In the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of oil being added to the “immigration debate” fire in NOVA. It appears Virginia’s Republican guard has taken it upon themselves to preserve the US concept of “citizenship,” and make sure those who don’t meet the bar get the boot.
Wikipedia summarizes citizenship as “the political rights of an individual in society.” The immigration issue in question is the one relating to illegal Hispanic immigrants in the USA. While the word “illegal” might remind you of some “24″ episode, the reality is most of the Hispanic illegal immigrants are here to work. The kind of work they do is what we term as our “dirty work.” They are the bus boys in our local restaurants, janitors in both public and private institutions, maids in our homes, and probably the most important: the laborers that have built most of all new construction in this country.
Yes that’s right, those nice luxury-style condos in cville and the new-home developments off of 250 near the Farmington Country Club are most likely all fueled by cheap, illegal labor. Do we complain when we house-hunt? How about when we move in? Negative, Ghost Rider. I guess someone’s toilet in a new-construction home was backed up, or perhaps a maid forgot to clean the master’s bathroom, ’cause the Republicans in NOVA have an itch for tha’ aliens.
They want to suspend the business license of anyone hiring illegal immigrants. Man, I would love to see the food prices of restaurants on the downtown mall in that situation. Or those friendly pre-construction prices on “loft style” condos shoot through the roof. Wait…that’s the best-case scenario… In the worst-case scenario, restaurants will become too expensive, and builders will not be able to afford to finish the rest of their projects. Banks will not be willing to re-negotiate construction loans based on higher costs since consumers will not be willing to purchase homes at significantly higher prices. Or could a solution be to have a “No Aliens Harmed in the Process” certification for construction? (Or should it read “Aliens Harmed”?) Heck Hoss, sign me up for one of those!
It seems someone wants to pull the veil off of our eyes and let us know we don’t live in Disneyland anymore. While I focus on the above types of impacts, lets talk about one closer to home: education. The bill in question also wants to prohibit public institutions from accepting students that cannot prove their citizenship. So we don’t want to have people loitering in the streets looking for menial labor, but we don’t want them to go to school either to get a degree that will allow them a better job than say, putting down roof shingles. While most four-year colleges like UVA do not accept students without proper documentation… public community schools do for the most part. They are affordable and accessible.
WAIT, THERE IS A PINK ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM! DON’T LOOK!
While I understand a main argument is that illegal immigrants enjoy tax benefits while not contributing to that part of the economy… have we ever thought of a way where we could collect taxes from them and provide them the benefits the rest of us get as citizens? I figure if we give the jobs that this country needs to survive to people willing to do them, then we owe them something.
Or not…
We could kick them all out and start importing even more cheap goods, and, *gasp*, labor from China! I always wanted my sturdy farm house to have a “Made in China” sticker on it anyways. At least it will match all the tools in the barn, right?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Tagged as: Immigration, Politics, Republican
cocoNUT… interesting. Do we have examples of states/cities that have put such regulations in place, and the outcomes? We clearly have a lot of graduates of Charlottesville wait and kitchen staffs for readers, so we know the extent of the presence of immigrants. I think the shame of this situation is that the federal government couldn’t nail out a solution, big surprise there. I’m okay with states legislating their own policies for, say, gay marriage and gun control, but there has got to be consistency with immigration. It’s too big. Latinos accounted for more than half of the births in California in 2003 (by a fraction of a percent, but this has likely risen). This is exciting, because I’m proud to be a part of a more diverse US of A, but cocoNUT, I think you’re right on to point out education, especially with the skew to young Latinos. I want to see a holistic solution.
Also, the Dumbo picture is freaking me out!
I thought you liked pink elephants? The education bit was something I included to tie in the local UVA scene. In general, I dont think we really appreciate or consider the presence of illegal aliens in our daily lives. To take such a hard lined stance is ignorant.
As for other city/states with similar legislations, I dont know, but Northern Virginia has been taking alot of credit lately for its anti-immigration stance. “I guess you can take the girl out of the south, but you cant take the south out of the girl?!!?!”.
I tried looking up the home address for the legislator behind this nonsense, Jay O’Brien. I found two listings in Clifton, VA, but am not sure which one is his. I wanted to make a point of him living in a relatively large house that was probably built on illegal labor. Hard to prove, but most likely the case. Verizon was laying down the new FIOS fiber optic system outside of my house a couple weeks ago and it was all immigrant labor, most likley illegal. I would love to see the costs of fiber optic cable laying if they paid the installers competitive wages. We are all f*cked with this labor issue…to take it out would be to create a huge vacuum no one is willing to fill.
