got a friend who had citizen coworkers and got paid a lot cheaper than them. her job is more complicated than the citizen and more toxic. when she asked for an increase the supervisor said that because of her status (she was sponsored legally) she already had received the maximum bracket allowed for her salary.\n\nnow ain't that unfair for an immigrant to have more workload than a citizen and get paid less? isn't this one of the reasons why hospitals hire immigrants because they can exploit them and these immigrants do the work because they get paid a lot more than working in their own countries? talk about discrimination.\n\nby the way, my friend already finished her contract with the company so there's no question about lawyers or ins fees to be deducted from her salary. she wanted to stay after her contract but wanted a higher salary.
202591
This is a very common practice and a very unfortunate one. I'm a registered nurse, and I just found out a few months back that a fellow coworker was on a working visa and is getting paid significantly less than I am.\n\nI heard her story, but in my mind I was thinking that's the way it is. Nurses are not cheap, and hospitals are just taking advantage of the situation.  It works for both sides. The immigrant nurse gets to work here and enjoy the freedom, while hospitals can provide competent care to their patients through these immigrant nurses.\n\nCommon practice. For the ignorant person who wrote about jobs being taken away from U.S. citizens..can you please read up on the nursing situation in this country. There is a big shortage and no regular Joe Schmoe can do that job. It is going to get worse in ten years. You'll see when your parents reach 70 to 80 years and a nurse is forced to take on 8 patients because there's not enough of them. Watch how you treat that nurse, and she probably does not even have a nursing assistant!\n\nWhy don't you be a nurse then , ignoramus!
585376
Immigrants are the best solution to cover the posts of unwanted jobs in many countries! If the law changes they automatically start paying taxes. When you born cannot choose the place to live, later however you should be allowed to do whatever and wherever you want. That's the human right - freedom. Romanians moved to Poland, Poles moved to the UK, British and Mexicans moved to USA, Dominicans, Colombians to Spain etc. There were recently millions of people around globe who found the place to live somewhere else and how on earth the governments will put them back to where they came from? If they find a job it obviously means they're needed there. You lost cooks - pay bribes officers so they go to other industries instead ;-D)))
260722
I remember talking about this in business class. A higher motivator would be better working conditions. If you give them higher pay they still won't want to be there if the working conditions are bad. If the working conditions are good they are more likely to stay there and still have a small salary. With better working conditions the people are more willing to work overtime to get the extra money they need.
221949
No, it did not change my mind. Most who protested are illegals (many were not) and by protesting and leaving the job for a day they thumbed their noses at the very people who gave them jobs (illegally or not, they were given jobs). Biting the hand that feeds you to use a cliche.  Also, they are here ILLEGALLY, that means they are in violation of our laws. I commend those who came here legally and fought long and hard for their citizenship, so we are now just to hand it over because they are protesting? What about all those people who have studied and worked hard to become citizens?  What a slap in their face.
278925
Si, mi amigo, yo consento con usted. But at the same time the people that hire the illegals are sonegating taxes and taking the opportunities of those there are legal, the employers know that they can pay these people under minimum wage and they have not to pay benefits. I understand that their respective countries are not the best thing in the planet, but you know what, they are DEMANDING things(protests and isultingactions) from the government, and I am sorry it is not the U.S.' job to be the babysitter of the planet. I also agree that they wnat to better their lives, but there is a Legal way to do so, hentz  immigration laws and procedures.I had to do itthe legal way so can they!!\n\np.s.: It is unconceivable to think that in a country with 240+ million people you will not be able to fill up the jobs of those 19+ milion that right now are illegal here! \nLets use an example: 50 years ago before there were so many illegal immigrants in the country some of those jobs done by them right now had to be done by americans. And you know what? there are no reports of people complaining about the prices of vegetables , landscaping- illegals work construction- (which I may say, real state is overvalued right now, but that is a different argument).And more, the employers hire illegals so that they can maxime their marginal revenue, not because they want to charge less money from you.
