People Flows

America Is Stupidly Shutting Out Immigrants. Isn’t It?

By Katie Baker | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 18, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Apr 27, 2009

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  • Posted By: landonmkelsey @ 04/28/2009 5:27:19 PM

    more disease from Mexico

    illegals will carry plenty so don't waste time trying to stop it

    immigrants bring

    (1) neighborhood squalor

    (2) disease...have you heard of TB spread through bathtub cheese?

    www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24954041/

    (3) high drain on governments for medical (ER) and crime

    in 2003 I waited 6 hours in line for the ER to treat my very very painful gallstone

    Guess who was in line ahead of me...many ERs are closing

    (4) hurting employment of americans

    (5) crime...cop killers, dope, gangs

    (6) general lack of respect for life and law

    99% of americans want you to go home...NOW!

  • Posted By: cyfi @ 04/28/2009 1:05:14 PM

    I am not against legal immagration, but we can not afford to support 11 million illegals with so many americans unemployed. That isnt even taking into consideration the crime committed by some of these people or the diseases that some bring here because they are not screened or the fact they are off the tax roles and send every dime they can home..

    What blows my mind is the stupid liberals trying to give them scholarships with so many poor american kids wanting to go to college and cant afford it. That is treason.

  • Posted By: rho1953 @ 04/23/2009 7:52:07 PM

    First you have to believe their numbers, which I don't. Secondly you have to believe America needs more unskilled, uneducated, non-English speaking workers. It certainly does not. We need to only allow the workers who meet specific employment needs. We should not be burdening the taxpayer with millions of people who will need public assistance. Take away the illegals who are forced to work for subsistence wages and employers will have to raise wags to attract American citizens. That is just commonsense, something nobody at Newsweek seems to have.

    • Posted By: boom shaka @ 04/26/2009 6:26:58 PM

      "Take away the illegals who are forced to work for subsistence wages and employers will have to raise wags to attract American citizens"

      That's why we have call centers in India, numbskull. Employers won't pay higher wages because consumers (like you) won't pay higher prices, and investors (like you, if you have a 401K) want higher returns. Low cost labor is a part of capitalism, America just refuses to admit it.

      As they say, common sense ain't so common.

      Regards,

      BS

      • Posted By: jjaffie @ 04/27/2009 1:56:59 PM

        I guess common sense ain't so common, cause I tried and tried, but I just can't figure out how someone in India is going to roof any houses, much less paint them, or any of 100 other construction type jobs that is done almost exclusively by men under 5 foot tall that don't speak a work of English that are in this country illegally.

        Same story when it comes to cooking, maintenance, landscaping, maids, etc, etc

        • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/28/2009 12:32:32 AM

          Exactly... else... you'd see more immigrants of other countries and American citizens doing the work!

      • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/28/2009 12:31:44 AM

        Couldn't have said it better myself BS. It's what we want... a greater IRR. A higher ROI. That's capitalism!

      • Posted By: mac101 @ 04/27/2009 1:02:50 AM

        It isn't the wages paid to call center employees in India, it's the fact that American employers don't have to pay health care costs for call center employees in India.

        • Posted By: jjaffie @ 04/27/2009 2:17:43 PM

          And only pay them $20/week, but did your prices go down??? Nope, but their bonuses went up!

    • Posted By: jblackwell88 @ 04/25/2009 7:16:54 AM

      The US shouldnt give citizenship to anyone who isn't either a direct relative of a legal US citizen, or has an IQ of 150.

      • Posted By: jjaffie @ 04/27/2009 2:00:26 PM

        That's one of the problems, illegals sneaking over the border and having children here- there are called anchor babies because the child born here is a citizen and can give the illegal a claim to stay in this country

    • Posted By: lovedeedee @ 04/25/2009 7:09:12 AM

      Most people who are getting welfare are white people.

      • Posted By: bartlebee @ 04/26/2009 4:02:18 PM

        And most of the tax money that is used to fund welfare programs is paid by white people.

    • Posted By: ortizl221 @ 04/24/2009 9:17:57 AM

      what do you plan to do with the children of the undocumented who crossed illegaly but grew up here. The children that would feel out of place back in their own homelands because they essentially are americans.

