ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, A California Teachers Perspective

I read this on another forum and figured some could weigh in with their own experiences and opinions.

Is this teacher correct from your experience?

If this is wrong, what can be done about it?

If this is right, how can such attitudes towards the illegal immigrants be overcome?

Does any Hispanic contractor have a different take on this position?

If so, what do you feel can be done?

Ed

From a California school teacher - - -

"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I’m not talking a glass of milk and roll – but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (
OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK )

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)
I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America . (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them “Putas” whores and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements ?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I’ll pay more for tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won’t have the guts to enforce it . Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate , and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about " political Correctness" that we don’t have the will to do anything about it.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn’t that what the whole immigration issue is about?

Business doesn’t want to pay a decent wage.

Consumers don’t want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don’t want the jobs.

But the bottom line is cheap labor.

The phrase “cheap labor” is a myth , a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as “cheap labor.”
Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an “earned income credit” of up to $3,200 free.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.

He qualifies for food stamps.
He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.

He requires bilingual teachers and books.
He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
If they are, or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare . All of this is at (our) taxpayer’s expense .

He doesn’t worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up.

Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people!
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO EITHER PARTY. ‘AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON’T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM AT ONCE!’

poeple wonder why california & the u.s.a. is going bankrupt.

snopes.com/politics/immigration/tomatoes.asp

There is no easy answer to much of the important stuff in life & this is no exception.

Political solutions are often 3 parts of this, 4 parts of that, a dash of this one & a touch of that…

Anyone who thinks otherwise & advocates for ‘quick & easy’ solutions just aren’t deep enough into the issues.

It’s like a re-roofing project; no matter how simple, the likelihood that two houses are the same is pretty slim to nil & there is always something to contend with to satisfy all the relevant parts to the project.

They should start by enforcing the law. We need to maintain our boarders,language and culture. We also need to sting up those who employ illegals.

Ranch, I know I read a copy of that letter some time ago, even though Snopes does not have a verdict on it yet, it does have the smell of one of those made up letters, but the questions I asked at the beginning in relation to the article, regardless or not if it is authentic still remain.

Ed

I live in NoCal, sounds about right to me.The main reason I moved from the Central Valley (aka Northern Mexico) to the foothills was to get my kids out of the overcrowded, gang infested, English as a second language schools that exist there.

Folks, like it or not, we are in a global economy & the sovereignty of our own borders is nearly impossible to properly maintain.

It doesn’t help that Mexico has gone to 4ell in a handbasket…

Ranch, the U.S. government chooses not to enforce our immigration laws.

If it wanted to the U.S. government could secure our southern border.

The U.S. government could round up and deport illegal immigrants of all nationalities, if the U.S. government made a decision to do so.

This is not a matter of “can’t be done”.

Too many people are profiting from exploiting illegal immigrants, so the U.S. government chooses to look the other way.

Same as the “war on drugs”, you don’t hear about that any more,Did we WIN???,lol
As long as there is money that does not have to be accounted for it will never end…

I forgot where, the news paper I think but I read that we had more illegals come in from our northern borders last year than southern. Anyone confirm this?

No confirmation on the Northern Border item Bam, but I have not noticed that from first hand experience.

There are a lot of Polish and Bohemian immigrants in the Chicago Region though.

Just like a part of my reply in the Minnesota Storm thread in response to TinkerBell’s Racist exploitation comments, my Hispanic friend who was my foreman left this area a year ago, making $25.00 per hour and wound up moving to the Houston or San Antonio area to see if he could find an affordable house.

Well, the best job he could find was installing lightening rods and he only gets paid $8.00 per hour down there. When he started working for me 13 years ago, he started at $15.00 per hour, so the Legal Hispanics are affected greatly by the Illegal Immigration just as much, if not more than natural born citizens.

It’s a disgrace that he is making 1/2 of what he was 13 years ago.

He is probably amongst the top 3 workers for skill and quality out of hundreds I have worked with in the past 31 years.

Ed

Ed,

You should have put him in contact with me. With a reference from you, I would have set him up in a heartbeat.

My biggest problem is that I can’t rely on someone to do the job 100% as requested & that’s why end up spending more time on the jobsite than the average contractor probably does.

QC is MY concern.

Here is an article I recall reading several years ago about a Roofing Contractor located in Minnesota.

Ed

minnesota.publicradio.org/displa … 1/roofing/

Twin Cities roofer Steve Hackbarth, on the roof of a home in Brooklyn Park, is one of a handful of roofing contractors in the area who won’t hire Mexican crews. (MPR Photo/Jeff Horwich)Who’s on the roof: Immigrant labor shapes a summer industry
by Jeff Horwich, Minnesota Public Radio
June 4, 2006
Listen to feature audio
In Minnesota, summer is the season of roof work. But a glance at the crews overhead this time of year makes it clear most people doing that work are not from Minnesota. The residential roofing industry around the country now relies on low-priced labor by Mexican immigrants. Industry insiders say the roofing business would collapse without this migrant work force – which includes immigrants who are in the U.S. legally and illegally.

