Thread: Oh No! No more cheap chicken, crab dip and clean bathrooms!

Help wanted
The discussion on immigration has to start with employment
December 18, 2007

Crabmeat.

That's one thing the immigration issue comes down to: Who will pick crabs so we can have she-crab soup and crab dip and viable seafood processing plants in Virginia?

For decades, crab-picking meant a paycheck for people who for whatever reasons, having to do with lack of education or skill or racial equality, didn't have many other options. It can be a difficult job, in conditions that involve cold, dampness, smell, repetitive motions and pressure to produce.

Now it's done by people from other countries. As John Graham III of Hampton-based Graham & Rollins explained in Sunday's Daily Press, processors are concerned about what they'll do if they can't bring in workers from Mexico. He relies on a seasonal guest worker program, a legal path for foreign workers, because few locals want his jobs. But that program is about to expire, a victim of political wrangling and grandstanding over immigration.

What happened to the American workers who used to pick crabs? Butcher our chickens? Roof our buildings? Staff our hospitality industry? Cut our grass?

Why won't they do it any more?

Is it because we have built enough of a safety net — subsidized housing, free medical care, Food Stamps, welfare, school breakfast and lunch programs — that unskilled Americans don't have to do unappealing jobs in order to feed themselves and their families?

But those jobs have appeal — to illegal immigrants. They don't come to sponge off America — they're barred from getting those social benefits American citizens can claim — but to take jobs that need to be done.

The solution to illegal immigration can't be found just in fences and detention centers and heavy-handed law enforcement. It has to address the fact that people come here because there are jobs to be done and money to be made, and the lure of those jobs is strong enough to overcome the (slight) chance of detection and deportation. It has to address the fact that factories, businesses and service industries depend on foreign workers, legal or not. A national solution that doesn't make provisions for a work force for them won't succeed.

Unless we're willing to give up houses we can afford and clean bathrooms in our hotel rooms and cheap chicken nuggets. And crab dip.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/ ... 2707.story

Quote-
What happened to the American workers who used to pick crabs? Butcher our chickens? Roof our buildings? Staff our hospitality industry? Cut our grass?

Why won't they do it any more?

Is it because we have built enough of a safety net — subsidized housing, free medical care, Food Stamps, welfare, school breakfast and lunch programs — that unskilled Americans don't have to do unappealing jobs in order to feed themselves and their families?

TOTAL BS! MOST AMERICANS I KNOW ARE TOO PROUD TO TAKE GOV'T HANDOUTS AND WOULD BE HAPPY TO TAKE THESE JOBS(AND HAVE DONE SO PREVIOUSLY).
ALSO-WHEN WAS THERE A TIME THAT THESE JOBS WERE SO UNDERSTAFFED??DOES ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THERE WAS NEVER A LULL IN THESE JOBS-THE AMERICANS JUST GOT REPLACED IS ALL.
FROM WHAT I'VE BEEN HEARING THESE EMPLOYERS ARE MAKING MONEY ON BOTH ENDS BY PAYING SLAVE WAGES AND PROVIDING ROOM AND BOARD FOR THEIR IAS-FOR A FEE,OF COURSE.

But those jobs have appeal — to illegal immigrants. They don't come to sponge off America — they're barred from getting those social benefits American citizens can claim — but to take jobs that need to be done.

THEY DON'T COME TO SPONGE OFF AMERICANS!? RIIGGHHTT.MAYBE THE WRITER OF THIS WONDERFUL PIECE OF PROPAGANDA LITERATURE COULD TAKE A MINUTE TO REMEMBER WE BECAME THE WORLD SUPERPOWER WITHOUT IAS AND IF THE IAS ARE SO GREAT,HARDWORKING AND BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY-WHY DON'T THEIR HOMECOUNTRIES REFLECT THEIR OBVIOUS GREATNESS???
Rawhide!

What this writer so plainly omits is that the IA's also can't do this job w/o the safety net of free public education for their kids (k-12), free breakfast and lunches for their kids (K-12), free public health services, and many, many other freebies provided by state, county and local organizations and public entities. Did he interview any of the workers? How about ask them...where do they go when they get sick? Where do their children go to school? Does their employer pay for their health insurance if not, then how do THEY pay for it? (we all know the answer to that one). Let's not forget that every anchor baby qualifies for a plethora of lifetime welfare benefits including WIC that the mamacitas immediately register for upon giving birth.

But those jobs have appeal — to illegal immigrants. They don't come to sponge off America — they're barred from getting those social benefits American citizens can claim — but to take jobs that need to be done.

This is more BS. They take these jobs off the books and get social benefits (welfare) to boot! Come into the real world and see whats really going on! The money their making is probably going back to their homeland while we're paying their 'SOCIAL BENEFITS"

That's one thing the immigration issue comes down to: Who will pick crabs so we can have she-crab soup and crab dip and viable seafood processing plants in Virginia?

I just know Senator Mikulski (the crab picking illegal alien's best friend) will make sure that there will be an overload of new seasonal (ha!) guest workers (ha!) to pick our crabs.

Who wrote this piece of stuff?

While I don't eat crab, I was able to afford chicken, milk and fresh veggies back when Americans were doing the jobs. Now chicken is not a great bargain, but if I wanted (which I don't) I could afford it. Milk is between $5 and $5.50 a gallon here. Fresh veggies - that's a laugh -

So where exactly is all this 'cheap' food we hear about.

Back when Americans cleaned the motels, I wasn't afraid to stay in one. Unless I am forced to do so, I don't. I haul my travel trailer everywhere I possibly can.

When I do stay in motels, I take my own bedding, pillow, a can of Lysol, and make sure my feet never touch the floor.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Who wrote this piece of stuff?

While I don't eat crab, I was able to afford chicken, milk and fresh veggies back when Americans were doing the jobs. Now chicken is not a great bargain, but if I wanted (which I don't) I could afford it. Milk is between $5 and $5.50 a gallon here. Fresh veggies - that's a laugh -

So where exactly is all this 'cheap' food we hear about.

Back when Americans cleaned the motels, I wasn't afraid to stay in one. Unless I am forced to do so, I don't. I haul my travel trailer everywhere I possibly can.

When I do stay in motels, I take my own bedding, pillow, a can of Lysol, and make sure my feet never touch the floor.

... but NOW there is a rise in the BED BUG problem. So, that is a problem all of it's own... if by chance the hotel or motel you are staying in gets infested with them. Guess people will have to start checking the mattress's!!!! Can't use the glasses they provide either, since they use dirty towels, etc. to wipe them out!!! instead of washing them!!!
Since they have replaced Americans with illegals... who can feel safe?? Hotels, Motels, resturants? Even construction work on homes are showing shoddy jobs being done!!

JAK All true -

The houses really bother me. There was a story of a housing development that some of the houses just collapsed.

You know if a builder will hire illegals to build homes, they will not be shy about cutting corners in other ways also.

When I think of the prices people paid for some of these thrown together houses that have been built in the last 2 or 3 years, I truly feel sorry for them.

My son was having a home built, couldn't be in town to check on it. When it was 90% completed, he realized it was a disaster. Windows were not straight in the wall,\ - the cabinets, window and sink were not in the right place in the kitchen - the deck swayed - big gaps in the sub floor, just awful.

He had it inspected and the inspector said it would take $20K just to fix what he could see without taking into consideration the problems there might be with plumbing or electrical work.

He refused the house. They made one attempt to frighten him into taking it - just one.