[lit-ideas] Re: Immigration
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:31:23 -0800
>"...and get out of the $12 an hour job (which is, actually, a living wage
>here, too...and most people I know who are out of work would LOVE to be
>working that much."
Marlene,
I'm having trouble following this discussion--not just here, on this list, but
also in the news. Perhaps you can help.
I live in a town that is mostly Hispanic, and top-heavy with undocumented ag
workers. The town's economy is depressed to the extent that earning $12-20/hour
is something reserved for some state/fed workers, university professors, and
then there's a gigantic leap to the millionaire status.
In the middle ranks, with a fresh master's in counseling, you can expect to
earn $14/hour, if you're willing to move to a more expensive area. Most jobs
for clients with college degrees pay $6 to $8/hour. (Indeed, graduate students
are offered no more than $8/hour--but working for free, as an intern, is a
requirement.)
Now, $10/hr is not a "living wage" anywhere in California. Nor in NY, though
I'd love to know where this wage would be barely livable in the US. By
"livable" I'm talking about necessities--a rented room, food, needed health
care, insurance. (The insurance? That's the first to go.)
The incredibly high cost of housing keeps wage-workers poor, regardless of
documentation. Poverty encourages criminal activities, as a way to survive--and
perhaps a bit more.
The biggest obstacle to decent living is the rational lure of crime, as an
alternative to poverty. Regardless of documentation. If you're young and
working in one of the chicken factories around here, someone's going to tell
you about a meth lab that'll pay two years' wages for a month's work. What's to
risk? Jail. So in these parts--where California's jails are concentrated--many,
many families go the crime route, spreading the money among family members and
girlfriends. They go to jail, or are deported (if illegals), but in the
meantime, their family has that money.
Now, what's a good argument against going this route, to a minimum-wage worker?
So you go to jail and can't find anything but a minimum-wage type of job when
you're out? Right, sure.
I'm trying to understand, really, why there's a focus on immigration, now,
instead of on programs to help people live within the given (or raised) minimum
wage--important things like Section 8 housing, for instance, which has been on
hold in the Bush admin.
I know more than a few Anglos who choose to live and work in Mexico because
they can afford the housing. But they're not legal.
Perhaps this immigration/legality issue will straighten itself out in a year or
so, when Bush gets around to stripping the population of its remaining
poverty-assistance programs.
Carol
I
----- Original Message -----
From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 6:25 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Immigration
In a message dated 3/26/2006 6:38:57 P.M. Central Standard Time,
andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
. If they
could pay taxes and work legally, that'd be better.
Hi,
Yes, thanks..
One question that is 'out there', though, is whether or not they'd climb the
ladder and get out of the $12 an hour job (which is, actually, a living wage
here, too...and most people I know who are out of work would LOVE to be working
that much. The trucks in Houston don't pay the illegal [or legal pretending to
be illegal] that much. Nor does the brother of my neighbor...)
and, if so--and if we halted illegal immigration at that point, is who would
do those jobs that Americans won't do--for they'd be Americans then, right?
Best,
Marlena
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