Brooklyn Park, Minn. â€â€

[quote=“RanchHandRoofing”]Ed,

You should have put him in contact with me. With a reference from you, I would have set him up in a heartbeat.

My biggest problem is that I can’t rely on someone to do the job 100% as requested & that’s why end up spending more time on the jobsite than the average contractor probably does.

QC is MY concern.[/quote]

Ranch, I thought you were a long ways away from the Houston area???

I will pass along his cell phone number to you if you want.

Ed

Here is another very severe consequence that can occur to Illegal Immigrant workers.

Read the story to see.

Ed

tcpalm.com/news/2009/apr/10/ … over-what/

Paralyzed roofer’s case raises legal debate over rights of illegal immigrants hurt on job
By Hillary Copsey (Contact), Ryan Deering
Friday, April 10, 2009

Photo by Matthew Ratajczak

In constant pain from a previous surgery, Victor Leon, 26, rests in his bed alongside his rosary. “I have nobody to worry about me here,” Leon said. “God is the only one to help keep my mind strong.” A three-story fall almost three years ago left Leon paralyzed from the waist down.

Photo by Matthew Ratajczak

With help from his friend Angel Velasquez, 26-year-old Victor Leon enters the house he was living at in Indiantown. Help from local churches is starting to taper off and he doesn’t know what he will do in the coming months to pay his water and electric bill, pay for much needed medicine and buy food and other necessities. Poverty worsened his medical condition and Leon has been in and out of the hospital since January.
An illegal immigrant injured on a job is suing for workers’ comp or legal damages. Do you think he should get it?

Yes

No

I don’t know

See the results without voting ».

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Although I do feel bad for that guy because NO ONE deserves to be hurt like that, I cant believe he would actually sue for workmans comp. How unbelieveable would it be if he got it? An illegal immigrant without a social security number who got seriously hurt on the job can get paid benefits? Our whole country has a screwed up system. He should have been made to go back to Mexico, and have them take care of him there. The hospital is writing the 500000 dollars off in charity work? I doubt it. Its comming out of our taxes. Now I know where it all goes and why I dont get to see too much of it come back to me in any form. (besides garbage pick up day. roads still suck here)

Ed,

My point is that if he was looking in Houston or San Antonio, why not Austin?

If it’s about family connections, Austin to San Antonio is just about 1 hour’s drive away (which is a common thing here in Texas).

I think a fair tax is a good idea. It would present some problems when implemented but they could be over come. A blanket sales tax on EVERYTHING. I don’t like taxes but they are a neccesity and it levels the playing field to do it this way.
Everyone pays taxes. If you hire illegals it doesn’t matter there is no taxes coming from their checks. And illegals will have to pay taxes too and couldn’t survive on what a lot of them are paid if they had to. This would send them back to their home or force them to try to become legal and earn better wages.
On top of that it would simplify business owners bookkeeping, eliminate the need for the IRS (ok not completely but seriously reduce their involvement).

On another note drugdealers and thieves and everyone would have to pay taxes.

The problem now lies in that there are so many ,that the 1 is willing to work for less than the next,and you have a never ending low priced animal that can’t be fed properly.
The last paragraph said it plain and simple,and the more who accept that load of crap, that immigrant crews are doing just as good of job,it will only get worse as INFLATION rears it’s ugly head on the heals of this recession…
Suppliers and whole sealers don’t care about a quality install. ,who are they kidding. They will rave about anyone who is buying shingles every day.It also benefits the suppliers when the roof that they sold yesterday needs to be re-done today…POOR install…I am small co.,and I rip off at least 15-20 a year less than 5 yrs.old…
Say what you will,but if there is a true demand like mass jobs needed to be filled,and you could get a premium $$$ you and everyone else could afford to pay a premium for LEGAL workers, and young people would be drawn to the industry like I was 22 yrs ago.
At a young age I started in the trades,and within 1 year I was making Nearly 60% more than when I started. What job offers that kind of potential to someone that is willing to work hard???

There was another good article, regarding the Union Membership Drives, in particular regarding one Roofing B.A., who I think was originally from either Michigan or Ohio, that was pointing out “The Benefits” of seeking out Illegal Immigrants to join the Rank And File Membership, since the Union has been losing it’s grip on totals of new members joining up.

So, would that be a good thing to get the Illegals on a Par Pay level with the other Union Members?

That seemed to be this B.A.'s point, to reverse the downward spiral of wages.

As it stands now, we are in an ever feeding Reverse Auction for competitive job bids.

Ed