promised a vast jobs program that will prove tempting to laborers in neighboring countries. And the surest way to wreck Obama’s economic recovery plans would be to allow illegal immigrants to take the government-funded jobs intended for Americans.
Even without that added controversy, the civic fabric will become increasingly frayed as the economy grows worse. Whenever people feel threatened or insecure, they retreat to tribal alliances —- each ethnic group looking with suspicion on others. That’s a primal instinct likely to produce friction in a country as diverse as this. If that instinct is fueled by the presence of illegal workers, scapegoating will explode into savagery.

As Napolitano works to tighten the borders, she will be swimming against a current that has swept Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans and other immigrants into this country’s labor pool —- a current supercharged by lax border security, cheating employers and, yes, choosy Americans who don’t like manual labor.

Back when the economy was better, many skilled workers —- painters, bricklayers, plumbers —- complained that their jobs were being taken by cheaper laborers. There was undoubtedly some truth to that. Many construction bosses and highway paving contractors were eager to use low-cost laborers who wouldn’t complain about substandard working conditions. That’s why so many of the construction accidents that were frequent during the boom years involved workers with names such as Ramirez and Valdez, men who wouldn’t be likely to complain to federal safety regulators (if they survived).

However, it’s also true that native-born workers have grown accustomed to indoor jobs that don’t require backbreaking labor in frigid cold, pouring rain or hellish heat. While our grandparents and parents accepted whatever jobs they could find —- digging ditches, planting and harvesting crops, painting houses, pushing wheelbarrows —- my generation has believed in an upward mobility that left that sort of work to immigrants.

In December 2006, when construction was still a go-go industry, NBC’s Tom Brokaw interviewed Mark Gould, owner of a small Colorado construction company, for a special report on illegal immigration. Gould told Brokaw that he wanted to hire legally, but he struggled to find enough workers for his growing business.

“We are turning down proposals, requests for proposals, every week because we don’t have the employees,â€

But President-elect Barack Obama has promised a vast jobs program that will prove tempting to laborers in neighboring countries. And the surest way to wreck Obama’s economic recovery plans would be to allow illegal immigrants to take the government-funded jobs intended for Americans.
Even without that added controversy, the civic fabric will become increasingly frayed as the economy grows worse. Whenever people feel threatened or insecure, they retreat to tribal alliances —- each ethnic group looking with suspicion on others. That’s a primal instinct likely to produce friction in a country as diverse as this. If that instinct is fueled by the presence of illegal workers, scapegoating will explode into savagery.

I don't know about savagery, but I can say we have alot of new immigrants, legal and illegal who have not gotten beyond their direct community, as well as those who feel entitled to take what they want, to where the idea of being able to leave your guard down for a second is gone. They had on the news this morning where the homes that have been left because of the ice-storms and no heat are being robbed. We heard the same things of those during hurricanes and tornadoes where if you leave for your own safety, someones right there to clean you out. They had an article in my paper about forclosures and how they have people come and take your belongings and put them on the curb and before you can get a u-haul, the scavangers have picked through your stuff. Right down to a bed ridden old man who had to be removed by putting him in the hospital. Like what chance does he have to keep anything he has? How can he fight or bounce back from anything? For me, this is a stark contrast from the time when I could leave my doors unlocked and my neighbor would fight for my stuff as hard as he would for his own. I don't have an ethnic community....they spent my entire lifetime telling me how bad I was if I wanted that. Mines diverse.........I can no more trust the guy across the street than I can a mob from an ethnic community. Not to mention being older.......many have families strewn across the nation......many work so many hours they don't have the over the fence relationship with the guy next door like they used to. I'm not even so sure the kids even know who all the other kids are in the neighborhood because they don't ride bikes and do things like they used to. I know it's not like this all over.....there are a few pockets where this isn't the case.......but it is the case here and it's frightening. We've already been getting news articles where they are expecting more crime and less police and the response time is poor at best for any call for help.

