I was sitting with a bunch of business owners at a beach bar in Delaware this weekend. These men own businesses in NY and up and down the east coast. Their biggest worry is “how are we going to get people to work” The see all their workers being from Latin American Countries or Russia.

These people were saying that the Russians are heavily exploited on the east coast because many are illegal as well yet what happens is they work for a pittance live in hovels and still manage to send their money back to NY for someone in their family to end up buying and owning quite a nice business.

When my friends cousin opened his restaurant 4 years ago they couldn’t get an American to work as a dishwasher, the money was pretty good for an unskilled worker but it was beneath even those who didn’t have a job. Now the guy from El Salvador( Edwardo) who took the dishwasher job 4 years ago is a kitchen manager there making over a $100,000 and owns two small businesses of his own.

These people are here legally but there are others here illegally getting taken advantage of and exploited by people often the exact people who complain about illegal immigration.

For those concerned there are perfectly good laws on the books and have been for years but no administration has ever even tried to enforce them until the last few years when it became a political issue.

It is sad for you and too bad you didn’t have some way to find out where he is.

…coopers latest post…Bella Lunacy

“When do you sleep?” I asked.
“Tuesdays” he said.

a.r.w. was right to question the “illegality” of such people in the service industries. This is supposed to be a country of opportunity for all, and instead there is opportunity for the pale or the wealthy. Not always the case, I’ll give you that, but more typical for sure. It strikes me as disappointing that more people don’t give credit to these workers (who according to some “steal” our American jobs, nevermind that most “Americans” would never deign to perform these tasks) who work long hours with shit wages for employers who all too often take advantage of the alleged illegality of these workers. Illegal in this case is only illegal because of rigid views of what it means to be a citizen. Don’t even get me started on the asinine concept of borders. The bureaucracy that has been erected around the alarmingly complex rigmarole it takes to become “legal” is clearly beyond Dutchess, who clearly has not conversed at length with someone who has gone through this process. Please appreciate the difficulty and determination it takes to leave one’s country of birth, to enroll in the workforce of a completely new place w/o speaking the language, and to be looked down upon by so many for doing the jobs we would never have to perform.

Incidentally I was envious of Caliman for getting to do the job I wanted to do, but could not afford to do. $10/hr doesn’t compare with salary, no matter how many ways you look at it.

Very sad story. I am sorry for your friend.

There needs to be immigration reform, but the wealthy are not interested in making changes. Such is the American way.

…anas latest post…Angelina

I used to work construction when I was younger, they all used to laugh and tell me- No llores, guero.

I dont have a point to that…just wanted to share.

…Matts latest post…Art is art

…unreliable narrators latest post…worst. hic.cups. ev.er.

I was married for seven years to a British citizen, who moved to the US to be with me. We found out first-hand that “the proper channels” take a lot of money and a lot of time, and a lot of bureaucratic adroitness and expertise. We were a completely legitimate married couple, and we were hassled and bamboozled and wrong-footed by first the INS, and then what became “Homeland Security,” every single step of the way. It took all seven years of our marriage to obtain his legal residence–not even citizenry, mind you, just the green card.

I should add that he’d had his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge at the age of 23. Hardly a migrant worker–though also East Indian by heritage (Londoner by birth) and, frankly, post-9/11, that really didn’t make our case any easier.

So you’d say to potential Latin American immigrants, “Just go through the proper channels”? Hm. I wonder how well that would work, for people who may not be literate or have legal representation, and who have the color of their skin working against them? It was awfully hard for two people in love who had money, time, literacy, and graduate degrees. I wonder how your own European-immigrant ancestors would have fared, if faced with similar circumstances? And I wonder which of your friends or family members, or mine, would really apply for the job the a.r.w. is describing in her post?

Actually, I don’t wonder at all. I only wonder if we’re ever going to wake up to the fact that undocumented brown US residents do all our dirty work since, because we don’t allow them Congressional representation, they can’t get any civil rights as a result.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/opinion/01fri1.html

PS: [F]oxymoron, museum is not spelled “musuem.”

If you want proper documentation and accountability, why not track EVERY single dollar. Dutchess of Kickball (awesome name, btw), I’m willing to bet our borders are more porous in NYC than they are in Texas. Follow the money.

…[F]oxymorons latest post…The Bead Musuem (Another Awesome DC Musuem)

…distracted spunks latest post…I…

And I’m not saying that you don’t see this in other parts of the
country. What I am saying is that it is very common to see it here, so
close to the border. It’s more difficult to ignore deportation when it
happens all the time, in front of your face — When one guy goes home and, without warning, someone busts into his apartment and hauls him off to jail.

Please don’t take this post personally — that wasn’t my intention. I
am trying to bring light to a subject that, I have found, is easy to forget about.

But not everyone has a right to be where they want to be.

Very compelling.