>>>Which is exactly what I thought (and thought I said originally). If you look back at the first half of the 20th century (and the 20-30 years before that), you'll see that new immigrant groups were not particularly welcomed.
>>>
>>>Tamar
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>>I think back then (the first half of the 20th century) the resentment and the hard time one group was giving to another was more because of the ethnic and racial bias (anti-irish, anti-italian, anti-semitic, anti-black etc.) and not so because they were immigrants. IMHO.
>
>I was living in Houston when the big influx of Vietnamese hit the Gulf Coast and generally the complaint was "they're taking jobs away from Ammuricuns!". I generally found that the jobs being 'taken away' from Americans were jobs that no American really wanted - or thought they were too good to take. Really, how many of the people bitching about the illegal immigrants really want to spend 10 hours a day, every day, picking produce and fruit? Or cleaning sewers? Or cleaning someone's house? That's what a massive majority of the 'illegals' do. I guarantee you they wouldn't, especially at the wages being paid.

I don't agree with you. Plenty of americans are willing to take these jobs. And yes, the wages would have to be increased but, as William said, we will - maybe - pay more for the strawberries but a lot of other costs will go down.

Last summer my next door neighbor was replacing the roof. The contractor sent a bunch of guys (probably 10) that looked (I didn't ask for their IDs, of course) like illegals. At least when I tried to talk to couple of them in english they gave me a look like I was talking in english <g>. I am sure there would be plenty people who would like to do these jobs. But the contractor wants to pocket most of the money so he hires illegals (again, I don't know for sure). Also, keep in mind that many (if not most) of these illegals don't even put money back into the American economy. They live in horrible conditions, very little food, and most of the money they send back to their families (I don't blame them, of course).

But the worst about illegal immigrants is that many turn to drugs and gangs. And then we pay for them through the prison system.

So in the end, the only people who really benefit from the illegals are people who hire them.

I have a couple of friends, truck drivers, union members (actually one was recently laid off and now works for a non-union shop). They complain and bitch all the time about illegals taking their jobs. So it is not just people who work in the field; many others are affected too.