Most businesses cannot and will not hire undocumented workers. There was a news story last night about a construction business that did not pay its workers, who were hired by a subcontractor. Business said it paid subcontractor, sub said it didn’t. All the workers were undocumented. There are good reasons for the laws we have. Farm workers are allowed into the country to work for their seasons.
My daughter had an interview scheduled March 2020 with American. They cancelled and then laid off most of their flight attendants, so don’t have any trained staff waiting. Many pilots aged out during covid. Almost all who were laid off have to be re-certified before they can return to work, from ground crews to in-flight personnel. My daughter moved on to other things and is no longer interested.
Same for me. The only people I know who are looking for jobs are a few professionals (who are currently employed) but looking for different positions.
There are 2 young (30 something) men in my extended family who haven’t worked in years and don’t seem interested. Both are supported by their parents. Not my issue but at least one of them has great contempt for “people who won’t work”.
I brought up immigration as a concept that has not really taken place in the last 4 years. I said NOTHING about who, how many, etc., etc., It is a fact, not an opinion that immigrants have traditionally filled many unskilled positions in our society.
I did not intend to open up a discussion about “those people” who “come here to be parasites”, etc.,. NOT every immigrant is a hard worker, I get that, but also, NOT every immigrant is here to sell drugs and rape our daughters. The truth, as always, is in between.
Never did I say to open up the gates and have no structure to immigration.
I guess I triggered some who have definite opposition to immigration. “Immigration” means allowing folks from other countries to move into yours. It does NOT mean “letting anyone and everyone in”, as some seem to indicate.
And what exactly is my agenda??? You apparently find the concept of immigration in itself so vile that you can’t even see what the lack of it is doing to our population???
My point is that I don’t even want to wade into that whole issue------just that our population needs immigrants (last guy wanted them from Norway, whatever).
Wasn’t the early 1800s a time when there was basically no such thing as illegal immigration other than for “any negro, mulatto, or other person of colour” (free or enslaved) trying to enter a state which prohibits their entry?
However, it does appear that many, particularly in the construction, agriculture, and hospitality industries, look the other way with respect to I-9 documentation and the like. Opposition to things like E-Verify is likely to be strongest in such industries.
Of course, a simple way to reduce illegal immigration is to legalize more immigration where there is substantial immigration demand and economic benefits thereof – i.e. bring more of it above-board into the realm of legal immigration.
While I am sure there are folks that feel immigrant is a cuss word, I believe it is a very small piece of those that are opposed to the type of immigration we have today…I lived overseas for 14 years and my wife was born abroad and we went through the laborious process of having her become a citizen (and she was denied the first attempt despite us having been married for 7 years with an 8 year old son).
I am very much in support of allowing immigrants come to the US in an order fashion as part of a system that identifies our needs.
It seems most try to paint the issue as hillbillies not wanting anyone to come into the US at all and that is not the case.
That’s an interesting take. One of the things I hear is that while there are many $15 per hour jobs they are jobs without 40 hours a week and without set schedules so they are hard to combine into full-time work or to find child care for. Whatever it is, the market will have to change to make jobs more attractive to workers.
Yes, I suspect there are also many folks that have a hard time finding full time work with set schedule.
Years ago my daughter worked at Walmart when she took a “break” from college (eventually she finished college, yay). Walmart loved to keep people around 30 hours, just under the threshold for benefits. That was OK for her, living at home and still on family medical insurance. But she worked with a few single mothers who really, really would have preferred 40 hours with benefits.
Yes, my daughter worked at Ross one summer. Because she could come in any time on short notice she got a lot of hours, but someone who had to have child care, had classes or was trying to juggle two jobs would not have been able to make it work.
I have a lot of first hand experience that indicates this is not the case. I worked for a staffing company for 4 years. Many of our clients flat out stated they needed undocumented workers because they’d had no luck finding employees on their own. The owner of the company, an entrenched part of the good ole boys business community, flat out asked clients if they were ok if he sent undocumented workers. Without exception, they all said yes, probably because he was the one assuming the risk with all the sketchy hiring paperwork he accepted.
In my other career, as a community Ccollege instructor, I had many students, in a special program, who I knew for a fact were undocumented. They readily shared information about their jobs with other students and about which businesses would hire undocumented workers.
If most businesses would not hire an undocumented worker, a majority of businesses would support and/or use everify, but that is not the case.
Around here, many of the smaller restaurants closed during covid. The big chains will not hire undocumented workers. Many of the businesses who received PPE loans had to prove they had documented workers.
Yes, there are undocumented workers, but they can’t apply for the ‘help wanted’ jobs we were discussing. They might work for contractors for the businesses who then subcontract the labor to undocumented, but then the troubles start like in the news story I mentioned where the contractor didn’t pay the sub. I feel for them because they have no protections and can be easily abused and cheated.
My brother works construction and often runs the site. He won’t hire undocumented workers. It’s just not worth it to him when he can hire documented workers. That hasn’t always been the case, but it has been for the last 5+ years.