198974
CURLIES_10-You Need To Learn The Underlying Issues Before You Become A Taxpayer(Im Assuming Youre A Student Living With Your Parents)\n\nFREEDOMHAMMER Makes The Point Best-It Is GREEDY Unscrupulous EMPLOYERS That ENABLE This Problem And Have Compounded It To This Point\n\nThere are jobs Americans simply won't do, so that the importation of foreigners is essential. Whether these foreign workers are ILLEGAL ALIENS,  guestworkers, or permanent Legal Immigrants is a detail to be worked out by us, the argument goes, but our need for them is unchanged.Even many opponents of the proposed Bush Amnesty assume this to be true, leading them to propose new and improved guestworker programs, with provisions for stricter controls against Permanent Settlement, greater incentives to return, tighter enforcement against Unscrupulous Employers, etc. As well-meaning as such efforts may be, the basic assumption is false — \n\nThere is simply no economic reason to import FOREIGN Workers.If the supply of FOREIGN Workers were to dry up (say, through actually ENFORCING the immigration law, for starters), employers would respond to this new, tighter, labor market in two ways. \n\n1: One, they would offer HIGHER Wages, INCREASED Benefits, and Improved Working Conditions, so as to recruit and retain people from the remaining pool of workers.\n\n2:At the same time, the same employers would look for ways to eliminate some of the jobs they now are having trouble filling. The result would be a NEW Equilibrium, with Blue-Collar Workers making somewhat Better Money, but each one of those workers being more productive.\n\nMany people fear the first part of such a response, claiming that prices for fruits and vegetables would skyrocket, fueling inflation..NOT TRUE..Labor accounts for only about ten percent of the retail price of a head of lettuce,  so even doubling the wages of pickers would have little noticeable effect on consumers.\n\nSeveral people told me they used to do the "jobs Americans won't do" until local employers figured out they could get ILLEGAL Aliens to work for less than half the same amount. As an example, a young landscaper who used to make $15 an hour 10 years ago, can't get a similar job now for more than $8 an hour. Same heat. Same difficult working conditions.  But with the Depressed Wage, AMERICANS – who live in a country where the cost of living is miles above that of Mexico's – can't afford to take such jobs.It's not that he and other Americans don't want to do landscaping anymore; it's just that in heavily trafficked ILLEGAL Alien environments, IT DOESNT PAY WELL ENOUGH ANYMORE.\n\n Younger U.S.-born high school graduates are squeezed at both ends. Jobs that would have gone to them in the past are now being grabbed by college graduates. The lowest-wage jobs are unappealing, and employers will not raise wages as long as ILLEGAL Immigrants will take them.\n\nIf this is what the open borders crowd means by ILLEGAL ALIENS doing jobs Americans don't want, they're right. American workers want jobs that can Earn them a DECENT LIVING in this country. Minimum wage is a fortune south of the border, but it doesn't go far here. \n\n\nthis is to illustrate the absurdity of a "comprehensive" approach to ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS , and the more radical of the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT  advocates who are proponents of an "open borders" policy. We don't take a comprehensive, humane approach with drug dealers because they are breaking our laws and causing great damage to this country by poisoning our children. Similarly, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS  violate our laws and Poison our system of Economics by TAKING JOBS  from American Workers, Keeping WAGES ARTIFICIALLY LOW, and Sucking MILLIONS of Dollars of TAXPAYERS MONEY out of our Welfare and Medical Systems. \nNot To Mention The Fact That A Majority Of ILLEGAL ALIENS Live And Work In This Country And Then Send Their Money Back Home To Their
516436
Guest worker problem is dodging issue yet again.  I also take exception to those two statements\n\n1) "They only take jobs Americans won't do" is not true.  They take jobs Americans won't do for THE LOW PAY!!  Companies are just saving money and paying minimum wage (if that).  Americans can't live on minimum wage.  Illegals can, cause they don't pay taxes, don't contribute to Social Security,or don't have to pay health benefits.\n\n2) "Deport all illegals and Americans will pay higher prices" is true but will never happen.  Unfortunately we have no way to track all the illegals in this country now and I highly doubt that if we do have a guest worker program that all illegals will come forward.  Employers will have to pay higher costs in wages and taxes thereby making us pay more for their product/service.\n\nI've said it once, I'll say it again -- I have no problems with people coming into this country to get a better life if they adapt to the American way of life, learn to speak English and become US Citizens like the millions of other immigrants who came to the US have!!\n2)