Originally Posted by crazybird

But President-elect Barack Obama has promised a vast jobs program that will prove tempting to laborers in neighboring countries. And the surest way to wreck Obama’s economic recovery plans would be to allow illegal immigrants to take the government-funded jobs intended for Americans.
Even without that added controversy, the civic fabric will become increasingly frayed as the economy grows worse. Whenever people feel threatened or insecure, they retreat to tribal alliances —- each ethnic group looking with suspicion on others. That’s a primal instinct likely to produce friction in a country as diverse as this. If that instinct is fueled by the presence of illegal workers, scapegoating will explode into savagery.

I don't know about savagery, but I can say we have alot of new immigrants, legal and illegal who have not gotten beyond their direct community, as well as those who feel entitled to take what they want, to where the idea of being able to leave your guard down for a second is gone. They had on the news this morning where the homes that have been left because of the ice-storms and no heat are being robbed. We heard the same things of those during hurricanes and tornadoes where if you leave for your own safety, someones right there to clean you out. They had an article in my paper about forclosures and how they have people come and take your belongings and put them on the curb and before you can get a u-haul, the scavangers have picked through your stuff. Right down to a bed ridden old man who had to be removed by putting him in the hospital. Like what chance does he have to keep anything he has? How can he fight or bounce back from anything? For me, this is a stark contrast from the time when I could leave my doors unlocked and my neighbor would fight for my stuff as hard as he would for his own. I don't have an ethnic community....they spent my entire lifetime telling me how bad I was if I wanted that. Mines diverse.........I can no more trust the guy across the street than I can a mob from an ethnic community. Not to mention being older.......many have families strewn across the nation......many work so many hours they don't have the over the fence relationship with the guy next door like they used to. I'm not even so sure the kids even know who all the other kids are in the neighborhood because they don't ride bikes and do things like they used to. I know it's not like this all over.....there are a few pockets where this isn't the case.......but it is the case here and it's frightening. We've already been getting news articles where they are expecting more crime and less police and the response time is poor at best for any call for help.

I live in an economically depressed area of Ohio and I can't even imagine anyone turning down a job that pays $15 an hour. Not any of the blue collar workers, that is!

Who are these people trying to kid? I know Americans who wait tables, tend bar, clean houses and work for landscaping companies. I come from a long line of proud blue collar workers...we will and do do that work when we're not undbid by people who don't even belong in this nation!!

I pay an American citizen $10.50 a week to pick up the dog poop in my yard. It's cold out - he's still out there scooping. Don't even start with me about jobs Americans won't take.

Crazybird, I've seen this happen. During flood cleanup in my hometown, the town had to have someone with a bullhorn drive through the streets making announcements. "Do not take anything from thrash piles, it's all contaminated, it will make you violently ill." Like HUH?!?!

When asked why they would state something so obvious, we were told it was because the "immigrants" were taking canned food (that had been under flood water for days!)

One of us had to personally sit outside watching stuff dry, to safeguard what we could and the entire property is fenced in!! Coming from a bathroom break, we caught one trying to breaking the lock on the gate so he could steal what he wanted!

They don't do this on garbage day by looking through the trash cans, so the stories you hear about "But I found it in the trash!" and "But you threw it out, you don't want it!" are bogus! They're very savvy and know exactly what they're doing, they like to assume we're stupid.

My mother was in her 80's and was bilingual (unfortunately, she was too old when we came to learn english), she knew every single person who was an illegal alien in town. They were proud to tell her they were illegal and what they were doing to scam money off Americans. She made an about face on immigration after hearing all that.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

I pay an American citizen $10.50 a week to pick up the dog poop in my yard. It's cold out - he's still out there scooping. Don't even start with me about jobs Americans won't take.

Are you hiring Reggie May???

Originally Posted by miguelina

Crazybird, I've seen this happen. During flood cleanup in my hometown, the town had to have someone with a bullhorn drive through the streets making announcements. "Do not take anything from thrash piles, it's all contaminated, it will make you violently ill." Like HUH?!?!

