[Vision2020] Illegal Immigration: Was Re: Vision2020 Digest, Vol 19, Issue 97

[Donovan Arnold]

Paul,
   
  I never said it was the fault of illegal immigrants for their poor working conditions, I said it was the fault of illegal immigration. Do you understand that difference? I don't blame people for trying to improve their quality of life. I blame our government for not trying to protect ours.
   
  The reality is because they are here illegally, they can say nothing about their working conditions. They empower those that wish to victimize people because they are committing a crime by being here and cannot speak out. Many of these come here with dreams of riches, when in fact they become victims of physical and sexual abuse. 
   
  If we followed the law, and immigrants came to this country legally, they would be working in safe conditions because they could not be exploited. That is fact.
   
  Because businesses that operate legally have to compete against slave labor, they have to lower their wages and benefits too, hurting the legal workers, and legal immigrants that were following the law.
   
  If you believe that businesses that profiteer on slave labor and illegal unsafe conditions that unfairly compete with legal businesses should be stopped, then you should be for cutting their supply of slave labor off. 
   
  It is NOT the responsibility of the US and it's citizens to supply a job to every man and woman in the world that has living conditions that are not equal to ours. It is our obligation to ensure that we provide jobs that we can without sacrificing our quality of life and to make sure that EVERYONE that comes into this country is given safe working conditions and living wages.
   
  The defense of, "Well, they are still better living conditions than where they came from.", is not an acceptable answer to allow people to come into the United States, knowingly or unknowingly, willing or unwilling, to be victimized through physical and sexual abuse. A willing victim is still a victim.  
   
  There is a proper way, and an improper way to absorb immigrants into to this country. The improper way leads to tragedy, victimization, slavery, and misery for the immigrants. The proper way leads to progress, a better quality of life, and a better future. We need to allow people in the proper way, the legal way.  
   
  Best Regards,
   
  Donovan

Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com> wrote:
  
--- Donovan Arnold 
wrote:

> Second, illegal immigration set this country back
> 100 years in worker conditions and rights. We have
> workers now in conditions that make the Triangle
> Shirt Factory look like the Luxor. Because they work
> here illegally, they are subjecting themselves and
> others to working for wages workers were making 20
> years ago, and in far less safe and sanitary
> conditions. One would think, if slavery stayed and
> evolved from 1865 to 2008, it would look like many
> of the factories today. 
> 

That's the thing that gets to me about this debate. 
It's all about the evil, illegal immigrants. In the
paragraph quoted above, you appear to be blaming the
illegal immigrants themselves for working in horrible
conditions for little money. As if they reject the
better conditions their Multimillionaire factory owner
keeps trying to force upon them, because they would
rather live in abject poverty.

They are subjecting themselves to these wages because
it's a step up from what their life was like before,
and because the money coming in (small as it may seem
to us) is a substantial pay increase. Mr.
Multimillionaire knows this, and rapaciously takes
advantage of that so that he can make a few extra
bucks he's just going to throw at some stupid wall rug
or something.

We're going about this the wrong way. Think of a
target, a circle with a black dot in the center. 
Illegal immigrants come from the outside of the circle
so that they can get to the dot in the center. That
dot is Mr. Multimillionaire's business. Is it more
efficient to put up a fence around the circumference
of the circle, or to remove the dot in the center that
is drawing all these people?

If we come down hard on Mr. Multimillionaire everytime
he does this and make it not cost effective to
continue, then the stream of immigrants will at least
falter. Some may come over anyway, because we treat
our homeless better in some places. Anyway, this
doesn't solve the problem of the person living in
abject poverty on the other side of the fence. 
Arguably, that's not our problem - but if we wanted to
do something about it we could look at increasing the
flow of legal immigrants over the border.

Paul 


       
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