Immigration is Good

This argues that, when the costs and benefits are compared, illegal immigration is a net benefit:

Illegal -- but Essential, by David Streitfeld, LA Times: Shortly after dawn, the day laborers began gathering beneath a San Diego Freeway overpass in West Los Angeles. A house painter pulled up in a pickup, looking for an assistant. He offered $12 an hour. A worker jumped in. Next to arrive was a white-haired woman driving a Honda. Her garden needed a makeover. She'd pay $11 an hour. She departed with a second worker. ...

Down here, at the West L.A. Community Job Center, arrangements were being made to remodel ... living rooms, landscape ... yards, rebuild ... decks. The work is undertaken by men from Mexico and Central America. Most are in this country illegally. The jobs, which last only a day or two and pay cash, are all but invisible to the state and federal governments. No one has to fill out paperwork, follow safety regulations or pay taxes.

Yet what happens here is far from marginal. The jobs that flow out of this day-laborer hiring spot — and from thousands of others around the state, some as informal as a street corner — are a pillar of California's economic strength.

To see why, check out Adrian Lopez, 20, who is kicking around a soccer ball as he waits. Lopez, who came here from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, is carrying in his Everest backpack a Sony Walkman from the Best Buy across the street. It's got a CD ... bought at a Ritmo Latino store. He has a bottle of Kirkland Premium Drinking Water, purchased at Costco, and a spare Old Navy shirt. He likes the grilled steak at Baja Bud's. ... "Immigrants buy everything here," Lopez said in Spanish.

The presence in the United States of Lopez and 12 million other illegal immigrants is one of the most contentious issues of the era. ... Economists are less divided. In the main, they say the American engines of industry and commerce have always been fueled by a steady supply of new arrivals. Immigrants, they contend, contribute to consumer spending and, instead of replacing native workers, create jobs. ...

Measuring the contributions of illegal workers is a difficult task, however. Many numbers are vague or open to dispute. A few experts contend that the gains are not clear-cut and that any benefits are far from being universally shared. ...

[E]conomists concede that [some] ... native-born Americans may be hurt by competition from illegal immigrants who are willing to work cheaply. But any harm, they say, is outweighed by the benefits to the overall economy. ... Restaurant prices are pushed down by illegal labor in the kitchen, fruit and vegetable prices by illegal field hands, new-home prices by illegal drywallers.

Immigrants aren't just a weapon against inflation. The tens of thousands of illegal nannies in the Los Angeles area, for example, lower the cost of child care, freeing mothers to return to work. This in turn increases families' incomes, which encourages spending and fuels the economy.

Many immigrants send a portion of their earnings home to their families, but their influence here remains potent. The Economic Roundtable, a Los Angeles think tank, estimates that the 400,000 illegal workers in L.A. County spend $5.7 billion annually on food, rent, transportation and other necessities.

The sales taxes they pay on all those consumer purchases boost the state treasury. The growing number of immigrants who use false papers to get payroll jobs are contributing to Social Security without the right to receive payments from the fund. That props up the beleaguered system by at least $5 billion a year, analysts say.

Other benefits may be less obvious, such as the gains in property values enjoyed by homeowners. ... Their apartments and houses may be shabby, but their sheer numbers exert a profound effect. In a state that never has enough housing, the hundreds of thousands of units rented to immigrant families put upward pressure on all prices.

Then there are the bad things that aren't happening despite the immigrants' presence. For instance, they don't seem to be creating an unemployment problem. Joblessness in California, with 24% of the country's illegal immigrants, has tracked the low national rate.

All this evidence, many economists say, makes a powerful argument that immigrants' role can be characterized as somewhere between important and irreplaceable. ...

Many Californians forcefully disagree with this assessment, saying immigrants have dragged down the quality of life in the state. They point to neighborhoods overflowing with poor immigrants. In some occupations, such as landscaping and construction, workers who don't speak Spanish say they can't get hired.

Other costs carry a more defined price tag. The California Hospital Assn. says emergency-room care for uninsured immigrants, including delivery of babies, costs taxpayers and private insurers about $650 million a year.

Whether born here or brought here, children of illegal immigrants have access to a free education. The Palo Alto-based Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy estimates that this schooling costs as much as $6 billion annually. Teitelbaum says the cost is even higher if you take into account how the influx has strained classrooms. ...

When Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley boomed after World War II, ... General Motors made Chevrolets there, offering at peak production a solid income to more than 5,000 workers.

In 1992, the plant, the Southland's last car factory, was closed. ... Similar closures happened throughout the country. But when the plants shut down in Ohio or Pennsylvania, they tended to become permanent ruins. ... Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland have had to grapple with massive, long-term population declines.

