Letters to the Editor
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jobs americans don't want to do
There is no such thing.
It should be "jobs Americans don't want to do at extremely low wages"
If migrant farming paid a living wage, it wouldn't be such a bad job.
terry
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Wedge Issues only work that way if you don't address them
Sure, conservatives like to use wedge issues to splinter the natural alliances of those on the downside of power. But it doesn't have to be that way. My organization, Oregon Action, is largely lead by African-Americans who are strong supporters of immigrant rights. In fact, one of our leaders who rode in the Freedom Rides of the sixties, also participated in the Immigrant Rights Freedom ride two years ago to express the alliance between these two civil rights movements. Recently, Senator Avel Gordly, an African-American state senator here in Oregon gave one of the most effective and powerful speeches I have heard - a speech that explicitly linked these two movements.
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They would prefer not to? Correction
[Apologies, the previous version ommitted the quoted text]
In the post previous to this, “A Democratic reconquista?” Leonard writes:
"It is clearly in the interest of the United States to support the rapid development of poorer countries. Not only would this reduce the pressure of illegal immigration, but it would also diminish the cheap-labor comparative advantage that is hammering American workers via offshoring."
I think I agree insofar as such a United States is the country I would like to call home. But that interpretation of US interests assumes that the “United States” stands for a government, as a proxy for its people, and acknowledges that something as quaintly humanitarian as “quality of life” should be the end towards which government processes flow.
Here’s another take:
As a proxy for multinational corporations and their shareholders, the United States we know is propelled by the logic of capital. And from that vantage point, the cheap-labor competitive advantage is about as fundamental as it gets, at home and abroad, which is why we’re on such fertile ground now with a dovetailing discussion of offshoring and (illegal) immigration.
The cheap-labor competitive advantage has had corrosive effects on collective bargaining, which is based on the need for labor. When management is in the position to say “We don’t need you, we’ve got people willing to do this job cheaper,” the worker is hamstrung. A CEO interviewed in “The Corporation” manages to cast the gross exploitation of labor in developing nations as a humanitarian gift to the starving, even as he casts doubt on his own moral calculus by regarding whole villages of starving families as the developing world’s gift to global capital.
As for illegal immigration here, it powers the restaurant economy, the construction trade and migrant farmworking, not to mention the nanny business in the beltway. That being the case, am I the only one out here skeptical of claims (backed up by “surveys”!) that the immigrant labor market wouldn’t exist if US workers weren’t so damned picky or lazy, like a sub-class of Bartleby’s? Don't we to some extent rely on the cheap-labor comparative advantage at home to make service sector minimum wags jobs look like the brass ring?
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Many immigrants are black...
It's an interesting paradox: on one hand, you have a motivated group of people - immigrants, doing jobs that most Americans balk at - and then you have the African American community - not to be confused with Africans in America - which is plagued by high unemployment and rates of incarceration (due to that same high unemployment). Anyone who has associated with immigrant blacks and American blacks also knows that there's hostility between the two groups - the newcomers don't want to hear about racism (or of welfare entitlement) - they're here making money and doing well, while the other feels the new guys just don't get it. And, of course, there's the Latin American immigrant, hard working, socially conservative (and religious), proud of his/her heritage, and willing to do just about any legal work to pay the rent and send some money back home - recent polling suggests they're comfortable in America and feel unfettered by racism: they have also revitalized communities with a fresh infusion of culture that has resonated with the natives - evidence of the Latino/a influence can be seen (and heard and tasted) on almost any street in urban and suburban communities. To add to this mix, we also have an influx of highly educated Russians and other Eastern Europeans and Asians who are competing for the high end jobs - the jobs Americans would do if they had the education - as well as low end jobs and, as is the case with recent (and not so recent) Arab arrivals, taking over jobs traditionally held by other recent immigrants, such as shopkeepers in poor neighborhoods - often black impoverished neighborhoods, and often shops that sell liquor - or other goods that set up a strain between the community and the shopkeeper. Many of the above are here illegally - they overstay visas or sneak into the country: they often have bogus papers, using false SS numbers and ID - border towns, suburban localities and big cities suffer under the burden of schooling them, healing them and sometimes incarcerating them - and the federal government offers little or no relief - I think this is a major source of anger from the homegrown variety American - not so much the strain of helping our neighbors, but the snub by our own government - at a time when municipalities are strained and services for tax payers are cut. Add to this the perception that our politicians reward illegal activity by offering in-state tuition or building shelters for day workers, as well as creating "sanctuary" cities that illegally protect illegals and throw in a dash of politically expedient representatives at the local and state level as well as Washington who pander to both sides without doing anything, and you wonder why everyone from Pat Buchanan to Lou Dobbs to a "left-wing academic" are sleeping in the same bed?
Question: why does Leonard describe the Minutemen as vigilanties while left pro-immigrant groups are labeled "activists"? Can you point to examples of these "vigilanties" breaking the law anymore than "activists" who help illegal immigrnats sneak into the country with maps and bottles of water left in the desert (not to mention safe houses and the such)?