      • Posted By: jblackwell88 @ 04/25/2009 7:03:26 AM

        Their parents hedged a bet that they wouldn't be deported and decided to use the child as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately it does NOT affect me sentimentally - the kids are better off with their parents, and their parents need to be deported. The anchor baby misinterpretation of the Constitution is a blunder that should be rectified retroactively.

    • Posted By: ortizl221 @ 04/24/2009 9:16:10 AM

      what do you plan to do with the children of the undocumented who crossed illegaly but grew up here. The children that would feel out of place back in their own homelands because they essentially are americans.

  • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/26/2009 12:16:58 PM

    Dear "USWORKER": You must be working outside the U.S. I went to school in Texas, worked in New Mexico one summer, and currently reside in Arizona and trust me, the illegals down here work faster than all the good ol' boys combined. No offense, but it seems to me that if it took "twice as many hipanics to do the same work the it took whites, blacks, tongans, aisans and any other people i have worked with", then no one would be hiring illegals (even at a discounted pay rate).

    Your logic and argument seem awfully flawed. I highly doubt anyone has threatened you to give up your job so that an illegal can replace you. And if so, it was probably your employer unimpressed with your work ethic. Yet, if your story holds true, then why did you not report this? Are you not familiar with the laws and rights American employees have (yet you want to spend your retirement writing to your congressman and senator)? This beating you witnessed, was it by an employer, or another employee? And if so, why did you not report this crime that occured right before your eyes. If it was done by an illegal, there was your prime opportunity to finally get one deported.

    Your story is does not jive, is exaggerated, and is probably fable. You are more than likely angry that someone with no education, who can't read or write English, and is illegally in this country, has the same competence and ability to do the job you do, expect with greater quality and speed. You are probably angry that people with such little opportunity and education (illegals) are able to come to this country and compete with people like you, who were born here and had all the wonderful opportunites this country offers, yet for some reason got stuck doing something an uneducated illegal can do. I guess I would be angry too. Don't misunderstand me, I know there are people in this country who just can't go to college and make something of themselves; but honestly, for all the opportunites this country offers for higher education, we should have a lot less of those people.

    Nonetheless, your fabled story is not worth arguing over. The bottom line is this: illegals do put a burdern on our health and welfare system. We do have a lot of trash coming over to our country, and it's burdening us. But as a proud conservative capitalist from Texas, I must say that these people have much more of the American spirit than those who had the blessing of being born in this country. Many of these people come wanting to work hard, work well, save money, take care of their families, and progress. That's a lot more American in my eyes than having all the opportunities in the world at your hands and doing nothing with your life. All I'm saying is be realistic, open your eyes and realize that there is some good in these people. And I will continue to employ those who want to make money for me and want to earn an honest day's pay by busting their bottoms for me. Anything less is unAmerican!

    • Posted By: jjaffie @ 04/27/2009 2:15:24 PM

      They are not immigrants, they are thieves. Your auto insurance rates in Texas are 40% higher because of the 8-10 million illegals here.

      Don't even try to use that "the leader of that drug cartel was good to his kids so he must not have that bad line". They are breaking the law just by being here and stealing from us all. Services they use like anything paid for with public money, from roads to public transportation, to hospital care- every cent they don't pay in taxes comes straight out of citizen's pockets.

      Immigrants come here to be a part of America and a better life, not try to change America into the smelly, trashy, corrupt S-hole they just left.

    • Posted By: rocket surgeon @ 04/27/2009 1:32:39 PM

      well, there it is ... another contractor wanting cheap labor ... i had an entire crew of illegals putting on my roof after the hurricanes of '04 (even when i specifically told the company i did not want illegals on my property). when i went home at lunch to check on their work they had not replaced any of the sheeting ... which they had been instructed to do ... and when i tell them this ... no habla englese ... i called the contractor and told them i wanted them off my property and i call the police to have it done unless he got his butt down there and had them REDO all of the work. needless to say, he was right there ... and oh lucky me ... roof leaks, and i have to fix gables after their shoddy workmanship ... I WILL PAY to have it done correctly by someone who actually knows how to do their job! btw the price was NO LOWER than any other contractor ... should have gone with the locals, but then it would have been even longer than the 2 years i did wait ...

