Do Illegal Immigrants Really Take Jobs From Poor American...

['X']

Do Illegal Immigrants Really Take
Jobs From Poor American Workers?
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The young black man hesitated as he stood outside the small furniture manufacturing shop in South Los Angeles. He was dressed neatly, and he was well groomed. He eyed the building warily. The sign on the narrow glass door in English and Spanish, read "help wanted" and trabajo aqui. The opening was for a shop helper, mostly to sweep up and do routine clean up and maintenance. It did not require any education or special skill. It paid minimum wage, as did the thousands of shops that dotted the area. The company had no employee health care plan, or other benefits.

After a moment he went in and politely asked for an application. The petite receptionist, a young Latina, handed him an application form, with an airy nonchalance. She curtly suggested that he fill it out and bring it back. When he asked if there would be an interview, she haltingly said only if there was a position open. The young man looked perplexed, glanced at the help wanted sign, politely thanked her and left. A couple of hours later two other young Latinos came in to apply. One was immediately hired. The other was told that another helper job might open up within the next few days. However, the workers in the shop, as they were in nearly all the other shops in the area were Latinos, a large percentage of who were illegal immigrants.

There were no other blacks, whites, or even English speaking native-born Latino workers in the plant or at few of the other shops in the area. This is not a fictional story. I personally witnessed the scene at the company involving the black job seeker. Anti-illegal immigration activists say that the experience of the young black job seeker has played out thousands of times at restaurants, hotels, on farms, and at manufacturing plants nationally, and that this is a major reason so many young black males are unemployed join gangs, deal drugs and pack America's jails.

Congress will hammer out a comprehensive immigration reform law. But it won't answer this question: Do the estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country take jobs from American citizens, especially the bottom rung American workers, the young, the poor and more often than not African-American workers?

What if the young black job seeker, or any other American looking for work in a low end manufacturing plant or a restaurant in Los Angeles, were offered that job which probably pays minimum wage and doesn't offer any benefits or job security? Would he take it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It's certainly hard to imagine that a young black from South Los Angeles, South Chicago, or Harlem, not to mention a native born young white or Latino going out to the fields to pick strawberries for 10 to 12 hours a day in the hot sun at minimum or even sub-minimum wages. Or, that they'd take a job at a car wash or bus dishes in a restaurant. But what if the farm contractors, car wash owners, and manufacturers paid a living wage and provided benefits. It might be a different story, at least for some young people in Los Angeles.

Then there's the regional factor. There is some evidence that young workers will work jobs in the South and the Midwest. Jobs that have long been designated as jobs that only illegal immigrants will work, that is if those jobs were offered to them. But when employers give the quick brush-off to young blacks and other young American workers that are willing to take lower end jobs, they send the not-so-subtle message that they are not wanted or welcome. This is a powerful disincentive for them to pursue work in these taboo areas of the job market. The end result is that an entire category of jobs at the ground rung of American industry is clearly marked as "Latino only." The fight over jobs and illegal immigration came at the worst possible time for the urban poor. Shrinking federal and state budgets for job training and creation programs, industry downsizing, and escalating crime and violence in inner city neighborhoods made banks and corporations even more reluctant to invest in these communities, and that made the job situation even worse.

The young black in Los Angeles and other cities that anti-illegal immigration opponents cite as proof that illegal immigration is ruinous for the economy and the urban poor may or may not have lost out in his job hunt to an illegal immigrant. But he also might have lost out in his job search because of discrimination, poor education, government budget slashes and the flight of manufacturers to other countries. That is no excuse not to ensure that American workers have the right to work in any and all industries. That would do much to calm the fury of many Americans who worry that illegal immigration sledgehammers at least some American workers. Congress and the Bush Administration must not ignore that worry.

[UmanH-ay]

lets just end the arguement by putting down the word of maddox

Oops! You're racist.

I was listening to Alan Colmes' radio show the other night because it's the only thing on between Phil Hendrie and Tom Leykis. Colmes was out for the evening, so a guest host was conducting an interview with the lawyer filing a class action law suit against WalMart--the world's largest retailer--alleging that WalMart cheated thousands of immigrant janitors out of wages. The host argued that the janitors didn't deserve to get paid the same wage as Americans because they were illegal immigrants and shouldn't have been in America in the first place.

My BS detector went off, so I called into the show to slam him in the face with the sledge hammer of fallacy. The conversation went something like this:


Host "Hello, you're on the air."
Me "Yes, I'm calling to side with the lawyer."
Host "Why?"
Me "Because saying that an illegal immigrant doesn't deserve to be paid the same wages as an American because he doesn't belong here in the first place is like saying that a person trapped in a well shouldn't be saved because he shouldn't have been playing around the well in the first place."
Host (pause)
"Yeah... that's a good point."


He then hung up on me and proceeded to repeat his argument verbatim, even though I handed him a plate full of his ass with all the trimmings, only this time he added something to the effect of "well these immigrants are coming to America and taking jobs away from Americans." What?

News flash: immigrants aren't taking anything from Americans. Companies like WalMart are giving jobs to them illegally. If WalMart paid a company to hire immigrants to do the job over Americans then there's probably a good reason for it. I'm sick and tired of lazy gluttonous Americans bitching about immigrants "taking" our jobs. It's not like they can literally come to America, ambush us in the parking lot and take our jobs.




