We simply disagree, skeeter. I don't question your intelligence or your "hidden" motives. I see employers unable to get folks to harvest crops, maintain lawns and grounds, and take care of the elderly. The focus of immigration policy should be permit employers to get the workers they need, and engage them legally. Some of that may be in high tech, but that's where there are Americans willing to work and have invested in education to gain those opportunities. Mostly, the need is for lower skilled workers, for jobs Americans won't do.
The history of American immigration is that assimilation has always occurred, after a generation. The nativists decried the Irish and the Italians a century ago just as they fear Hispanic immigration today. Get over it. This is America, a nation founded and made great by immigrants. Your ancestors. My ancestors. It will all work out all right, so long as immigration is controlled and legal.
@Jazzhead Your post confuses me. I am assuming that you are say, 50 years old, or above. And that you grew up in America.
Don't you remember how things were in your childhood?
unable to get folks to harvest crops have you no recollection of how this was done? I grew up on a family farm, we harvested all of our crops without ever once employing an illegal alien. First of all the whole family pitched in, once we were about 10 years old we pretty much did the same tasks as the adults (albeit to a lesser skill and output level). Also, we helped each other out. A group of families would spend a weekend on a neighbor's property getting their harvest under control. The next week it was someone else's patch. And if there was still a need for more labor, other folks from the town or relatives from out of the area would also come in.
maintain lawns and grounds do you not remember how this was done before the influx of illegal aliens? First off, most homeowners that were not relatively wealthy with large properties did most of this themselves. Others that couldn't or preferred to hire out the work found any number of service providers will to do the work for a reasonable fee. In fact, doing yardwork and grass cutting was one of the jobs that teens could often do very successfully to earn spending money during the summers and vacations. We didn't have any problems keeping lawns trimmed and yards maintained.
take care of the elderly again, no recollection of how this was done? For the most part the elderly moved in with family when they reached the point that they could no longer take care of themselves (if they already weren't living under the same roof as their kids). We also had nursing homes available for those that couldn't be taken care of by the family. They existed, they were operated and staffed by Americans. They charged a fee and provided the services.
There are countless other examples as how we as Americans took care of all of these things that you wave your banner of "jobs that Americans won't do..." at...
So, as I said, when I see posts like this I am left scratching my head.... does the person have no memory of how life in the United States was in the 1950s, 1960s, or earlier? Are they too young to remember? Did they grow up in another country? Do they truly believe what they are saying? Are they spinning a yarn that is convenient to back up their desires? Are they making excuses for how they wish things to be?
