Is it a myth that illegal labor is benefitting our country?

Question

I think the way that it is presented in the media, the answer is definitely, yes. No doubt they provide services- pick crops, work in construction, ect.,but at what cost? Employers prefer to hire them because they work for cheap wages and no benefits. The consequences: Americans lose jobs they were doing before illegals swarmed the country, wages in realted jobs are kept down, and working conditions are not improved. Example: meat packing industry- low wages, dangerous work, long shifts that increase the danger. Before employers decided to hire illegals to increse their profits, Americans did this work, wages were considerably higher, included benefits, and shifts were shorter so work was less dangerous. So who benefitted? Consumers pay the same price for meat and many Americans lost their jobs. The employers are the ones reaping the benefits of illegal labor and the media, which is controlled by large corporations, propagates the myth that this illegal labor is necessary.

bitto luv: All that is fine and good but pay attention to the question. It is about "illegal" labor. Illegal workers are not scientists or surgeons. They do cheap labor, and there are 11 million of them doing that.

Answer 1

You have explained this very nicely. Savings that the employers reap by hiring illegals at far lower costs are not passed onto the consumers. It is kept by the employers as higher profits. Illegals are not causing our food to be cheaper. This is a myth!

Answer 2

My husband worked construction making $15-$20 an hour. working for a white contractor. he would lose bid s to the Hispanics. They would under bid him all the time. paying illegal $5-$8 an hour. I think it is wrong for illegals to have any rights at all. It is sad that we American have to support them, be it Welfare,Food stamps,and housing. It even sadder that people who and try to support their children work full time and can't get any type of asst. (government) state because they have jobs.
But if I sat at home on my butt drinking and smoking I could get all the help I wanted.
We American need to take care of US first. we have homeless that need help and kids that go hungry just to feed all these illegals.
If they came here the right way that is different. we are American that should be the only flag we fly.
It is not just illegal that piss me off it is anyone who think everyone owe them!!!
I'm a high school drop out, as is my husband we own a house we pay our bills every month and have money to do extra things with our FOUR kid we have no asst. of any kind.

DO some people not get it they are illegal that means they are breaking the law. If you steal something you go to jail.How is this any different.

If the illegal were not hear someone from America would do the job.

Answer 3

It's not a myth, it's a lie. A myth is something that grows up spontaneously in the absence of knowledge about what it really going on. A lie is an intentional falsehood. In this case, we have very reliable and very thorough stats on illegal immigration. It is a HUGE liability to this country both financially and socially. Illegals suck up far more money than their labor provides. When they bother to work at all, they take jobs away from poor blacks who then go on welfare (in other words, what little labor they provide isn't needed in the slightest). Worst of all, they are one of only two sources of crime, mainly violent crime in this country (almost all violent crime in this country is at the hands of urban blacks and illegal aliens). The social problems with blacks are our responsibility. But illegals are an imported problem. Eventually, we will solve the crime issue with blacks and make sure that every black in this country has the opportunities that lead to a normal happy life (as opposed to life as a criminal).

Not so with illegals. We have no control over the social systems that create them and there is a functionally unlimited supply of them. Further, they are alien and have no interest in assimilation here. The only solution is to keep them out.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, everyone is looking at cheap labor. That portrays the wrong idea. I for one am an immigrant. I'm a fifth grade teacher, I pay my taxes, I paid my own way through school, I never went of federal or any kind of aid. My work contributes to your economy and the education of your children. I also own a small business, again, contributing to your economy. I'm not the only one out there. Do research. Economic Researchers estimate that nearly half of the silicon valley firms were established by immigrants. Immigrants do pay taxes and they don't withdraw as much in aid as some would lead you to think. Why? They're too afraid Immigration officers will come get them when they get aid. In fact they only withdraw around 45% of benefits available to them. Now-a-days more immigrants are getting educated and reaching high levels in their carreers. In fact, more immigrants are getting into scientific fields. All in all, we're a very heterogeneous group and we shouldn't all be described as low wage earners. There are 11 million of us! Don't you think some of us are doctors, surgeons, teachers, scientists? We contribute and we make a difference in this country! (Most importantly, we're not all from Mexico)

Answer 5

Illegal labor benefits one primary group: The employers who hire them and the stockholders of those companies.

Some illegal workers use phony documents to get "legal" jobs. Some taxes are withheld from their wages -- SS and Medicare a the least -- so there is a small benefit to the government there as those wages will never be used for Social Security claims. When income taxes are withheld, there is little or no chance that tax returns will be filed out of fear of discovery. The IRS and SSA do verification checks on the SS numbers used, but are not required to act until a SS claim or tax return is filed. It's a dirty little secret that these tax levies are retained by the government. There is no evidence to suggest that this marginal income offsets the costs of illegal workers in general.