In Panorama City, vitality quickly reemerged in a new language and a new culture. What it had — which the cities back East lacked — was the proximity of Mexico. In the 1990s, ... [i]n Panorama City, the Latino population grew from a significant minority to an outright majority.

The community around the former GM plant is thriving, if not exactly upscale. The plant itself is a shopping center called, straightforwardly enough, the Plant. It is anchored by a Home Depot where illegal immigrants wait for work that will pay about half what the autoworkers got, with no benefits and no promises about tomorrow.

On the surrounding streets are clinics, cheap restaurants and music and furniture stores catering to Latinos. It's one of many centers of the informal economy in L.A., where most transactions are in cash.

To many Californians, this is not a change for the better. "I really don't consider the low-income parts of California to even be California anymore," said Kevin Waterson, an administrative employee of UC Davis, near Sacramento. "The quality of life is much more like that in Mexico."

A year ago, the Public Policy Institute of California polled state residents on whether immigrants were "a burden to California because they use public services" or "a benefit to California because of their hard work and job skills."

"Benefit" was picked by 56% and "burden" by 36%. Many of those in the latter camp, including Waterson, see illegal immigrants as competition. The struggle is less about jobs than scarce community resources, including affordable homes, gridlock-free roads and good schools.

Waterson grew up in Fontana in San Bernardino County, the son of a computer programmer and a billing clerk who were able to buy a three-bedroom house, own two cars and build a nest egg. That status, achieved by millions of Californians after World War II, now feels out of reach.

"There are a lot of places in Los Angeles I want to live that I can't afford," said Waterson, 27. "The places I can afford, I don't want to live." It's not just his perception. The Brookings Institution recently found that Los Angeles was the nation's most polarized city by wealth. ...

Waterson keeps looking for all those benefits the economists say immigration has brought to him. But if the informal economy benefits both the immigrants and the well off, it doesn't seem to be helping him and his wife, Julia, very much.

They don't use immigrants to mow the lawn or wash the car or take care of the kids. They can't afford to eat out, so they don't gain from the toil of illegal restaurant workers. They're renters, so any immigrant-driven boost to real estate just puts a home of their own further out of reach.

The informal economy that much of California has embraced so enthusiastically can be criticized on other grounds.

Small cash-and-carry shops and vendors who cater to immigrants may not pay sales taxes to the state or business license fees to local government. People who hire day laborers cheat the state by not using companies that pay payroll taxes. The laborers cheat the state by not paying income taxes. All of these groups put legal workers and legal businesses at an unfair competitive disadvantage. ...

But for Los Angeles County, the informal economy has been better than nothing — and nothing, urban affairs expert and Economic Roundtable President Daniel Flaming says, is what the county would have had otherwise.

"When manufacturing collapsed, there was no effort to salvage the infrastructure for other purposes," he said. "The formal economy here has been stagnant since the beginning of the 1990s. The only growth has been in under-the-table employment, predominantly fueled by desperate workers and in particular undocumented workers."

Without immigrants, Flaming said, Los Angeles would be smaller and weaker and poorer — Detroit or Pittsburgh or Cleveland with better weather. ... "We should be thankful to immigrants," Flaming said. "Without them, things would be much worse."

First the newcomers stabilized Panorama City. Now they are pushing it forward. The median value of a single-family home has doubled since 2000. And on the edge of the Plant mall, there's a sign that the informal economy might be yielding to a more traditional, bigger-budget state of affairs. Starbucks, that dispenser of $4 venti tangerine frappuccinos to the middle class, has just opened a store. ...

This is not a call to open the doors and say come one, come all. If too many people arrive too fast, they cannot be absorbed into the economy easily and we will have problems. But at reasonably liberal rates, with a mix of skills, there is no need to fear that immigration will bring about negative consequences. Instead, there are good reasons to believe the effects will be positive.

Comments

[John Konop]

E]conomists concede that [some] ... native-born Americans may be hurt by competition from illegal immigrants who are willing to work cheaply. But any harm, they say, is outweighed by the benefits to the overall economy. ... Restaurant prices are pushed down by illegal labor in the kitchen, fruit and vegetable prices by illegal field hands, new-home prices by illegal drywallers

WE All KNOW WAGES ARE FALLING FASTER THAN ANY PRICE GAIN!!!!!!!

The presence in the United States of Lopez and 12 million other illegal immigrants is one of the most contentious issues of the era. ... Economists are less divided. In the main, they say the American engines of industry and commerce have always been fueled by a steady supply of new arrivals. Immigrants, they contend, contribute to consumer spending and, instead of replacing native workers, create jobs. ...

DO YOU GET THEY ARE ILLEGAL WITH NO WORKERS RIGHT.WHY NOT JUST BRING BACK THE SLAVE TRADE?

