The current US unemployment rate is 4.8%, with 7.2 million eligible US workers out of work.
Meanwhile, the federal government estimates between 11 and 12 million illegal immigrant workers, currently gainfully employed in the US.
This means that if the federal government would round up and deport at least 65% of these illegal immigrant workers, the US economy would require roughly 7.2 million legal workers immediately, which we just so happen to have sitting in unemployment lines right now.
We have the perfect opportunity to solve two problems with one shot here, don't we? Or do we?
They will be easy to round up too. They are marching in our streets right now carrying signs that say "gringos must go!" and they are preparing a nationwide labor strike that will make it even easier to round them up. Latinos Plan Nationwide Worker Strike
The aFL-CIO is on board, aFL-CIO Condemns Guest Worker Program, even though that's only because illegal workers can't pay union dues. But still, finally Bush and the unions get to do something together for a change…
Imagine, zero unemployment and 65% of the illegal immigration problem solved all in one swipe… Bush's legacy would be untouchable then, wouldn't it?
Monday morning we can stop all unemployment benefits because every american seeking a job would have one. The drain on the US health and welfare systems from 7 million illegal immigrant families would end. Non-taxpaying illegal workers would be replaced by 7 million tax paying workers and life in america would be grand again! No?
What's the problem? Just do it! Right?
Wrong….
Not one of the 7.2 million americans currently drawing unemployment would show up Monday morning to fill a single job currently being performed by albeit, "illegal" immigrants. The people who currently hire albeit, "illegal" casual laborers, would have crops soon rotting in the fields and that would soon translate to food shortages, here and abroad. Yes?
again, we find politics getting in the way of common sense…
I'll tell you my own story….
Every spring we remove old landscaping and put in new. It's a pretty good sized job, plants, trees, shrubs, a thousand flowers, and usually a new outdoor fixture of some kind, a gazebo, a fire pit, a pond or fountain…
Two years ago we decided to do even more than normal and we called three US landscaping companies to come give us a bid. It took us a month and a dozen calls just to find three that would show up and bid the several thousand dollar project.
We didn't hire the cheapest bid - we hired what we thought was the best bid, the best company. Three weeks after the scheduled start date with repeated no-shows and no-calls, we finally decided to call the second best bidder, which was also a well known US company in our area.
They promised to be on the job the following week and two weeks later, had still not shown up to begin the job. We called number three…. They at least showed up to collect their "up-front" portion to go buy materials and then never showed up again…
I was telling a neighbor about my problem one evening when he said he had the same experience, but had found a crew that could and would do the job. Six weeks behind schedule, and out the money with the third company, I was ready to try anything.
The crew showed up the next morning and I never asked if they were legal or illegal, but they were Mexican.
Four days later, after showing up every day on time and working through the hot sun till dark without more than an occasional water or lunch break, they completed a beautiful job that would have taken any US company we had used in the past two weeks to complete, not counting the no-show time.
I was so thrilled with their work habits and work product that I didn't pay them what they asked, I paid them 150% of what they asked, which was more than the second highest bid from the american firms that never showed up.
They were so thrilled with how we treated them, that they not only offered to come back and weed for free once a month until the next spring, but they gave us hugs as they were leaving….
That's why we have immigrant workers taking US jobs and that's why Bush insists we must have a guest worker program of some sort.
My story is not unique. It is a very common story for anyone who ever hires unskilled or even skilled casual labor today. Ever build a house of your own? Then you have a horror story of your own… Hire a Mexican, it will all work out.
Watch as students in France protest new labor laws intended to drop their 10% unemployment rate by making it legal for employers to fire an employee anytime in their first two years of employment. The French people have grown accustomed to being guaranteed a job, so they are offended at any notion that they might actually need to earn their job….
america is following in their footsteps and though many americans disagree, the fruit is on the tree….
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