One of the more interesting threads on another forum is the fact or condition of day-laborers and the infiltration and robust presence of illegal aliens. It is not uncommon or unnatural for me to observe that 95% of the subcontractors on any given track-home development near me is with a workforce composed +90% non-rednecks.
Ok, I am in the Southeasetern part of the country (Georgia) and the prolific abundance of Latino labor on the construction jobsite (I work in telecommunications, in case anyone wishes to know, not construction) is amazing. Subcontractors are so focused on turning a blind eye to the relavence of legal residency that the problem along many states is completely out of control.
When I moved to Atlanta in late 1996 (from New England), it wasn't but a few months before high-schoolers around Atlanta were replaced with a labor force originating from countries south of the border. I do not blame anyone for wanting a better life, but I can blame anyone for hiring illegal aliens. Case in point for even the near-honest employer: friend is a chef. His kitchen staff is 3/4 composed of Latin labor not from the USA. They work ~6 weeks and then disappear.
The ~6 week aspect is not because some illegal aliens are spontaneously combusting like some sort of South Park episode, but rather that is the time it takes the average kitchen manager to get a response back from Social Security that the submitted SSN is invalid. Now, I live ~45 miles outside of Atlanta and up until about the second half of last year the typical McDonals near me hired high-school students from mid-income family neighborhoods.
Being a business, I can see McDonalds more than willing to hire someone with a more open schedule of availability, much like someone not in high-school. Hence, almost overnight those students were displaced by a continually face-changing Latino or Latina. Now, I have no problems whatsoever with someone coming into the USA from and foreigh county and trying to get/make a better way of life/living if they do it in a legal fashion, but this isn't the case with day laborers, or at least more times a wrong instance than a right instance.
When I drive into work I pass a section of town filled with curb-herds of Latino day laborers. If an Atlanta police car comes by the scurry away like roaches in the kitchen in the middle of the night, and driving a pickuo by them is like a magnet--not looking for a laborer, but trying to get to my job. Once I stopped at the gas station near my workplace so a friend could get a newspaper, and because I had a pickup some Latino walked up and opened the door! Jeez. I vowed the next time to be armed, and dangerous.
But recent discussions about day laborers and the illegal employment of illegal aliens took place on a forum for the residential construction industry. Some of the frontal-projecting members voiced the problem as a problem that causes them harm (in the form of compeition), while others kept surprisingly silent (they probably employ illegal labor).
But the conversations somewhat turned to a more interesting topic of how to solve the problem. Just because you want an affordable house doesn't mean a house should be afforded to you, someone that is poor. And trying to meet this poor-person want-for-a-house isn't sufficient to employ illegal labor to meet that want. So, how do we solve the problem?
In 2000 the INS estimated that ~5 million people were still in the USA illegally and 3 million of them from Mexico. I found the 150,000 figure for those coming from Canada to be very amusing, too. Still, how do we erradicate the problem? Evidentally the fines on the county and state levels are non-existent or insufficient to deter employers from hiring illegals, and then still those trying to play by the rules have this 6-week response from SS.
The idea then crept up on us regarding a national ID system, but then one has to ask what is proof and what is legitimate proof of one's citizenship or legal alien residency? I ahve no problem with anyone wishing to come to America (except terrorists, of course), but doing so illegally is a disrespect I am not willing to tolerate.
Ok, I am in the Southeasetern part of the country (Georgia) and the prolific abundance of Latino labor on the construction jobsite (I work in telecommunications, in case anyone wishes to know, not construction) is amazing. Subcontractors are so focused on turning a blind eye to the relavence of legal residency that the problem along many states is completely out of control.
When I moved to Atlanta in late 1996 (from New England), it wasn't but a few months before high-schoolers around Atlanta were replaced with a labor force originating from countries south of the border. I do not blame anyone for wanting a better life, but I can blame anyone for hiring illegal aliens. Case in point for even the near-honest employer: friend is a chef. His kitchen staff is 3/4 composed of Latin labor not from the USA. They work ~6 weeks and then disappear.
The ~6 week aspect is not because some illegal aliens are spontaneously combusting like some sort of South Park episode, but rather that is the time it takes the average kitchen manager to get a response back from Social Security that the submitted SSN is invalid. Now, I live ~45 miles outside of Atlanta and up until about the second half of last year the typical McDonals near me hired high-school students from mid-income family neighborhoods.
Being a business, I can see McDonalds more than willing to hire someone with a more open schedule of availability, much like someone not in high-school. Hence, almost overnight those students were displaced by a continually face-changing Latino or Latina. Now, I have no problems whatsoever with someone coming into the USA from and foreigh county and trying to get/make a better way of life/living if they do it in a legal fashion, but this isn't the case with day laborers, or at least more times a wrong instance than a right instance.
When I drive into work I pass a section of town filled with curb-herds of Latino day laborers. If an Atlanta police car comes by the scurry away like roaches in the kitchen in the middle of the night, and driving a pickuo by them is like a magnet--not looking for a laborer, but trying to get to my job. Once I stopped at the gas station near my workplace so a friend could get a newspaper, and because I had a pickup some Latino walked up and opened the door! Jeez. I vowed the next time to be armed, and dangerous.
But recent discussions about day laborers and the illegal employment of illegal aliens took place on a forum for the residential construction industry. Some of the frontal-projecting members voiced the problem as a problem that causes them harm (in the form of compeition), while others kept surprisingly silent (they probably employ illegal labor).
But the conversations somewhat turned to a more interesting topic of how to solve the problem. Just because you want an affordable house doesn't mean a house should be afforded to you, someone that is poor. And trying to meet this poor-person want-for-a-house isn't sufficient to employ illegal labor to meet that want. So, how do we solve the problem?
In 2000 the INS estimated that ~5 million people were still in the USA illegally and 3 million of them from Mexico. I found the 150,000 figure for those coming from Canada to be very amusing, too. Still, how do we erradicate the problem? Evidentally the fines on the county and state levels are non-existent or insufficient to deter employers from hiring illegals, and then still those trying to play by the rules have this 6-week response from SS.
The idea then crept up on us regarding a national ID system, but then one has to ask what is proof and what is legitimate proof of one's citizenship or legal alien residency? I ahve no problem with anyone wishing to come to America (except terrorists, of course), but doing so illegally is a disrespect I am not willing to tolerate.
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