208232
When you give something, people will get greedy and ask for more. Look whats happening in Europe right now. Not only do they have paid leave, but their working hours are shorter, and they work less days per week. But see the effects? Their economy is in all sorts of trouble right now. Low growth rate, high unemployment etc. There's always two side to a story. So hope this will make you feel happier that you still have a job thats paying you a decent amount of money to begin with. :)
658790
Wow, you people amaze me on here. I don't mean just one person in particular I mean everyone! Before you begin to pick sides, please understand the other side of the argument. I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but there are some things people just need to realize man. First off, illegal aliens, yes they should be sent back because they are illegal. But people though, if their country is so much better off with our "outsourcing economy" why is it they still want to come into our country? Another thing is because they are doing the jobs that are paying low wages and yea, they are doing it illegally; but let me ask you something, what about all the americans who are here working as drug dealers, bank robbers, and criminals trying to get their money? Aren't they as illegal as the illegal aliens trying to make a living? Oh an please don't get on me with that immigrations get more welfare: to be honest with you the "caucasian populations" get more welfare and is more dependent on the state. So therefore I've contradicted myself in both ways, which explains what I'm trying to say please think before you judge, and learn before you speak. That's all....... thank you..
212722
Anyone here a member of a union.  The jobs they do, these are not jobs that no americans will do, busboy, valet, waiter, etc.  Maybe Americans want to be paid more but hey, when you have a minimum wage, that's to be expected.  \n\nPersonally, I know a lot of international people.  I hear a lot about their problems getting into this country.  To me, illegal immigration is like cutting ahead of all these great people.  Is that fair, hells no, life in mexico isn't great, but the people in mexico can't complain about anything.  They no nothing about hard life.  If we should allow illegal immigration on the basis of them being refugees, then there are millions in Africa who we should bring in first.  There are two ways of doing it, don't let anyone in illegally, or let everyone in.  And I think we would know what happens if we just opened the floodgates.    \n\nIf the people protesting really wanted to be here, wouldn't they have an american flag, not a mexican one.  I'm really sick of the racial preservation.  You want to be proud to be mexican, go be proud in mexico, because if you want to say you're proud to be mexico and you're illegal, you're saying that you're proud you grew up from such filth that you couldn't help but leave(but you still love being from there).
250304
The government does to reap benefits from cheap labor in the form of lobbyist (in support of big business) who support their campaigns financially. \n\nWhy is this not a no brainer for most people?\n\nNot only that, Mexican's aren't the only illegals in the country, there are large amounts of Asians (who cross the border illegally) and a growing number of Easter Europeans (who come as guest workers but stay even after their visa's expire) here illegally in this country.  \n\nI had a friend (Eastern European, from Bulgaria) who was brought here by a Bulgarian company that partnered with American companies to set up Bulgarian workers to work for American companies.  She worked pretty much like a slave for Six Flags (from sun up to sun down for $5.75) for months until she just quit.  In order to keep from becoming illegal, she became a student a "school" (I say school because the place was a small office in an office park that looked more like an apartment building) where she paid them $800 every 3 months.  She finally couldn't afford it anymore and stopped paying and is now illegal.  \n\nThere are more where she comes from and the number keeps growing as companies continue to ship people in to exploit them.\n\nThe U.S. Government inacted NAFTA, after which led to a huge jump in the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico.  That would be in my opinion the way in which the government is allowing illegal immigrant labor to keep wages low.  How is that a conspiracy theory?
