Ariz. governor signs immigration enforcement bill

Freebase Dali · 04-30-2010, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

You bring up a very good point, and it got me thinking about the way other countries handle this kind of situation. In Singapore, they allow citizens of other countries (namely poorer regions of Indian, Malaysia, and Indonesia) to work construction and other menial labor jobs tax free to save up their money for the period of time they work there. This allows them to send a sizable amount of money back to their families, they can go back after the job is done, and come back when they need more money. This is a win win for both sides as Singapore gets their construction done in a timely manner with a readily available labor force and they get more money than they would ever make back in their home countries.

This, I think, would work wonders here in the US.

I think that's already happening here, but it's just not legal at the moment. Companies hire illegals because they can pay them a lot less than they pay legals, as illegals can't exactly complain to the state. This results in lower cost of doing business, which benefits both the consumer and the economy itself.
It might seem exploitative, but in reality it's not in most cases. The lower pay is still an incentive for illegals, otherwise they wouldn't be working illegally.
Obviously, it's a little different in situations where people are actually trying to escape oppressive, harsh countries and are working to support themselves in America... and it's really hard to create an ethics guide for who's in what situation based on why they say they're here illegally, but overall what you've said in your reply is pretty much what's happening in many cases.

I think the impact that it has on a lot of people's opinions, though, is the job factor. If companies can hire temporary citizens for labor jobs, for half the pay than regular citizens, then companies will tend to do that. Especially when there are no legal repercussions. There's a large percentage of the work force that's part of the labor category, and a large percentage of actual citizens who rely on these jobs. The loudest (or most relevant) objections to illegal workers come from this group and politicians who sympathize with this group's situation.
It can be theorized that guidelines could be set for hiring-quota systems that stipulate only X amount of temporary citizens could be hired, but from a country's perspective, the first priority should be your own citizens... and that X amount are the amount of your own citizens you're putting out of a job.

While I'm sure there are many different ways to approach the problem, above all I think a country should look out for the welfare of its own citizens first before looking out for the welfare of another country's citizens. When the needs of your own country are met, THEN it's time to start helping other people. At the moment, we're no where near meeting the needs of our own people.