Immagrants in America

[valentino]

I understand that our country has over 30m immigrants in the US starting in 2002.Where do they go?THere aren’t that many jobs so how do they survive?Are they in apartments with 3 families?

 

[beafedor]

Do foreigners who marry an US citizen count? What about engineers from China and India who take a job here (brain drain?) You are talking about legal immigration, right?

 

[St_Francis]

You would be amazed at where immigrants are! Seriously remote towns in the US, for example, which have been depleted of young people because their parents encpurage them to go to college and then they can’t find jobs commensurate with their educations… so you will find immgrants working in lots of small towns working in jobs where they want a more stable workforce than teens, but can’t afford to pay college graduates… this is in addition to the need for seasonal agricultural workers in those areas.

And I read about an interesting situation: in the luxury boat building industry, which fell into serious problems and lost a lot of business and employees when a luxury tax was put on those boats. Who filled the gap when the business started picking up? Immigrants.

 

[valentino]

Do foreigners who marry an US citizen count? What about engineers from China and India who take a job here (brain drain?) You are talking about legal immigration, right?

Actually Im not sure what the % of illegals are?I would estimate way over half.No,sorrry.Im referrring to Mexicans,Hispanics,those south of the border coming in through the southern states.

 

[valentino]

You would be amazed at where immigrants are! Seriously remote towns in the US, for example, which have been depleted of young people because their parents encpurage them to go to college and then they can’t find jobs commensurate with their educations… so you will find immgrants working in lots of small towns working in jobs where they want a more stable workforce than teens, but can’t afford to pay college graduates… this is in addition to the need for seasonal agricultural workers in those areas.

And I read about an interesting situation: in the luxury boat building industry, which fell into serious problems and lost a lot of business and employees when a luxury tax was put on those boats. Who filled the gap when the business started picking up? Immigrants.

I understand.But 30m?Im referring to those from Mexico and below who enter.It would seem to me there would be slums in various areas just filled with poor illegals.Also many of them don’t speak English so they can’t be in jobs where they have to communicate throughout the day.

 

[puzzleannie]

not all immigrants who enter illegally are from Mexico, there are some from every country imaginable, and not all Hispanics immigrants are from Mexico, but from other central American countries as well. No, they are not all picking fruit. If employers did not hire them they could not work here. And many of them who are here to work are second and third generations of families who were invited here to work by presidents in the 40s, 50s & 60s. Just about any assumption and generalization you care to make about illegal immigrants is going to be wrong. You are also not addressing the back and forth border traffic that includes the drug trade and human trafficking.

As to where they are, most in the border states but they are in every state of the union. The preponderance of those who find jobs do so in seaonal industries including but not limited to agriculture and construction.

 

[valentino]

not all immigrants who enter illegally are from Mexico, there are some from every country imaginable, and not all Hispanics immigrants are from Mexico, but from other central American countries as well. No, they are not all picking fruit. If employers did not hire them they could not work here. And many of them who are here to work are second and third generations of families who were invited here to work by presidents in the 40s, 50s & 60s. Just about any assumption and generalization you care to make about illegal immigrants is going to be wrong. You are also not addressing the back and forth border traffic that includes the drug trade and human trafficking.

As to where they are, most in the border states but they are in every state of the union. The preponderance of those who find jobs do so in seaonal industries including but not limited to agriculture and construction.

thanks for responding.That’s exactly what Im adressing.The millions who come from the south.Where do they get food aand lodging?there is no way that the can all find jobs.Who puts them up?Do they group together in small apartments and the one working supports all the others until they find jobs?Do they have tent cities in many places?

 

[St_Francis]

thanks for responding.That’s exactly what Im adressing.The millions who come from the south.Where do they get food aand lodging?there is no way that the can all find jobs.Who puts them up?Do they group together in small apartments and the one working supports all the others until they find jobs?Do they have tent cities in many places?

People who immigrate to the US legally have to have some sort of provisions so that they don’t end up on the street.

People who come here illegally (or who stay here past their visas) may have a job waiting here, or they come and stay with people who have already come illegally and gotten a job and they get a job for the newcomer.

Most of the people who come here illegally looking for work do find some, or else they return home, right? They may go through periods of unemployment, but if things aren’t going well, they either move to another part of the US or return to the country they came from.

However, there are many who are here for other reasons, like criminals (aside from illegally coming here, which is not a major crime on our books), and those who get state aid by using falsified papers or borrowing them.

There are probably many people here illegally who are living in what we would consider substandard or overly crowded conditions. I have even heard of people who were working, but pretty much camping as their living arrangement.

Plus, those in rural areas have much lower rent (altho other expenses are higher).

 

[manualman]

Basically every job out there that a pampered white boy from the suburbs won’t apply for at any price is filled with immigrants, legal or otherwise. From landscape crews, to fast food work, to construction labor, to janitorial… Immigrants today are doing what America’s immigrants always have: filling the low paying jobs nobody else wants.

Shoveling mulch 8 hours a day for $8/hour is unthinkable to most spoiled Americans, but it seems like paradise for people coming from utter poverty.

 

[merne9]

Catholicisms is the predominant religion in these Spanish speaking countries and these immigrants definitely practice Jesus’ message of loving your neighbor, of feeding the hungry, housing the homeless…i guess it’s the unity that really surprises me.

 

[puzzleannie]

I assume OP and the rest of the discussion is about illegal immigrants, since legals have to have a job, family, sponsorship or all 3 to enter.