423649
Yes, definitely this employer should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.  This is one of the things I don't understand about supporters of illegal immigration - they are actually advocating the abuse of the people they claim to be in support of!  Who, in their right mind, would be "all for" allowing people to be used by unscrupulous employers who can force them to work for less than minimum wage, for far more hours than allowed in our employment laws, and if the employer decides to cheat them of wages, they have no where to turn?  Where is the reason in this?\n\nWow!  I just read Andy's response (from Sweden) and I wish the USA could copy the way Sweden handles illegal immigration!
173928
I owned a construction business, we did all phases of construction, but too many illegals made it to hard to compete. We did better work, did it faster, had better cust service, yet everything we bid we got cutthroated because the businesses we were doing work for found out that hiring illegals that were " self employed" for 40-50% of our cost was better. They are illegal, therefore don't carry the labor burden and other fixed and variable overhead. If they were gone, those jobs no one wants, will be paying more overnight. For example, with a painting service, painting houses, you could make 1600 a week depending on the size, and thats just for labor, then 15% mark-up on materials. With illegals, materials go for cost, and labor is lower cause they don't pay income taxes, and need to pay for that 1 bedroom apartment with 10 of them in it. So, they do it really really cheap. Americans want these jobs. Not everyone wants to waste time and money becoming over educated. Actually, the most stupid people I know are college educated with no common sence. A piece of paper doesn't mean your smart or properly educated!!
479098
Because illegal immigration (I'll assume that's what you mean) is a big deal. So what if the minimum wage got raised? Illegal immigrants cost us billions of dollars. And if you are aiding and abetting an illegal immigrant, it is a crime, so you can be arrested.
648566
Urban Legend.  I am an immigrant and I started my own business, and I NEVER heard of that.  It's just hate speech to make you hate immigrants for being hard-working and successful.  Before I was naturalized, I had to pay even more taxes than now, and I had to pay social security even though I was not entitled to collect it.
302107
The argument that they will do jobs that Americans won't do is a lot of bunk, plain and simple.  If an employer knows it can get workers willing to work for $50 a day off the books why should it pay $10 an hour plus have to deal with the additional expense of Federal tax withholding, Social Security withholdings, pensions, etc. etc.?  You may not be aware that the cost of a (legitimate) employee is considerably more than just the wage paid to that employee. So when an emploer can hire someone for a fraction of that amount off the books because there are people willing to work for that drastically lesser amount, you can see the real cause of the problem.  \n\nSo the incredibly LAME argument that these illegals do work that Americans won't do is pure bunk.  The employers are not willing to pay a decent wage and so cannot attract legal American citizens to fill the jobs.  As long as these employers can get away with it they will continue to do it.  The net result is to deny jobs to Americans while giving low paying wages to illegals, and the employers pocket the difference.\n\nThus this has nothing to do with minimum wage.  Minimum wage has been shown to be counterproductive anyway, by locking out of a job people who cannot perform up to that level.  So ironically, raising the minimm wage would keep more people who would be willing to work for less at the low end of the labor skills ladder out of work.\n\nSo the entire issue has NOTHING to do with "jobs Americans won't do".  It has everything to do with employers being able to tap into a sub-standard labor pool for which they can pay far less than otherwise.\n\nThe result of this, and the politicians seem to fail to grasp this, is that the illegals drive down wages for legal American citizens.  Get rid of (1) the illegal worker and (2) shut down businesses that hire them and you will go a long way to solving the problem.\n\nBush's assinine "Guest Worker Program" which in actuality should be renamed "Illegal Worker program" will only serve to make matters worse.
313883
I don't get it.  The problem with this debate is that there are too many Squares that must follow the rules. Given how much a job in the US means to an immigrant's family I feel that it is okay to look the other way.   Plus anything that makes it illegal for Children here in the United States to get an Education or go to the hospital because they'd get arrested is complete BS.