  • Posted By: jab2 @ 04/27/2009 1:14:33 PM

    The problem is multifolded. With the demand of a bigger profit. The Ceo's wanting higher pay. The biggest place to get the most out of the balance sheets for companies is the cost of wages. When they move factories to other countries they get out of alot of the hidden cost of doing business in the usa. that is your worker unemployment, insurance for the buildings and employees. the retirement accounts that companies match. and lastly the wages themselves. If you study the companies over the last 30 years you will see all benefits have decreased but the cost of doing business has increased. in large part of that is the hidden cost. As for the illegals they still hear hey they are bringing home 300 a week there. what they dont hear is what in real terms what that money is. they dont hear the cost of rents the cost of utilites, the cost of groceries. If people want to really stop illegals then run ads in their countries and put the actual cost of what living in America is. When they see you end up with a negative number for living, not making enough to live on. They will stop coming and companies cant hire what isnt there to hire.

  • Posted By: J.D. @ 04/27/2009 1:08:19 PM

    THATS Y THE WORLD IS HOW IT IS TODAY.........

  • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/25/2009 3:10:07 PM

    Bottom

    • Posted By: USWORKER @ 04/26/2009 10:33:44 AM


      I work with illegals everday and they are lazy period, I have been working construction in my industry for over thirty years and it takes twice as many hipanics to do the same work the it took whites, blacks, tongans, aisans and any other people i have worked with. Our goverment does nothing to protect our borders and taxpaying citizens have to pay for the illegals health care, education and all the organized crime that comes with them which I have been a victim of. THANK GOD our company was bought by someone with some morales and is now letting all the illegals go it is actually nice to go to work you dont have to worry about getting threated with bodly harm because they want your job. They belive that the jobs are theirs and you need to quit so their other illegal freinds can have your job. I have seen people beaten at my place of employment because they wanted his job for some illegal immigrant and of course it works. I am now working politicaly with my congressman and senator to make new laws so illegals can not work in my state to me it is very simple no jobs and they will go back home on their own and if not then when they get caught then they will be sent back home. Im almost ready to retire and my retirement will be spent fighting the illgeal immagration battle. All illegal immagration has to be stopped it is destroying America. Close all immagration until it is brought under control, inforce the laws we have and inact new laws to protect the citizens of America please.

      • Posted By: boom shaka @ 04/26/2009 6:28:25 PM

        Ha! Ha! Ha! A constuction worker calling an illegal lazy! Hilarious.

        You must be union, right?

        Regards,

        BS

      • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/26/2009 12:01:19 PM

        A) Well, you must be working outside the U.S. I went to school in Texas, worked in New Mexico one summer, and currently reside in Arizona and trust me, the illegals down here in the southwest work faster than all the good ol' boys combined. No offense, but it seems to me that your story is somewhat exaggerated or false. If illegals are so 'lazy period' as you so put it, then why would a company retain them? If it takes "twice as many hipanics to do the same work the it took whites, blacks, tongans, aisans, and any other people i have worked with", tell me sir, why would a company retain such employees? It makes no sense from a business standpoint, even if you were still paying 2 Hispanics the wage of one person of any other race. It seems to me that your anger is more with illegals outpacing you at work.

        As far as 'bodily threat if you don't quite your job' is concerned, why did you never bother to report this? You are wanting to write to your congressman and senator about this issue, yet you aren't even familiar with workplace harassment laws and other rights you have as a legal American employee.

        This is by far the most absurd and falsified post I have read on this comment board. As an American, I will say that illegal immigration is a major problem America is facing, and will agree with you that we need to do something about it. Nonetheless, let's view things as they are, not as our biases would like them to be. Most illegals work hard, are just happy to be employed, save money, and live within their means. Are many a burden to our health and welfare systems? Oh of course! I'm a realist, and the numbers don't lie. My whole point in the previous post is that rather than constantly shaming these people for what they aren't (legal citizens), we could learn a lot from what they are (American). I say they are American because they come here with the same values and morals our forefathers had. Most work hard, save money, live within their means, care for their families, and contribute to businesses in our society.