I can only speak to my own knowledge in working with transmigrantes here in SoTex, and that work is marginal to my profession, not its core, but it is simply unavoidable if you work for the church in any capacity to avoid the issue. I am also discounting those as I said who traverse the border for immoral purposes especially the curse of the drug trade, which claimed another good priest this week, caught in a crossfire while going about his duties. Human trafficking is also growing as a major crime problem here. 70% of the border fence is here but it is a barrier only to a fraction of the places people enter.

the natgeo program border wars is a pretty good running documentary on the issue btw

Most people who come through here have family or at least contacts and know where they want to go. Their problem is getting through the checkpoints about an hour north of the frontera. Once they get through they can pretty much get anywhere in the country, and that is likely to be were many others of their ethnic group are already living and working.

So there is always a subpopulation of transients here, mostly living in colonias, outlying unincorporated settlements usually consisting of substandard housing erected at exhorbitant prices by people who make a professiof of taking advantage of other people. Texas law does not favor standard building codes or regulation of housing in unincorporated areas, so a great deal of “social justice” efforts and lobbying go to forcing the state or local governments, or those who sell housing, to put in roads, sewers, utilities and basic services for health and safety of residents.

despite what people think it is not a slam dunk getting welfare, foodstamps, medical care etc. and that is a huge problem because you have population concentrations of unvaccinated children, undernourished children and those with chronic health problems who are a public health threat if left untreated or unprovided for. It is however the policy of most districts to get all kids enrolled in school, and our schools are probably among the most crowded and fastest growing in the nation. There kids do get free meals, some basic health screenings, and learn English, depending on what kind of federal and state programs are in place at any given time.

you can read an immigration history of NYC 100 years ago and the conditions described will not be much different than what border states face today.

I want to bust another myth while I am at it. Mexicans taken as a group are simply the hardest working, most motivated people I have ever known. The common story of a Mexican-American family here is 3 generations from fields to small business owner to grandchildren finishing college and getting in the professions.

 

[Tigg]

I understand that our country has over 30m immigrants in the US starting in 2002.Where do they go?THere aren’t that many jobs so how do they survive?

All you need to do is google the subject. Reports abound regarding the industries that have virtually been taken over by immigrants (many illegal.)

Hotel/motel industry

Construction (USA Today reported at least a year ago that a conservative estimate of 300,000 construction jobs created by the stimulus were filled with an illegal foreign work force)

Teenagers have been hit especially hard - (fast food restaurants, etc.)

Landscaping and outdoor maintenance

Meat processing plants

AND Father Pat Bascio wrote a book entitled “The Immorality of Illegal Immigration” in which he discusses the most unbelievable scenario of all. He toured Harlem and found that the jobs the black community had held for several generations had been replaced by Latinos who speak no English.

So…while much of America’s poor suffer with a greater depth of poverty, jobs are been provided for immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies found that many employers prefer Hispanics over blacks, for instance, because of a better work ethic.

Illegal immigration is totally supported by this administration (as it was in the previous one) as an open border policy will radically alter our political system (to the extreme left.) If you think government is over-reaching now, wait until the effects are felt with the further expansion of government growth tying into huge numbers of immigrants. Of course this will only lead to further erosion of personal liberties. (Go to the current events section of your nearest book store - many books are available.)

With the depression in the job market, however, current reports state some are going home - the unemployment rate in Mexico is lower than ours here.

 

[merne9]

i know the discussion is not about Father Pat Bascio but i watched some videos and i don’t know what to think! he starts off by saying when introducing his book on immigration: “the Catholic church does not agree with this position.” also says “the top is not en tuned with the bottom.” “the Christian leadership in America is leading us down the wrong path.” and calls immigrants an “invading army.”
my thoughts are that personal opinions with priests do vary. however, we are suppose to follow our Christian teachings and values. would i accept what Father Pat Bascio says about immigration and ignore what Pope Benedict and Pope JP II have taught us? no. it makes me sad that there are even priest who teach the disobedience of Catholic teaching and present their own logic as better.
I’m not a crazy liberal or anything but this is so bias!
all sides agree something can be done but we cannot vilify any group of people because of legal status…man, i thought i was in a Catholic website…

 

[Tigg]

i know the discussion is not about Father Pat Bascio but i watched some videos and i don’t know what to think! he starts off by saying when introducing his book on immigration: “the Catholic church does not agree with this position.” also says “the top is not en tuned with the bottom.” “the Christian leadership in America is leading us down the wrong path.” and calls immigrants an “invading army.”
my thoughts are that personal opinions with priests do vary. however, we are suppose to follow our Christian teachings and values. would i accept what Father Pat Bascio says about immigration and ignore what Pope Benedict and Pope JP II have taught us? no. it makes me sad that there are even priest who teach the disobedience of Catholic teaching and present their own logic as better.
I’m not a crazy liberal or anything but this is so bias!
all sides agree something can be done but we cannot vilify any group of people because of legal status…man, i thought i was in a Catholic website…

I’m not touting his book, only giving certain information to make a point specifically asked in the OP. I would suggest that one needs to read the entire thing before passing judgment. This is a very complex issue and if the bigger picture is understood you begin to see how fundamental principles regarding authentic social justice (like the common good) are not being upheld. The Church does not tell us how to solve the problem - only that we need to keep the gospel mandate. There are dozens of threads on this forum regarding immigration - you might want to read them to get a balanced view and understand what the Church does and doesn’t say regarding the issue.