When asked why they would state something so obvious, we were told it was because the "immigrants" were taking canned food (that had been under flood water for days!)

One of us had to personally sit outside watching stuff dry, to safeguard what we could and the entire property is fenced in!! Coming from a bathroom break, we caught one trying to breaking the lock on the gate so he could steal what he wanted!

They don't do this on garbage day by looking through the trash cans, so the stories you hear about "But I found it in the trash!" and "But you threw it out, you don't want it!" are bogus! They're very savvy and know exactly what they're doing, they like to assume we're stupid.

My mother was in her 80's and was bilingual (unfortunately, she was too old when we came to learn english), she knew every single person who was an illegal alien in town. They were proud to tell her they were illegal and what they were doing to scam money off Americans. She made an about face on immigration after hearing all that.

Even after all this time and hearing "it" before, I still find it appalling that they could laugh about biting the hands that feed them. Unbelieveable!!

Originally Posted by crazybird

But President-elect Barack Obama has promised a vast jobs program that will prove tempting to laborers in neighboring countries. And the surest way to wreck Obama’s economic recovery plans would be to allow illegal immigrants to take the government-funded jobs intended for Americans.
Even without that added controversy, the civic fabric will become increasingly frayed as the economy grows worse. Whenever people feel threatened or insecure, they retreat to tribal alliances —- each ethnic group looking with suspicion on others. That’s a primal instinct likely to produce friction in a country as diverse as this. If that instinct is fueled by the presence of illegal workers, scapegoating will explode into savagery.

I don't know about savagery, but I can say we have alot of new immigrants, legal and illegal who have not gotten beyond their direct community, as well as those who feel entitled to take what they want, to where the idea of being able to leave your guard down for a second is gone. They had on the news this morning where the homes that have been left because of the ice-storms and no heat are being robbed. We heard the same things of those during hurricanes and tornadoes where if you leave for your own safety, someones right there to clean you out. They had an article in my paper about forclosures and how they have people come and take your belongings and put them on the curb and before you can get a u-haul, the scavangers have picked through your stuff. Right down to a bed ridden old man who had to be removed by putting him in the hospital. Like what chance does he have to keep anything he has? How can he fight or bounce back from anything? For me, this is a stark contrast from the time when I could leave my doors unlocked and my neighbor would fight for my stuff as hard as he would for his own. I don't have an ethnic community....they spent my entire lifetime telling me how bad I was if I wanted that. Mines diverse.........I can no more trust the guy across the street than I can a mob from an ethnic community. Not to mention being older.......many have families strewn across the nation......many work so many hours they don't have the over the fence relationship with the guy next door like they used to. I'm not even so sure the kids even know who all the other kids are in the neighborhood because they don't ride bikes and do things like they used to. I know it's not like this all over.....there are a few pockets where this isn't the case.......but it is the case here and it's frightening. We've already been getting news articles where they are expecting more crime and less police and the response time is poor at best for any call for help.

I used to do marketing and leasing at a real estate company. Our boss was too cheap to hire people for evictions to move their stuff on the curb, so it was up to the employees like myself to do the moving. EVERY time, the illegals on the construction sites would drive by and want to take the stuff, and it was up to the resident to fend them off. It's bad enough kicking people out of their house, now they have to worry about their stuff getting stolen by illegals. However, all of the people I evicted had enough money for nicer things than me, yet they couldn't pay rent. I had my picture in the Fort Worth Star Telegram moving a HUGE HDTV when a reporter did a story on evictions. The company I worked for was so desperate for money, they started leasing to illegals. They destroy homes, violate just about every HOA rule, and live in a house that they never intended on paying for. They would just squat for a few months until the eviction could be processed. As a result, a year later, I went to work to find the doors locked and apparently out of business. This was one week before Christmas last year.