Thread: Housing Slump Take a Toll on Illegal Immigrants (sob)

From: The New York TimesApril 17, 2007
Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Immigrants
By EDUARDO PORTER
HURON, Calif. — Some of the casualties of America’s housing bust are easy to spot up and down California’s Central Valley.

From Fresno to Sacramento, big tangles of wire and PVC pipes clutter vacant lots in silent subdivisions, waiting for houses to be built — some day. Dozens of “For Saleâ€

No wonder so many people have so many problems with their new homes.

Who is licensing these illegals for jobs such as electrical, etc.
Who is educating them in the laws pertaining the construction of homes and commercial enterprises?

At $25. an hour this one guy can afford a mortgage in the US, and build a home in Mexico? All this as an illegal. Absolutely amazing.

How come legal citizens can't afford to do this?

Are we at Third World Status yet???????

The sad part is a lot of my family were in building and they too have problems finding jobs . They always had the good life making good money, now they have to travel just to keep their assets .

They have been complaining about illgals for years now .

We need to cut off all welfare and we will have plenty of farm workers .

I know that when the whites lost their homes in the dust bowl days they went to work as share croppers and ditch diggers . No welfare . It was a hard life for them but they made it and kept america fed .

take the tv's and other entertainment out of the prisons and ring back chain gangs for those who won't work and take care of their kids . Stop the welfare nation and the pimps who get rich off it in Washington .

I know I don't have all the necessary statistics--and with such a huge underground economy how could you?--but I have concluded that the dangerous monetary policy of the last several years has indeed succeeded in stimulating the US economy----and provided incredible employment opportunities for illegals!! I watched CNBC reports of big home-building companies in states like Texas, using hordes of illegal aliens.

The low interest rates promoted by the Federal Reserve run a serious risk of toppling the US dollar as the preferred currency of international financial transactions and rendering it much diminished in demand and, consequently, value. Americans will pay much more for their beloved imported goods, they will be unable to travel abroad and their philanthropic efforts overseas will be financially strapped. If US corporations listed on the US stock markets are perceived as too troubled people will stop investing in them and the US dollars necessary to buy their stock.

Apparently nowadays before a US company will expand its operations it must take advantage of numerous outsourcing advantages, get money at rates that haven't been seen in forty years and have buildings and facilities constructed with a significant percentage of imported, illegal labor. Otherwise they will balk.

The growing season is barely starting in the Central Valley. Demand for farm workers will peak in the summer, at around 450,000. But many growers are concerned that tight border controls will continue to cut deeply into their labor force and that, as happened last year, crops will be left to rot in the fields.

This makes no sense--Article states how many construction workers are unemployed. But the farmers/growers are so concerned about tight border controls cut deeply into their labor force so crops will be left to rot in fields like last year--hire the unemployed construction workers. The growers don't need to recruit even more workers from the other side of the border.

Fences make good neighbors.

[quote]The immigrants agree. “There are too many people for too little field work,â€

At least they CAN go home when the income dries up here.

My sympathy is for my fellow citizens - we ARE home and we are suffering. My husband was fired when he got a diagnosis of cancer - and replaced by two German engineers under H1B visas - that's right, it took two of them. The company got all kinds of tax write offs for their salaries/expenses on which they paid no taxes. After two years he finally got another job at less than half of what he was making before.

I am so sick of this country extending the welcome wagon and benefits and giveaways to foreigners at the expense of citizens and taxpayers I don't think I can stand it anymore. I think we should be able to get some free medication to prevent us from going ballistic.

[quote="miguelina"][quote]The immigrants agree. “There are too many people for too little field work,â€

Mr. Seiders suggested that reported employment might not be falling as starkly as other statistics because builders do not employ construction workers directly. Instead, they use subcontractors to build different parts of a development. These often use labor contractors, who may also turn to subcontractors to fill their crews.

Of course it doesn't register.....that's what we have been saying all along. My husband did construction and it was feast or famine....no unemployment check ever. No insurance no benefits or any kind. No unemployment in agriculture or waitressing or cooks or maids or any of these of these fields they are working. Some may have had a skeleton crew where the boss would bust bootie to keep them going but not for everyone. That's why some quit doing it bacause there was no regular income or consistant employment. Fine if you had a spouse working or were in good climate areas but it never was a stable "career" for anyone but the owners really. You could hang in when the pay balanced out during the slumps but not when you're paying dirt wages. Laziness wasn't the issue....survival was. Again they are making this sound like this is something NEW.....especially created to abuse the illegals......when this has been going on since day one for everyone.

Heck my ex was on crews who had to travel and be gone for weeks at a time in search of work. Not much different than the "migrants" who came here and then went BACK HOME when the work was over. They can't survive any better than the rest of us on nothing.....especially when the booming employment they brag about for job oppertunities is nothing more than minimum wage part time jobs. Not regular, no benefits and not enough to live on a in car. Forget raise a family and such.

Originally Posted by RealID

No wonder so many people have so many problems with their new homes.

Who is licensing these illegals for jobs such as electrical, etc.
Who is educating them in the laws pertaining the construction of homes and commercial enterprises?

At $25. an hour this one guy can afford a mortgage in the US, and build a home in Mexico? All this as an illegal. Absolutely amazing.

How come legal citizens can't afford to do this?

Are we at Third World Status yet???????

Remember that the government prevents low skilled american workers from being hired because of minimum wage, all the benefits and taxes employers are forced pay.