More worker visas could help solve immigration problem BY GERY CHICO
More worker visas could help solve immigration problem BY GERY CHICO
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
May 13, 2006
The millions who marched peacefully for fair immigration laws are taking a break, for now. Their mission is not over. What's next? The issue will continue to be driven to closure by fundamental concepts of fairness, the U.S. economy and by new, little-known leaders. Hopefully, fair immigration laws will follow.
Some have written to me claiming we shouldn't give anything to people who come here illegally. But let's look at what's really going on. Large wealthy neighbor to the north needs lots of labor to sustain its businesses and their customers; poor neighbors to the south need jobs desperately to make a living. Question: Live in Third World conditions or make the walk across the border to make a better living and feed your family? Answer: You walk. Anyone would.
Those who say we shouldn't give help to lawbreakers are kidding themselves. They'd do the same thing. And why, by the way, do we have to make them lawbreakers in the first place? Why does Congress create such an artificially low number of worker visas, thus creating to so many "lawbreakers"? Congress should stop setting such low numbers of visas in the face of overwhelming evidence that we need the labor and that it hasn't done a bit to harm the country. To the contrary, it has made us more competitive in so many ways.
Recently, while in Phoenix, I saw Latinos raking rocks in the roadway in 90 degree heat for probably $6 to $7 an hour. I thought, "who's kidding who" in believing that there is a line of citizens waiting to rake rocks in the desert. But say they do. Commercials run on Phoenix TV saying "They're taking our jobs." No doubt you might get some American takers if you increase pay to $15 to $20 an hour, but who wants to pay more for housing or other goods?
The Minutemen and right wingers talk a good game but they're also the first to howl about the high price of things. Fortunately, most Americans, like me, are "middle of the road" and go to work, raise kids, pay the bills, go to ball games, do some charity and take out the garbage. We "call 'em as we see 'em."
Calling this one as I see it, there's a lot of need for general, low-skilled labor in our country. Americans aren't going to do that kind of work for the amount employers are willing to pay, and they want the cost of things to remain affordable. What's the answer then? It's actually quite simple. Increase the number of visas for laborers willing to work for those wages. That should do it. It's ironic that the fundamentalists will dig in and cause millions to march in order to solve a problem, a practical one, that otherwise could be solved with a stroke of the pen by increasing the number of worker visas.
How did these marches come about anyway? Who started them? In Chicago, the starting place of the nationwide marches, most point to Spanish-language radio personalities and some key community organizations such as Casa Aztlan; the Federation of Mexican Organizations; the Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. Maybe not household names, yet they are makers of history. It was their call to action, to march, that catalyzed people to peacefully pursue justice.
Like most major issues, problems and challenges that have confronted the United States, the answers do not begin in the hallowed halls of Congress; they come from ordinary people, events and, ultimately, pressure. Congress never gets out in front of anything; it reacts. It should react to millions of people marching for justice, to the tens of millions of Americans who are "middle of the road" and want goods and services, conveniently, at reasonable costs; not goods that will spike in price because you have to pay an American teenager $20 an hour, or more, to cut your grass, clean your house, wash your car, clean your hotel room, package your chicken, bus your table and so forth.
Congress, it's time to act! No, it's time to react! The marchers and ordinary Americans (look at the poll numbers of Americans in support of worker visas) have spoken. President Bush is on board. Raise the worker visa limits to accommodate what's been going on in the streets and neighborhoods of America for decades. But just react already.
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
May 13, 2006
The millions who marched peacefully for fair immigration laws are taking a break, for now. Their mission is not over. What's next? The issue will continue to be driven to closure by fundamental concepts of fairness, the U.S. economy and by new, little-known leaders. Hopefully, fair immigration laws will follow.
Some have written to me claiming we shouldn't give anything to people who come here illegally. But let's look at what's really going on. Large wealthy neighbor to the north needs lots of labor to sustain its businesses and their customers; poor neighbors to the south need jobs desperately to make a living. Question: Live in Third World conditions or make the walk across the border to make a better living and feed your family? Answer: You walk. Anyone would.
Those who say we shouldn't give help to lawbreakers are kidding themselves. They'd do the same thing. And why, by the way, do we have to make them lawbreakers in the first place? Why does Congress create such an artificially low number of worker visas, thus creating to so many "lawbreakers"? Congress should stop setting such low numbers of visas in the face of overwhelming evidence that we need the labor and that it hasn't done a bit to harm the country. To the contrary, it has made us more competitive in so many ways.
Recently, while in Phoenix, I saw Latinos raking rocks in the roadway in 90 degree heat for probably $6 to $7 an hour. I thought, "who's kidding who" in believing that there is a line of citizens waiting to rake rocks in the desert. But say they do. Commercials run on Phoenix TV saying "They're taking our jobs." No doubt you might get some American takers if you increase pay to $15 to $20 an hour, but who wants to pay more for housing or other goods?
The Minutemen and right wingers talk a good game but they're also the first to howl about the high price of things. Fortunately, most Americans, like me, are "middle of the road" and go to work, raise kids, pay the bills, go to ball games, do some charity and take out the garbage. We "call 'em as we see 'em."
Calling this one as I see it, there's a lot of need for general, low-skilled labor in our country. Americans aren't going to do that kind of work for the amount employers are willing to pay, and they want the cost of things to remain affordable. What's the answer then? It's actually quite simple. Increase the number of visas for laborers willing to work for those wages. That should do it. It's ironic that the fundamentalists will dig in and cause millions to march in order to solve a problem, a practical one, that otherwise could be solved with a stroke of the pen by increasing the number of worker visas.
How did these marches come about anyway? Who started them? In Chicago, the starting place of the nationwide marches, most point to Spanish-language radio personalities and some key community organizations such as Casa Aztlan; the Federation of Mexican Organizations; the Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. Maybe not household names, yet they are makers of history. It was their call to action, to march, that catalyzed people to peacefully pursue justice.
Like most major issues, problems and challenges that have confronted the United States, the answers do not begin in the hallowed halls of Congress; they come from ordinary people, events and, ultimately, pressure. Congress never gets out in front of anything; it reacts. It should react to millions of people marching for justice, to the tens of millions of Americans who are "middle of the road" and want goods and services, conveniently, at reasonable costs; not goods that will spike in price because you have to pay an American teenager $20 an hour, or more, to cut your grass, clean your house, wash your car, clean your hotel room, package your chicken, bus your table and so forth.
Congress, it's time to act! No, it's time to react! The marchers and ordinary Americans (look at the poll numbers of Americans in support of worker visas) have spoken. President Bush is on board. Raise the worker visa limits to accommodate what's been going on in the streets and neighborhoods of America for decades. But just react already.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 10:03 AM
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