Progress Illinois

Well, That is the official death knell for this "comprehensive immigration reform" nonsense. With the 2010 elections fast approaching, And the acknowlagement by the democratic party that many seats in congress look to be lost to republican opponents, few politicians will have the stomach during an election year to touch a subject so clearly opposed by the vast majority of Citizens and legal immigrants. Furthermore, Speaking as a liberal democrat, I find many of My fellow liberal friends have pulled their suport for a bill that would legalize an illegal workforce that is now obviously directly competeing with poor and working class Citizens for jobs. In other words, Illegal workers are no longer just picking veggies in California anymore. They have saturated most every manual labor sector at every skill level to the point that Citizen workers employed in factories, construction, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, auto machanics, ect.ect. are overwhelmed by illegal competition. I'm an American carpenter by the way. I know what I speak I have seen the adverse affects of illegal immigration on our working class first hand. And no, Putting illegal workers on a path to citizenship does not solve the problem. It simply makes what was once illegal competition, Legal. True help is to fire an illegal worker and give the job to a legal one. Be it an American or legal immigrant, there are more than enough of Us who would be thrilled to have the job and the paycheck to feed our families. YES WE CAN!

So what are you saying Eddie Brown? Now that the economy turned sour and you don't need them anymore they should leave? Just throw them away? I don't think so.

I'm saying We never needed them. The illegal immigration at the current level has only been seen in the last twelve years or so. Who exactly do You think did the labor work before the illegal population was what it is today??? Indeed. Working class Americans And a very healthy population of legal immigrants. Do You assume We American construction workers had office jobs before the economy soured? I have been a carpenter for twenty five years. Worked elbow to elbow with thousands of American Men and Women in the labor sector doing everything from digging ditches to washing dishes. It is only because of the recent influx of illegal workers and the willingness of lawless employers to employ them that those such as Yourself have come to believe that we "need" illegal workers when the economy is humming, And if we don't no one will take the job.

Furthermore, I'm troubled by the assumption by fellow liberals that giving an illegal workforce large enough to populate a small country "Citizenship" is a wise and just form of compation when in reality it is compromising the ability of our most vulnerable and struggling Citizens ability to seek employment without the hassle of massive amounts of new competition. True "Reform" and compation would be to create policys to generate employment opportunitys for Our poor neighboring Nations. Such as rewarding Mexico and Nations in Central America with manufacturing contracts instead of China. This is truly the wish of most illegal immigrants from that region (Which is the source of 80% of our illegal population) The ability to find a job in their homeland. And it would ease the pressure on our poor population seeking employment in the domestic manual labor sector. However, The endless quest for the cheapest price of manufacturing and the will of the Republican and Democratic parties to control and suppress the rising pay scale of Citizen workers (The larger the pool of workers, the less you have to pay because everyones jockying to get the job. Don't like the pay? Your fired...Next!)prevents this type of help for poor Nations and those that live there from happening.

I am a 'legal immigrant' and have been here for last 9 years now. Me and my wife have masters and a PhD. Is there shortage of work for us? No, but we still do not have a permanent residency because of the immigration system (which means that we are not needed here, which is all right as we are guests here and fortunately we have highly salable skill set which is welcome in most of the world).
Having said that, how we are tied up? A reform that will give permanent residency to highly skilled people like us is ties to this 'immigration reform' bill. So if that fails, we are also affected. As much as I am against giving amnesty to illegal immigrants ( as an immigrant I am saying that ), I would like this bill to pass. I wish there was some way if piggybacking of bills be stopped.
Also I am very much against badmouthing them. I have read people calling them criminals and all sorts of uncivilized names, which is VERY WRONG. Most of them are hardworking people and respect law. For a few bad apples it is WRONG to call them all the same. So people, PLEASE be a bit respectful to them. If anything most of them have contributed to the society, physically, monetarily and more.
Thanks for reading this.

are you sure you have a phD? your reasoning skills are wanting. If they respected the law they would not be breaking the law by being here illegally. Helloooo anybody home? If you are here legally how could you not know the difference? Your comments seem like total BS to me. and i don't have a phD.

"Your comments seem like total BS to me" - Coz you dont have a Phd