I am fine with immigrants, but all the money we’re dropping on security is pointless if we’re letting people in undocumented. I’d even be for amnesty, because it’s simply too late at this point. Charge reasonable fees to immigrate, up the quotas a bit .. all fine by me. The unchecked and continuing head in the sand? not good.
I can’t just go walking through the Canadian border and be allowed to set up shop there, as much as I’d like to. The immigration process is *tough*.
I propose a moratorium on the phrase: “Negative, Ghost Rider”
Thats definitely a start…a more moderate approach than a hard line stance. Not saying its the right/wrong one, but balanced growth/change is definitely good for a situation whose consequences run so deep in our economy.
Dave, you can’t just propose a moratorium without suggesting something to take its place!
It’s not just NOVA..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20393931/
http://virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/virginia-looks-towards-statewide-illegal-alien-crackdown/
http://wfls.com/News/FLS/2007/072007/07252007/301255
Perhaps we should blame “The Iraq” or “South Africa” or “Asia” for our problems, what do you say Miss. South Carolina?
It’s not that illegals are willing to do “dirty jobs” that others are not. It’s just that others are not willing to do it for $2/hr because $2/hr doesn’t allow a family to survive anywhere in America. Then how do illegals survive? They do it often by cramming themselves into houses with several other families. Aside from the fact that many of them are eligible for programs that drain billions of dollars out of our economy, there are a number of other issues that arise that people don’t often think about.
1)They don’t go through medical processing before entering the country. That’s why tuberculosis is on a MAJOR upswing in the country, especially in NOVA. God forbid any of them bring smallpox back.
2)Some of them are criminals. MS-13 is now recognized as the most dangerous gang in America, with its major hotbed in Northern Virginia. I remember a story from a few years ago where they were randomly assaulting people with machetes. Someone was beheaded, if I remember correctly. I think legalizing drugs would go a long way to preventing those sorts of people from coming to America, but that’s another story.
The arguments for amnesty are sometimes convincing, but it’s really not fair to other people from South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and Europe who wish to come here to work legally. These people who wish to use the proper channels often have to wait years before they are permitted to enter. I’m all for a diverse America, but having 20-30 million illegals is dangerous to our economy and society. Frankly, I don’t like paying taxes to support those that shouldn’t be here. I’m all for paying more for my goods and services if I am completely sure that legal workers produced it.
I’d like to point out that not all of NoVA is adopting anti-immigrant policies. Arlington, for example, hosts a day-laborer site that to my knowledge wasn’t protested by anyone, and the police do not check anyone’s residency status during routine stops, etc.
In fact, the police department has stated that they are against policies that would require them to check status, because it deters those folks from calling the police or reporting crimes, and makes for a higher crime rate. Not surprising, then, that Arlington has an extremely low crime rate.
I personally haven’t seen many illegals in the restaurants in the downtown area I have worked. With the exception of a dishwasher with a few new names, or so I heard, most have been central americans that were legit. As far as cheap labor, washing dishes isn’t a dream job, of all the applicants a guy or girl who comes in knocks it out everyday and prefers that life over working in a sugar cane field for a lot less, is much more appealing than a teenager who doesn’t really care or the ex-con/addict who feels like they are getting screwed over and brings the bare minimum to the job.
Can prices get any higher downtown? Food and condo prices are at a premium as it is, condos aren’t moving so hopefully rent will drop across the board and as spaces open up, rent and prices will fall.
Hey Behind the Bar - I have also worked at restaurants and its hard to say their legal status.. you probably have more insight than I did. I also find that immigrants tend to work harder than any server or chef who is born in the USA. All power to immigrants, let’s just hope they pay taxes…. this country was built on immigrants.
This country was built on LEGAL immigrants. I can’t stand that I can’t bring my child to a doctor without eating mac and cheese for the next week when the illegals can walk in an office and be fawned over for $5
Our schools are a disgrace with no child left behind because first they need to learn english. Granted that’s a good thing but the educational process gets slowed down to a near standstill while the illegals have time to catch up. It’s not fair for the american child who wants to learn and soon gets bored with the process of waiting.
A college education offers all kinds of grants and scholorships to the minorities who are often illegals quicker than I can bat an eye.
You wait and see, the diseases and illegal activity that will come of all this.
Illegals should be sent back to where they came from and told to start the process legally if they want the privelage of living in the US.
Businesses should not be hiring them. Pay a little more and give the job to a hard working american. I’m sick of people saying that americans don’t want the work. They can’t get the work is the proper response.
*cough* racist *cough*
I hope your post, Thor, is a tongue-in-cheek play on the over-reactionary playing of the race card in society when even uttering something about immigration.