        Finally, as someone who worked their butt off to get through school and graduate school, I must say that if someone who can't read or speak English is qualified and competent enough to be able to do your job better and faster than you (who was born in this country, had all the opportunities in the world that a great nation like ours presents), then maybe you deserve to have your job taken from you. That's survival of the fittest. If a 'third-worlder' can outpace a citizen of a superpower country, then tough. I'm no pro-illegals, I'm pro-business, a capitalist. Sorry buddy, but I have a hard time wanting to hire people who made nothing of the opportunities this great country of ours offers!

  • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/26/2009 12:19:17 PM

    I may have accidentally posted twice, since I had not logged on and in attempting to do so Newsweek appeared to have deleted my post. I apologize for the annoyance this may cause.

  • Posted By: joshmckinney @ 04/25/2009 3:21:13 PM

    My family has been in America for generations and has seen numerous changes, both socially and demographically. I had relatives on both sides during the civil war, on both sides during the civil rights era. All I can say is that as a proud American, I want to see my country progress. Illegal immigration is a burden, it truly is, but with that being said, I notice that you probably will not find anyone who works harder, faster, and for less than illegals of Hispanic/Latino descent.

    I may get heat for this generalization, but out here in Arizona, you can only tell it how it is: the uneducated white and black class works nowhere near as hard as the uneducated, illegal Hispanic class. Most whites and blacks who are uneducated out here are just stting on their bottoms waiting for the next government check to come in. Hispanics on the other hend work their tails off for a living. And to say that it all goes back to their home country is total B.S... these people obviously have to pay rent, sales tax on clothes and other goods they purchase, and they pay for food. What do people who use "the money goes back to Mexico" argument think illegals live on?? Hopes and dreams? No! They live off of cash! Plus, if these people are frugal enough to live within their means and be able to save enough money to send it to their home country to help their families then why not let them? We on the other hand live on credit and way outside our means and then we complain that illegals are the issue? From a financial savings/work ethic standpoint we could learn a lot from illegals! I'd hire an illegal Mexican to work for me before I'd hire a white or black American. At least the illegal won't be crying "Union!" or asking when his next break comes!

  • Posted By: coraltown @ 04/25/2009 3:10:14 PM

    If there is anything you can count on, it is that the US government will continue to allow the tidal wave of immigrants (both legal & illegal) into our country. The ground under you feet will be sold and given away, the quality of life will continue to slide, and there is nothing a US born citizen can do about it. No other country on earth has been so completely and totally sold out.

  • Posted By: vertigo @ 04/25/2009 2:30:25 PM

    Trust me, Bill Gates isn't too concerned about Indian engineers being strip searched, he's worried that his source of cheap labor will be impacted. If that happened he'd be forced to pay American engineers the prevailing wage.

  • Posted By: lovedeedee @ 04/25/2009 7:16:33 AM

    I have just met an american lady who lives in my village and she is illegal. So you see, even americans go live in other country illegaly.

    • Posted By: couchman @ 04/25/2009 12:34:31 PM

      WOW!!! You found one illegal american in your village. LOL...Come to Los Angeles I'll show you millions.

  • Posted By: couchman @ 04/25/2009 12:26:41 PM

    Didn't you see Slumdog Millionaire? What are they going to go back to? I was watching something on CNN and they said the average Chinese factory worker makes 200 dollars per month. Give my a break. America at its worst is a hundred times better than these countries. Yeah sure there're going to stop coming. LOL

    Finally the chickens are coming home to roost as we see the destruction of America. We don't need 2 million new Americans a year. We can't even take care of the people who are here. Its interesting though to see the destruction of an empire.

  • Posted By: couchman @ 04/25/2009 12:20:27 PM

    Didn't you see Slumdog Millionaire? What are they going to go back to? America at its worst is a hundred times better than these countries. The US goverment has screwed over citizens for so long now the chickens are coming home to ruste. We don't need 2 million people a year. We can't even employ our own citizens. Its a joke pretty soon we will be a third world country. Thanks bill Gates for Windows and the destruction of America.

  • Posted By: sweetie2a @ 04/25/2009 10:28:54 AM

    Katie Baker........write what the American people want not illegals....by the way why dont you give up your job to an illegal to help their cause

  • Posted By: nezz @ 04/25/2009 8:47:34 AM

    Most americans don't want amnesty but the corrupt government and the bought and paid for Katie Baker doesn't give a ***, does she?

