have to speak spanish to get a job

[jsquared]

In my opinion, the wording in the amendment is clear.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The issue, as it pertains to current times, is that at one point in time America welcomed immigration and today that is not the case. So, times have changed, but the constitution has not.

 

[jeepinshep]

The issue, as it pertains to current times, is that at one point in time America welcomed immigration and today that is not the case. So, times have changed, but the constitution has not.

I think we still welcome immigration, just not the ILLEGAL kind. You wanna get a work visa or a green card and come work here? Fine. At least you're gonna be paying taxes and SUPPORTING YOURSELF.

You wanna sneak across the border with a pregnant woman under one arm and a bag of marijuana in the other, mooch off the system while living in a house with 18 of your closest amigos (paid for, of course, by Section 8), obtaining free medical care (whether its because you're on medicaid or because you went to the local clinic and never paid the associated bills), and get stipends or subsidies for free food because you don't have any verifiable income? Not so fine. You're sending all your undocumented income back to your buddies in Mexico so that they can hire a jackal to get them across the border, too, and that means that I GET TO SUPPORT YOUR @$$ even though the income I make BARELY pays my bills as it is!

Amendment 14 was written to grant citizenship to freed slaves and their children, as well as Chinese LEGAL immigrants and their children. I doubt that the writers expected MILLIONS of Mexicans to illegally cross the border and suck the teet of the government until they bled all of the US taxpayers and LEGAL citizens dry...

Just my .02

 

[jsquared]

Like I said, this is a discussion probably best saved for another topic, but in today's America a young adult wanting to come to here to work for a better life has virtually no chance of getting here legally. None. Look into the requirements for obtaining an H1B visa, and apply what it says to the average Mexican wanting to work in the US. This isnt even taking into account that highly-skilled, educated, technical immigrants still can't get a visa, but that is besides the point.

Now, you might say that the US has these regulations in place because we don't want unskilled, menial laborers here. We don't need them, there are plenty of unemployed Americans that need those jobs.

I would disagree, but it is a valid point. However, as you stated this was the basis of the 14th Amendment. We used to have a guest worker program that offered an additional avenue for citizenship, one that does not exist today. We still have the guest workforce in the country, just no program for these workers to eventually be citizens.

 

[jeepinshep]

Now, you might say that the US has these regulations in place because we don't want unskilled, menial laborers here. We don't need them, there are plenty of unemployed Americans that need those jobs.

Problem is we have too many lazy Americans who refuse to do the jobs most illegals are happy to do. Maybe we should deport them instead? Seriously, if you've been on unemployment for 2 years, its not because you can't find work, its because you refuse to find work. I think we should take their citizenship away and give it to someone who actually would contribute to the work force. I think most illegals would pay their taxes if they became legal citizens. Problem is that most of them won't (or some would argue - can't) become legal.

We used to have a guest worker program that offered an additional avenue for citizenship, one that does not exist today. We still have the guest workforce in the country, just no program for these workers to eventually be citizens.

True. Maybe there is a compromise in there somewhere. But I still think we need to do something about the federal hand-outs and government assistance being offered to people who never pay a dime in taxes.

 

[nelsonatlbuilders]

i was finishing up a job in nashville last winter, and the gc asked if my co. could take on another project, he said about a three day job. i agreed if he supplied the labor because i dont have laborers to do the work with me. he agreed and on a wednesday morning i had three spanish speaking workers. none spoke english. i agreed to $100 a day and buy their lunch. friday comes and the job is over. i handed all three of them 10 crisp $20 dollar bills, you wont believe this but everyone of them questioned my math in plain english. they tried to skate by some work because they didnt "understand" what i was saying. anyway i paid them the rest of what i owed and did it to make a point. do you think the women you see with 6 kids running around her at the health department care if they are being supported by someone else? they get over just like the amigos in nashville did. hard to have compassion sometimes, thats for sure.

 

[kahrshooter]

porque?

MMMMmmmmmm........ porque!

 

[zesty]

Honestly asking here, I'm pretty undecided on the whole issue...
Does anyone have any numbers on how big a problem illegal aliens are? How much of a burden on the economy are they? I know there's some public services they get for free but I assume that there's a number of services that they have a hard time getting. I've actually read some evidence that they don't really hurt the overall economy much. I know that may be hard to believe if you're in direct competition for a job, just give me some facts to believe different.

wikipedia:

A paper in the peer reviewed Tax Lawyer journal from the American Bar Association asserts that illegal immigrants contribute more in taxes than they cost in social services.[108] The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reviewed 29 reports published over 15 years to evaluate the impact of unauthorized immigrants on the budgets of state and local governments, and found that the tax revenues that unauthorized immigrants generate for state and local governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to those immigrants, but that the amount that state and local governments spend on services for unauthorized immigrants represents a small percentage of the total amount spent by those governments to provide such services to residents in their jurisdictions.[109]

As for the language issue, meh. Lots of cultures speak more than one language. Times are changing. Spanish is a minor issue, our grandkids may be speaking Chinese. Not that they'll take us over, it's just that there's a billion of them. Economics is going push companies to cater to them. It's already begun and schools are already offering more Chinese language classes.

 

[jeepinshep]

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reviewed 29 reports published over 15 years to evaluate the impact of unauthorized immigrants on the budgets of state and local governments, and found that the tax revenues that unauthorized immigrants generate for state and local governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to those immigrants, but that the amount that state and local governments spend on services for unauthorized immigrants represents a small percentage of the total amount spent by those governments to provide such services to residents in their jurisdictions.

This could be the loooongest run-on sentence ever.

 

[jeepinshep]

Does anyone have any numbers on how big a problem illegal aliens are? How much of a burden on the economy are they?

Its not just a question of how much money they are soaking up in government-assistance funds. We also need to consider the taxes that they are not paying if they are not reporting their income (and, if they are here illegally, then they are not reporting income because they have no tax id # in order to do so).

Lets break it down. The most recent number I read was an estimated 12,000,000. Let's assume that equates to 2,000,000 6-member households. The average tax-paying family will pay $10,000 per year in income/social security/medicare taxes. But since most illegals earn much less, lets assume their earnings would put them at paying 20% of that number = $2,000 in missed taxes for 2,000,000 households ANNUALLY. That is a staggering $4,000,000,000 (four Billion) in lost revenue every year. That doesn't include the government assistance many of the families receive.

I could be wrong with those numbers, and I'll do some research, but that is a BIG number....

 

[Xcaliber]

I didn't get several jobs because I did not speak spanish. sad but true.