If you lose your job to an immigrant, it's probably because he or she was willing to work harder for less money. Don't want to pay them full wages? Then don't hire them. If they do equal work, then they deserve equal pay. It's just that simple, and I'm not going to sit back like every other racist piece of shit bitching about having to work harder because there's a little competition for my job, immigrant or otherwise. I know I can do my job better than anyone, and if an immigrant thinks he can do a better job than I can, I welcome him to try.

What kind of chicken shit pussy is afraid of competition? Can't get a job because you lost out to an immigrant? Well TOUGH SHIT. Nobody wants to pay you for your half-assed work if someone else can do it better. That's what America is all about. Our president may be a moron, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let any more jackasses sully the reputation of hard working Americans who are willing to work just as hard as anyone else with or without competition. If you can't cut it, then the people with money will pay it to someone else who can. Maybe if all you people bitching weren't such lazy, pathetic, blood sucking leeches, you'd get off of your dead ass and work HARDER to do a better job. Get some balls people. If you're too chicken shit and you can't cut it, then maybe it's you who doesn't deserve to live in America. Not the immigrants.

[MiChuhSuh]

hahaha

that's from the "best page in the universe" right?

http://maddox.xmission.com/

maddox is a genius

This was from a few years back but I'm sure everyone on here remembers people wouldn't shut up with this:

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=chappelle

[Tre]

I agree with you Afakasi… Mexicans don’t come here to take our resources, they come because they want a better life. In fact according to a recent poll

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... I8HI61.DTL

the vast majority of African Americans in this country agree with you.
Immigrants are the future more power to them. Personally I think it’s fucked up that you have a group of people indigenous to this land being referred to as 'illegal' aliens.

[Oaktown_G]

Mexicans aint stealin the jobs from us its just niggas is so lazy these days and mexicans will work for damn near any price.

[NW10]

its just niggas is so lazy these days .

poor stereotypical shit

immigrants arent just taking poor americans jobs -

definition of immigrant universal:

to obtain jobs that belong to the poorer inhabitants of their new country

to obtain a house ahead of those indigenous people struggling to get one themselves

maybe not universal but this happens lots in the uk

['X']

its just niggas is so lazy these days .

poor stereotypical shit

Exactly^^...

AI think "oaktown g" is Black and saying that? If our own kind will say some bs like that for everyone to read, what will other folk say and think about us...

[UmanH-ay]

heres an email maddox got from some guy regarding the previous article

Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 02:00:01 -0800
From: Rian Alden <rian311@qwest.net>
To: maddox@xmission.com

Your a fuckin idiot. If you hate how Americans are pissed about
Illegal Mexicans or any others taking our jobs, then why don't you take
your loud mouthed, appeasing ass down to Mexico and fight the good fight
with those Wetbacks? Oh, I'm sorry, That was Racist, but I guess I am,
so all those Spics, Gooks, Nips, Russians, Sand-Niggers, and any other
fuckin foreigners come here and decide to take our job for less money
even though they don't belong here, they can kiss my ass and lick my
balls. And just for you, I will leave a spot right in the middle and
forget to wipe ya dumb fuck.




It's time to deduce the obvious conclusion with Professor Maddox:








QED, bitch.

I don't understand how anyone can disagree with my position on illegal immigrants. Do I have to spoon feed the conclusion to you retards? It's obvious that if you force companies like WalMart to pay illegal immigrants the same wage as Americans, then they have no incentive to hire them over citizens. Even you racist pieces of shit can agree.

[Oaktown_G]

there are some blacks that actually apply themselves but most niggas is lazy i'm not sayin that blacks arent still having a hard time gettin jobs because of prejiduce I already kow happen to me plenty of times but I keep tryin nigga cant be out on the corner his whole life.If this bothers you man up prove me wrong yeah i'm proud to be black but it aint no stereotypical shit its the truth and until black folks get up and prove everybody wrong you know how we will be looked upon.

[Oaktown_G]

Even a example where i'm at workin at a fast food place you will be gettin paid bout maybe 5.45 to 5.50 an hour niggas will sit up here aw that aint no money and wont take the job a mexican will come in and take the job then niggas start complaining like lil ho's sayin the mexicans takin all the jobs this is what I mean by lazy.

[UmanH-ay]

poor stereotypical shit

its not stereotypical, it just happens that white,black people are just too lazy to work the hours a immigrant will, as maddox said, if you lose your job to an immigrant who is willing to work more for less pay, then tough shit,

[perongregory]

not tough shit. This isn't 19th century Britain, with people working in coal mines for a penny. We have laws to fight against that BS, but employers still wanna go under the table and pay someone shit wages for their greedy assess. You can't make a living in any American city off of minimum wage, and you can't expect Americans who aren't used to living in a house full of different individuals or families. You can't expect Americans to have to revert to drastic measures taken by non-Americans to live (mult. families living in one house, picking fruit all fuckin day, etc.), when the times arern't drastic. Employers just need to pay mofos right, like that mddox dude said, and shit will be straight.

[UmanH-ay]

fair enough