I'll stay out of the immigration discussion, I have my opinions but this isn't the time or place.
Then when is the time or place? I for one would like to hear your opinions. I think our government takes a isn't the time or place stance on illegal immigration. It reminds me of a great big pile of sh!t that keeps building up by someones backdoor and the patriarch of the family says "We will deal with it later, this isn't the time or place." And later on the wife says "My God, Bob ,that pile of sh!t is coming into the house now." And Bob says "Marge, I told you this was not the time or place to talk about that big pile of sh!t. Go sprinkle something on it." Well enough of my analogies but the fact is the problem is serious enough that anytime and anyplace are suitable to discuss something that has become an issue that demands immediacy.
All I meant was that immigration wasn't the original topic of the thread and I don't want to hijack it.
But...
Immigration is a tough one. Probably 99% of the people in the US are descended from immigrants, myself included. I live and work in a fairly rural area with a number of old mill towns as well and some high rent districts that provide most of our tree work. Most of the landscapers and tree companies use locally born people as employees. However, the farms, orchards, and stone quarries use almost exclusively Mexican and Central American labor. As you might guess, there is far less tree work and landscaping in the really rural areas and mill towns. Drive through the mill towns on a Tuesday at noon and take a look at all the local kids hanging out on the front porches. Drive through the same town on a Friday night and you'll see dozens of imported laborers driving, walking, and riding bikes.
Bottom line, the local kids won't work for the wages offered and I doubt they would work for a better wage. It's far easier to sit at home, drink beer, and reproduce. So the businesses bring in outside labor, almost all of it undocumented. Could they survive without the cheap labor? Damned if I know. Is it possible to get the local kids to work? Damned if I know.
So far the illegals haven't contributed much to crime rates, the locals take care of that. But they are starting to add burden to the school systems (which affects me directly) because I have 2 school age kids, and certainly the health care system. ICE doesn't care, we're too far from the border and there's still too few illegals to get their attention. Last year, one, driving an employer's truck, hit and killed a motorcyclist. ICE didn't take him. What really drives me nuts is that the employers know that their workers are illegal and don't care because there is absolutely no reprocussions for them.
I have no answers. I do think that employers should be held responsible for hiring illegals and should get hammered if they do. That doesn't address the question of where employers will get help though. But as long as someone can hire these people with no worries about legality, there's no incentive to hire either legal immigrants or local labor. But keep in mind that I'm not in an area where the tree care industry relies in immigrants for labor.
All I really know is that the present system is an abject failure and it's getting worse, rapidly.