Immigrants aren't just a weapon against inflation. The tens of thousands of illegal nannies in the Los Angeles area, for example, lower the cost of child care, freeing mothers to return to work. This in turn increases families' incomes, which encourages spending and fuels the economy

NOT ONLY FALSE, BUT THIS WAS THE RACIST ARGUMENT THE SOUTH USED IN THE CIVIL WAR.

Many immigrants send a portion of their earnings home to their families, but their influence here remains potent. The Economic Roundtable, a Los Angeles think tank, estimates that the 400,000 illegal workers in L.A. County spend $5.7 billion annually on food, rent, transportation and other necessities.
The sales taxes they pay on all those consumer purchases boost the state treasury. The growing number of immigrants who use false papers to get payroll jobs are contributing to Social Security without the right to receive payments from the fund. That props up the beleaguered system by at least $5 billion a year, analysts say.

THIS IS FALSE AND SLUPPY MATH. BASIC COMMON SENCE WOULD TELL YOU THE TAXES PAID DO NOT COVER SOCIAL SERVICE COST IE !10K PER KID SCHOOL, 10K PER FAMILT HEALTHCARE…………

THIS POST IS NOTHING MORE THAN PROPAGANDA. JUST LIKE THE ONE ON HOW WORKERS RIGHTS ARE GETTING BETTER IN CHINA.

[save the rustbelt]

So if we discover that income tax evasion is a net benefit for the economy, that would be good too?

"When manufacturing collapsed, there was no effort to salvage the infrastructure for other purposes," he said. "The formal economy here has been stagnant since the beginning of the 1990s."

So we screw out own citizens with bad economic policy, and then we make up for it with illegal immigration?

Wow, beam me out of here.

[Wimpy]

But Rustbelt, to take the Conservative logic to its decidedly illogical extreme, one must reach the conclusion that tax evasion by the wealthy does benefit our economy by freeing capital for more wealth creation.

The real problem confronting our Conservative leadership is debt evasion by those workers decimated by cheap illegal labor. Now this is a trend that must be stopped in its tracks. I think they're planning to build a large fence around the country to keep these people within US jurisdiction.

I wonder who in Washington is holding the key to that Social Security lock box. Perhaps it's the same person who will hold the keys to our new multi-billion dollar, multi-layered border fence and who also keeps the keys for all those secret CIA torture prisons.

This keeps getting more complicated every day.

Perhaps we can look forward to a new Cabinet-level position. We could call it Keeper-of-the-Keys.

[John Konop]

Wimpy,

You are saying two wrongs make a right ?

[Idaho_Spud]

I only wish that illegal immigrants arrived with enough skills to displace Ivy Leage economists and newspaper reporters.

Maybe *that* would resolve the cognitive dissonance these two professons seem to have between textbook theory and the ugly reality of this subject.

[ninjaplease]

So instead of fixing Mexico's economy, by fixing our free trade agreement with them, we pretend that illegal immigration is good.

Illegal immigration exists because the economic benefits of free trade are not reaching the 11 Million illegals that are here already, THAT'S 10% of MEXICO'S POPULATION THAT'S HERE BECAUSE THEIR SITUATION IS WORSE IN MEXICO.

That is not a good thing (that 10M people are worse off in their home country.) Instead of pretending that bad is good as in 1984, how about we perform some root cause analysis and fix the problem?

Oh, the submarine sprung a leak, well all of us needed a bath anyway---it's a net benefit that we're sinking!

It amazes me how many put theory, faith & arrogance above people's lives.

How about we go back to publishing $150 college text books full of unimplementable ideas due either to current political climate, available funding, etc, and reinterpretations of classic ideas and stop ruining people's lives?

[ninjaplease]

And for a site full of people who know the difference between MEDIAN and AVERAGE it amazes me how we conviently forget the distinction between ILLEGAL and LEGAL.

[Wimpy]

Well John, it's possible I'm not quite sure what I'm saying as I was being very tongue-in-cheek. But I will admit to believing that these days it appears multiple wrongs does make one Right.

[nedlink]

Of course it is beneficial. Ask the fresh produce industry in California, etc. The hysteria about it is pure jingoism from people who hate foreign languages, and probably never could learn any in school, who hate to see people take jobs that they would reject, and who think the nation needs to have a narrow Anglo culture without "furrin'" admixtures. That isn't the way the world works today. And Lou Dobbs isn't going to keep the Mexicans out, nor will the fence (inspired by Israel?). But it sells well politically in various parts of the nation. So why be sensible about it?

[bncthor]

Remove national state boundaries. Would there then still be an "illegal" immigrant problem?