Some of the illegal wokers do get some marginal benefit by working here. They tend to live in cramped quarters (by American standards anyway, though these are often viewed as palatial by the illegals themselves compared to their homelands.) and share expenses to keep per-person costs down. Much of the money earned actually DOES leave the country via Western Union, etc, so those companies do benefit somewhat.

Lastly, companies that market long-distance phone cards to illegals profit handsomely. Pick one of those up sometime and have someone translate the fees and charges for you. They may tout very low per-minute rates but typically have very high per-call fees that result in very high overall costs. Since they're marketed in the native languages of the illegals who understand little English, there is a captive audience ripe for the picking.

So, there is some truth that some businesses and industries benefit from illegal labor, but it is either a myth or outright lie that the nation as a whole benefits from illegal labor. Tax revenues are down, costs for medical treatment for indigent persons are through the roof in parts of the country where illegal workers have a major presence, and our prisons are full of criminals who came here for riper pickings from a society generally regarded (in their minds) as excessively wealthy.

Answer 6

No it isn't benifiiting the country. Never has, except if you are a corporation or need a cheap housekeeper and nanny. Many are paid under the table so they aren't taxed either,

There are other way it benefits employers as well. I think Walmart was found with over 200 illegals

Read this:

John Keeley of the Centre of Immigrant Studies told IPS it is very difficult to estimate the number of migrant workers because their jobs are seasonal and workers cross in and out of the country from Mexico.

But, he added, a recent agricultural growers' survey found that at least one-half of all agricultural workers are illegal aliens, numbering ”at least in the hundreds of thousands”.

Estimates also indicate that 18,000-20,000 people are sold into the country every year as agricultural slaves.

Working conditions for agricultural labourers are often deplorable.

According to the CIW, tomato pickers in Florida pick two tons of produce a day, earn 7,500 dollars a year (1,500 dollars below the official poverty level), live in cramped trailers with no telephone or heat, get paid no overtime or sick leave, and do not have access to health insurance.

Because of constant exposure to pesticides in the fields, the workers have some of the highest cancer rates in the country, according to Kerry Kennedy, founder of the RFK Memorial Centre.

This year's award winners struggled through their own migrant experience.

When Julia Gabriel arrived in the United States from Guatemala in 1992, she was held captive by her South Carolina State employers.

Gabriel was forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week and received net pay of 20 dollars a week. She and her fellow workers were regularly threatened and beaten by crew leaders who kept the migrants under armed guard.

After escaping from the camp, Gabriel testified in federal court against her crew leaders, who were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Answer 7

Cons won't do that because it suits their purposes to talk like they don't support immigrants. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, do dilute the labor pool and drive wages down, which is good for large and small businesses. Cons generally support whatever they see as good for business, including illegal immigration, but right now they prefer to talk like they don't like it, which is BS. As far as the claim that businesses legally must demand paper work that identifies a person as legally in the US, those papers can be falsified and often are. How many employers go beyond just asking for the papers? It isn't just small businesses either that use illegals. The hotel and hospitality industry are big employers of cheap illegal labor for instance.

Answer 8

I promise you that prices will not raise like the Pro-Illegals would like everyone to believe. Prices are set by supply and demand, not the company's selling the items. The ONLY people benefiting from the illegals, besides the illegals themselves of course, are the business owners that hire them. If the illegals get deported, prices will rise barely at all, and the company's relying on them will pull in less of a profit, that is the only thing that will happen.

blacck77- I wil give you this much, you are at least TRYING to use reason. You are dead wrong, but you are trying...

Answer 9

yes try and be a student out of high school and get into construction, meat cutting or even a job at a fast food restaurant, only in and out hire teens any more around here every field of labor has been under cut by low wage illegals and the owners do not pay workman's comp

Answer 10

you have to understand something.....60 % of the American Population are a bunch of lazy people...the other 20% they work so hard and the other 20 % are the criminals that are picking tomatoes or whatever...but i have a question ...will your white skin handle 105.F under the son for more than 8 hours a day getting 4 or 5 dlls an hour...NO Right...maybe you will do it for 15 or 17$ right ....now answer me this ...if these guys got send home ...and the wage in the field start going up...How much it's going to be the cost of every veggie at the market??? How much is going to be to have just white kids around the restaurants.....are they going to be able to handle all the hard job??? are they going to be on time all the time....???