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Thank you Kevin. You're absolutely right. There simply can't be an improvement in real wages in this country as long as it is flooded by illegal immigrants who will work for next to nothing, often under the table without obeying the minimum wage. When people say that illegal immigrants do jobs documented Americans won't do, they're being somewhat deceptive-- the truth is, Americans would do those jobs if they paid a living wage. Unskilled workers have absolutely no leverage today because of the 10 million undocumented workers who will take jobs for nothing.
Legalize them, document them, give them amnesty-- and then raise the minimum wage and force them to abide by the labor laws that so many people had to fight so hard for.
The way to San Antonio is paved with low wages. That is the crux of the argument: does unrestrained immigration dampen the wage rate? San Antonio proves that it does. Sure, some people make $40,000 a year driving tractor-trailers; but if those same jobs pay $60,000 a year in a non-immigrant rich city than the argument is made that immigration dampens the wage rate. San Antonio is booming with low-wage jobs. Is this a boon to anyone but illegal immigrants or those that profit from cheap labor? I know I'm not rushing to San Antonio to take one of these low-wage jobs.
