illegal immigration

Obama Signs Deal to Allow Mexican Truckers Onto U.S. Highways

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In yet another blow to U.S. workers, the Obama administration has signed a deal for Mexican truckers to operate inside the United States.

The news headlines all sing hallelujah over some soon to be disappearing punitive tariffs Mexico put on 99 U.S. products simply because we wouldn't let Mexican truckers, instead of American ones, on U.S. highways. There is no mention in the major press of the cost to American workers, the increased illegal drugs entering the country, the illegal immigrants being smuggled into the U.S., and the wages and jobs lost. Nor is there anything mentioned about border security in the press, or even challenging Mexico for being in violation of NAFTA by their attempts to subvert U.S. labor law in the first place.

The teamsters have been fighting this tooth and nail and just came out swinging. Mexican truckers have lax safety standards and much lower wages, yet will be allowed to work in the United States, by driving on American roads, displacing U.S. truckers.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today castigated the U.S. Department of Transportation for agreeing to open the border to long-haul Mexican trucks. Opening the border endangers America’s highway safety, border security and warehouse and trucking jobs.

SCOTUS Rules Arizona Can Punish Businesses Who Hire Illegal Workers

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Score one for Arizona. The Supreme Court gives States the right to close businesses who knowingly hire illegal workers.

Now in spite of the rhetoric one will hear from special interest groups, this is actually a huge win for U.S. labor and workers.

The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state has the right to revoke the license of a business that knowingly employs illegal immigrants, in a case watched for implications on related judicial battles.

The top US court in a 5-3 decision upheld Arizona's 2007 law, saying the state was within its rights under a 1986 federal immigration reform measure.

Like it or not, flooding the U.S. labor market with illegal workers does undermine wages, and in this economy, does cause U.S. worker displacement.

The law "expressly reserves to the states the authority to impose sanctions on employers hiring unauthorized workers, through licensing and similar laws," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

"It uses the federal government's own definition of 'unauthorized alien,' it relies solely on the federal government's own determination of who is an unauthorized alien, and it requires Arizona employers to use the federal government's own system for checking employee status."

It was a 5-3 decision, with the left of the court dissenting. Business licenses can be revoked and at last, the Supreme court upheld the use of E-verify, an electronic database to verify social security numbers used by workers are valid and their own.

Who Are Getting the Jobs? Immigrants

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Reuters has taken the plunge and released a comprehensive study on the foreign born versus U.S. born workers and who is getting the jobs. The time period is from 2008-2010.

From 2008 to 2010, 1.1 million new migrants who have entered America since 2008 landed jobs, even as U.S. household employment declined by 6.26 million over that same period.

But in a sign of the times, the pace of job growth for new arrivals has also slowed, to an average of 550,000 a year from 2008 to 2010 from over 750,000 a year from 2000 to 2008.

Sum said it was fair to estimate that around 35 percent of these workers were undocumented or illegal.

Many immigrants acquired jobs in traditional low-wage work associated with foreign, undocumented and especially Mexican labor: hotels and food services, retail trade, sanitation, cleaning and construction.

The BLS does not release or collect data by country of origin and actual immigration status. Therefore, one has mixed in to the foreign born BLS labor statistic, those who arrived in the United States as infants, those on temporary guest worker Visas, those who immigrated permanently and those who border hopped, visitor Visa jumped and are here illegally.

Watch out for some quotes in the article. There are many legitimate methods for unskilled workers to enter the country legally. About 13 of them, such as the H-2B Visa, the AG worker Visa (H-2A), the L-1 Visa and the list goes on and on.

U.S. Citizens at Day Labor Centers

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U.S. citizens are now using day labor centers to get a few hours of work. Bear in mind that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to build many day labor centers where the pay is often cash under the table and illegal workers are used.

In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley’s economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.

Experts say the slow-starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.

“It’s the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression,” said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

California Gets Real - Considers deporting thousands of illegal immigrant criminals instead of footing the bill

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There is no doubt the illegal alien lobby will scream bloody murder over this, but due to the fact California is about to collapse and default, Governor Schwartzenagger is considering the obvious, instead of paying for illegal immigrants who are sitting in California's prisons costing the state money, how about handing them back and let that country be responsible for their own citizens?

What a concept and he's not releasing the violent felons either.

Calif. looks to immigrant inmates to save costs:

Median Home Price Down 13.8% - Foreclosures cited as reason

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You've probably already seen the headlines, Median Home Price down 14%, but what is behind the latest numbers?

So, this latest drop is in just a 3 month period. But the regional differences are staggering.

In Fort Myers Florida, prices are down 59.1%. Akron Ohio, down 48%. San Francisco and San Jose are down 42%. Miami Florida is down 35% and Los Angeles is down 34%.

Much of this corresponds to foreclosure rates.

You might also be interested in this tidbit on geographic immigrant areas (read illegals) have a much higher foreclosure rate:

Illegal Labor is somehow Good for Labor? AFL-CIO Endorses Illegal Labor Agenda

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It seems the AFL-CIO and the SEIU have made a deal. In the past the SEIU, insane as they are, have promoted illegal labor and the AFL-CIO has been more true to labor economic realities. Now it appears they struck a deal. No increases in guest worker Visas in exchange for amnesty for illegals.

Here are the details of this Faustian bargain:

The nation’s two major labor federations have agreed for the first time to join forces to support an overhaul of the immigration system, leaders of both organizations said on Monday. The accord could give President Obama significant support among unions as he revisits the stormy issue in the midst of the recession.

A New Kind of Illegal Alien - Mexico's Middle Class and Financial Elite

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Look who is border hopping now. It's not your typical cheap labor, literally referred to as cargo by illegal employers and smugglers, but instead Mexico's middle class and well to do are taking that desert stroll:

As a drug war rages throughout Mexico and along its northern border, an increasing number of Mexicans are crossing into the United States to flee the killings, extortion and kidnappings that have plagued places like Juárez and Tijuana.

The escalating war near America's southern border is driving embattled Mexicans to seek safety in the United States. What if the tide of violence follows them?

Border Hopping Doesn't Pay - Illegal Labor Leaving

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It is fairly well understood by anyone living in statistical reality that illegal immigration is fueled by economics. Since the United States does not enforce it's immigration laws, illegal labor could earn more money in the United States and employers loved the cheaper wages, no workman's comp, no unemployment benefits and no taxes.

So, now that the economy is falling apart illegal labor is going home.

Will this help the unemployment statistics and wage levels for U.S. legal unskilled labor? It's yet to be seen but at least the economic realities of what causes massive influxes of illegal workers is being made quite clear for the majority. Of course the multi-billion dollar underground drug economy is a whole other ball game.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano - Deport Criminal Illegal Immigrants

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This is shocking. Something common sense is being said by United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. She wants to deport criminal illegal aliens. No complaining from the ACLU or immigrants rights groups on how that's just so racist? I'm sure we will see it! Are they undocumented criminals?

If you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants you out of the country. Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck.

Most interesting are these figures: There are 450,000 criminals who are illegal aliens in various jails in the country.

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