  • Posted By: nezz @ 04/25/2009 7:43:43 AM

    Katie Baker = anti american treasonist traitor

  • Posted By: nezz @ 04/25/2009 7:42:22 AM

    Katie Baker = anti american

  • Posted By: PaulC1958 @ 04/19/2009 5:39:40 AM

    The implication of Ms. Baker's article is that it would be stupid for America to shut out immigrants/illegal aliens, but I would posit that most US citizens want their country to have a strong middle class. A middle class, however, requires a tight labor market and strong legal protections for the bargaining rights of workers. Without these two essential elements, workers will never be able to achieve and maintain equivalent traditional post WWII middle class incomes. No matter what politicians or anyone else says, if jobs can be and are outsourced (Free Trade/Global Economy) or in-sourced (massive immigration, legal and illegal), then there can be no tight labor market and the middle class will continue to wither away and workers??? standard of living and working conditions will continue to get worse and worse. The veracity of what we say can be clearly seen in the consequences suffered by the middle class from these cheap labor policies; policies we would note large majorities of the American people opposed when they were implemented. All middle class American families have gotten from the cheap labor policies of the past 30 years are massive increases in public and private debt, reduced incomes, high bankruptcy levels, failing schools, deteriorating infrastructure and a drastically reduced quality of life.

    When politicians or the media talk about ???free trade??? or ???we are in a global economy,??? all we hear them saying is they want cheap labor and a poor standard of living for our families. When anyone tells us we are ???a nation of immigrants??? so we have to accept 12-20+ million illegal aliens and tens of millions of legal immigrants,??? what we hear them telling us is they want cheap labor, a poor standard of living for our families, and 439 million people in the country by 2050. When anyone, particularly politicians, tells us we are bigots, xenophobes, nativists, or haters of brown people if we oppose amnesty for illegal aliens and want our laws enforced, all we hear them telling us is they want cheap labor and a poor standard of living for our families, and 439 million people in the country by 2050. When we hear anyone say illegal aliens only do jobs American citizens won???t do, all we hear them saying is they want cheap labor and a poor standard of living for our families, and 439 million people in the country by 2050. We have had nearly 30 years of this free trade/global economy and massive immigration experiment, and by any measure it has been and absolute failure for American workers and US citizens.

    • Posted By: Vigilance @ 04/23/2009 7:32:23 PM

      As far as I can tell, we've had 233 years of "this...massive immigration experiment". I count roughly 300,000,000 in America who mostly have roots coming from outside the country...and I don't see a lot of full-blood Cherokees on these boards.

      I will never understand the attitude of people who say "we got here first, now let's shut the borders". Might I ask where your family's roots are from?

      • Posted By: DisciplineIsFreedom @ 04/25/2009 12:17:04 AM

        So then let's just invite all 6 million earthlings to live here in the US, since none of us is really from here and what right does any of us have to tell any one of them they can't come? Yes, ridiculous, isn't it? Absolutism is like that.

        While it is true that most people living in America right now are the descendants of immigrants (though I am not) the fact remains that at some point you have to realize you are facing an evolving set of conditions, and that if your policies don't evolve along with those conditions, you're end is inevitable.

        • Posted By: lovedeedee @ 04/25/2009 7:12:42 AM

          Not 6 million but 6 billion - me... I have no desire to live in the usa. I am just fine where I am.

      • Posted By: jblackwell88 @ 04/25/2009 7:11:41 AM

        Life isn't fair. Unrestricted immigration / open borders is not the way to make a strong nation-state. I would encourage you to consider why established "old" countries DO have restrictions, and explain when the USA will qualify as a developed country and have a mature immigration policy. We're not a colony anymore. The British are no longer trying to secure their tenuous foothold to a vast and empty continent. Besides, if you were "green" as Obama claims he is, you'd want to conserve as much of the natural USA as possible, and the way to do that is to restrict who gets in.

  • Posted By: lovedeedee @ 04/25/2009 7:07:56 AM

    Latinos are the ones who will be paying for your social security. There are not enough babies borned in this country to pay for all the boomers retirement. This is why they let this happen because they know that. I am just wondering why they are not giving you the true reason.

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