<p>Since you don’t know me, you surely don’t know lizard that I have worked with illegal immigrants for more than two decades, so you can take your charge of xenophobia and stuff it.</p>
<p>For those of you who aren’t involved with the issue directly, you may not have heard of the documented cases of H1N1 and drug resistant TB that have been found in the current group of immigrants. Since I work with them personally, with my actual body that could carry illnesses home to my family, I worry about diseases.</p>
<p>Sally, the reality is that multitudes more poor hurts the middle class since they require services in spades and the middle class is still where most of the money is despite the fact 1-percent of the population is rich and has figured out how to stay that way by buying political influence, mostly. The lower middle class is also going to unwillingly be forced into the ranks of the poor if this keeps up much longer. That’s really my biggest worry about “our way of life”. </p>
<p>Sally, two things can be true at once. The anti -vaccine people make me nuts (I was a preemie and contracted measles to lifelong consequences) but it is also true that some infectious diseases that aren’t otherwise present here are coming across the border now. I have seen it with my own eyes. As far as our culture, the impact of hundreds of thousands of unassimilable people shouldn’t be minimized. They will need to be carried by others for at least two generations. And the thing is that many of the people who come here are angry because they don’t want to be here but they have no choice. It is so wrong to dispossess people from their homes for the gain of others. </p>
<p>zoosermom, I have been trying to find reputable sources on the documented cases of serious diseases like TB and H1N1 that are allegedly coming in with this new wave of immigrants. I have been unsuccessful. I do know this was already the worst year for H1N1 since it was first identified in 2009–but not because of immigrants bringing it across the border in Texas.</p>
<p>As far as making it less desirable for immigrants to come here–and to reduce their exploitation once they arrive–if we enforce a living wage in all states and come down harder on people who hire illegal immigrants, we might make a dent. A lot of the work undocumented workers do is work that out-of-work Americans won’t. If employers had to pay them a fair wage, maybe they would, and thus the market for the illegal labor would be reduced.</p>
<p>Of course, the same thing would happen if there were no illegals willing to do that work in the first place, too. Or if we didn’t provide welfare benefits that were bigger than starter paychecks maybe people would be more inclined to do those jobs if they wanted to eat. Basically, we are really messed up in so many ways it’s just nuts and it’s getting progressively worse, not better. Really, I cannot even believe that we are dumping these people by the thousands into unwilling communities and expecting them to just wander into productive lives. It’s beyond crazy and truly appalling and not at all compassionate towards them or their new neighbors, either. </p>
<p>Sally, what I think shou,d be the starting point is pressure on the home countries. Then enforce laws against employers. When the supply of cheap labor is reduced, then wages will have to rise. Personally, I think the jobs that Americans won’t do thing is a myth. The illnesses in the holding facilities is pretty well documented in the press, but the organization I volunteer for is part of a network across the country and we get memos, so that is where I get my information. But to the point of the thread, I still think the number of illegals being accepted to college who are also able to pay even in-state rates is too small to worry about.</p>
<p>The illnesses seem only documented in the fringe press (The Blaze, breitbart, infowars, etc.). I am not saying they aren’t happening, and I would be surprised if they weren’t.</p>
<p>actingmt, you are actually supporting my point. “Starter paychecks” SHOULD be more than welfare. That’s exactly why we need a living wage. It’s unconscionable that we have millions of working poor who slave away at WalMart, etc. with the companies passing on the cost of social services to the rest of us.</p>
<p>“wouldn’t compare the situation at the border to little Jimmy getting head lice”</p>
<p>Right. There are, unfortunately, some Americans whose self esteem is so tied up in calling everyone who raises a concern raaaaaaaacist that they don’t even see how serious some of those concerns are and how often it is people with personal involvement who have those concerns out of deep personal commitment,</p>
<p>“actingmt, you are actually supporting my point. “Starter paychecks” SHOULD be more than welfare.”</p>
<p>Sally, that point has not a thing to do with this topic. These people are unlikely to be working at WalMart anytime soon. They don’t speak English. Meanwhile, the people who do work at WalMart are paying for them being dumped off at the nearby Greyhound station. That’s the problem. </p>
<p>Sally, it isn’t just the fringe press, it is also local press in many areas and I have seen reports on ABC. However you make a good point, the “mainstream” press is truly remiss in its coverage of this issue. It focuses in small children, who aren’t the majority of the immigrants, and ignores how most of them are upper teenaged boys and also ignore the health risks and the crimes perpetrated against them, the media has an agenda and providing information isn’t it.</p>
<p>acting, you brought up welfare, saying the benefits were a disincentive to work and that they paid more than the jobs illegal immigrants are doing now. </p>
<p>zooser, I don’t disagree that this is a crisis. It would be nice if our elected officials could come together to address it and the larger issues of immigration, but they won’t. </p>
<p>It would be nice if our elected officials could enforce our laws. But, they won’t. And, this did not happen by accident, Sally. They basically caused it and are handing out lollipops at the border. It’s appalling. Also, welfare benefits are frequently a disincentive to work. However, I brought that up in the context of the dependency we are already creating among our own citizens, let alone plopping in an entire new underclass. It’s disgraceful really in so many non-empathetic ways disguised as compassion. Sigh.</p>
<p>This is really getting off track, although I can see how easily that can happen. Still, let’s not have this go off into totally political discussions about all aspects of policy and keep it focused on the topic of how it relates directly to Florida’s public universities. Further posts about welfare, immigration policy not specific to this topic, etc. will be deleted. There are other places to vent one’s spleen about those subjects.</p>
<p>If you all think the thread has run its course, we can close it, but if there is more to say on the title topic I certainly don’t want to do that. But the way this has turned it is a Cafe discussion, not a Parent Forum one. Certainly someone is welcome to start a thread over there if everyone wants to discuss these tangential topics, which seems to be the case. </p>
<p>sally, what state do you live in? I find people think it is more of a crisis if they live in Southern California or Texas, ot other SW states were there are a lot of illegals driving uninsured cars, sitting in ERs with whooping cough, registering their kids for schools. When I lived in Southern Cal, there was a problem with people coming in by boat. They’d land (or come close) to the beaches and then try to run to freedom. Many couldn’t swim, it was dangerous for them, it was dangerous for people walking on the beaches. Those coming in didn’t even know where they were and several boats landed at Camp Pendleton - the marines will shoot them! Several boats got caught in the rip tides near Santa Barbara and needed Coast Guard rescue.</p>
<p>People who live in upstate NY or Kansas don’t see the problem quite the same way as those who are there and trying to help, but the problem is just too big.</p>
<p>I’m for ending this thread. It got way off topic. The Florida instate tuition bill for undocumented students was pushed by Republican Florida state legislators and Republican Gov. Scott to get votes from Florida Hispanic/Latino voters…end of story.</p>
<p>2&d, I once saw an exhibit in lobby of Florida state capitol building in Tallahassee of some of the rafts and makeshift floatation devices some Cuban refugees used to get to Florida. The one ‘raft’ that stood out to me was a crappy, broken up wooden door frame someone crossed from Cuba to Florida on…a ‘raft to freedom’ that will stick in my mind forever.</p>