Letters: Undocumented Workers
Editor:
Just read your editorial in Stone Business and have a few comments of my own, being an actual granite shop owner.
As an owner that actually plays by the rules in an area of the country where illegal immigration is rampant I find some of your views short-sighted. I pay my employees a fair wage, provide a safe work environment and provide health care yet I have to compete with shops that exploit illegal immigrant labor, pay no benefits and pay almost slave wages. Do you suggest I break the law in order to stay competitive? What is a better solution … have everyone in the business hire illegals and lower the over all wage for the profession or enforce the hiring laws that exist today and raise the overall wage?
Most of my staff are Latino and all legal and I can tell you that they do not like illegal immigration any more than I do. It means more competition in the job market and a reduction in the prevailing wage.
What do you say to the hard working legal immigrants and citizens who have had their wages plummet or their jobs taken as a result of the excess of illegal immigrant labor?
When did brick laying, masonry, framing, drywall hanging and almost any other form of manual labor become “jobs Americans won’t do”? I’ll help you with this one … when the excess supply of illegal immigrant labor drove wages down so far that only the illegals will work for that little.
Are you suggesting that the cost of schooling the kids, paying for health care and the myriad of other costs associated with illegal immigrants are offset by the money they spend here??
Transfer payments to Mexico from the United States is now Mexico’s leading source of revenue. If the illegals are contributing so much to the economy where is that money coming from? Is this any different than outsourcing?
If these people are given legal status how do you plan to cover the Social Security payments to 12+ million additional retirees that did not come remotely close to contributing enough into the system?
What do you say to the parents of English-speaking students who can not learn at a reasonable pace because the non-speaking kids demand so much more of the teachers time? I have been told by that in some schools in Southern California non-English-speaking students are the majority.
You are right, the “fatheads” deserve ridicule, as well as anyone else who refuses to step back and look at the long term social and financial cost of illegal immigration. I wonder how much support you would have for the illegals if you lost your job to someone who would do it for half the cost.
Richard Nenzelm, Rock-It Surfaces, Vista, Calif.