[John Konop]

Nedlink,

The First guy who pointed out this problem is Ceasar Chavez. He testified before Congress and in 1979 that immigration should not be a tool to drive wages down.

Robert Abernathy , Walter Mondale joined the Chavez brothers in protest to block the boarders from illegals in 1969.

So are you calling all of them Racist !!

[Jeffrey Miller]

"Other benefits may be less obvious, such as the gains in property values enjoyed by homeowners. ... Their apartments and houses may be shabby, but their sheer numbers exert a profound effect. In a state that never has enough housing, the hundreds of thousands of units rented to immigrant families put upward pressure on all prices."

Yes, less obvious indeed, although it's well known that more expensive housing and expensive land is a great boon to any society, especially to the poor. The same holds for more traffic and congestion - you can't get enough of them. Ditto for pollution.

I have to say how much admiration I have for analysis like this. The recipe is classic. Write down an ad-hoc list of ill defined costs and benefits that you think might be associated with what you are studying (assigning something as a cost or a benefit in and equally ad-hoc way), make no pretense of measuring or estimating these costs and benefits in a precise way, assign some subjective measures of importance to them, and then make a subjective and often predetermined decision that it is on balance good or bad. High science of the kind at which journalists seem to excel.

But really what makes this kind of analysis stand out from run of the mill analysis are claims to the effect that the people who are most directly affected by something are simply wrong in their impressions. So if a long time California resident says that they think that the quality of life in California was better in the past when their were fewer people living there, then a good study (like this one) will say that these people (who seem to be in the majority) don't know what they are talking about.

All in all, really informative and persuasive, as newspaper articles usually are.

[save the rustbelt]

Wimpy:

The liberals are more adamant about more immigration than anyone but the corporate-conservative GOP.

This is a strange issue, with both sides having their own agendas.

[John Konop]

SRP,

You hit right on the nose. The reason is WalMart like companies bought off both sides of the arguement.

BTW the fence is a joke to fire up both sides. Read This

Senate Votes “For” a Fence to Cover Only 3% of Our Border.

A $1,200,000,000 Political Smoke Screen!
Where is the leadership needed to truly secure our borders from terrorism and illegal alien invasion? Politicians have just voted to put up a smoke screen instead of a real fence. They provide misleading information about border security to make you believe the border is secure. This is not leadership – it is poll watching and electioneering.

Remember that the levees in New Orleans could have been repaired before the city was devastated by a storm that everyone knew was coming. Today, the SENATE APPROVES MEAGER BORDER SECURITY DESIGN, at prohibitively expensive costs per mile, and with what actual result? Just Election Year Politics As Usual – a vote that pretends to provide substantive security, while actually leaving our borders wide open to terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens. And after November – Amnesty will be proposed by many of these same politicians as THE hot political game in town.

[slink/js paine]

it amazes me this issue can be so easily framed

framed as in that older meaning

set up

obviously making it a conflict between two sets of jobsters
gringo and undoc is a nasty forced fight
between the two groups that are both taking a hit here

the broad mass of dispossed mexicans and the crumbling job holder class of norte americanos

fact is nafta hurt both sides of the border

at best we get aseries of win lose win lose balancing acts

lower prices race lower wages
but for qualitative impact
the hard nuggets
created
by lost good paying jobs
trump the wide but only one layer deep
wave
of lower prices
for consumer goods (imports) and services (illegals)
in the short medium and long run
its only the profit class
that can really stand up and shout
"win win"

[Movie Guy]

"Unfortunately, the Federal government has consistently failed to respond to the needs of state and local communities struggling to stay afloat on account of the growing costs of illegal immigration. And all too frequently, local communities are forced to shoulder this burden alone." —Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Local Emergency Health Services Reimbursement Act of 2003
March 4, 2003

Projecting U.S. Population to 2050

The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians
November 2004
Link here

"California's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year."

Education - 2004: "Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in California and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Californians spend approximately $7.7 billion annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings. Nearly 15 percent of the K-12 public school students in California are children of illegal aliens."

Health care - 2004: "Uncompensated medical outlays for health care provided to the state's illegal alien population amount to about $1.4 billion a year."

"The California state government joined other states in filing a lawsuit against the federal government on May 2, 1994. In that legal initiative and another one filed separately, California sought $370 million for emergency medical services provided to 309,000 illegal immigrants, and $2 billion for incarceration of illegal aliens. The lawsuits ultimately were dismissed as a political matter for which redress should be sought in Congress, not the courts."

Incarceration - 2004: "The cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in California's prisons and jails amounts to about $1.4 billion a year (not including related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes that led to their incarceration)."

"California has received partial compensation under the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) that was established in 1994 to compensate the states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of "undocumented," aliens who are serving time for a felony conviction or at least two misdemeanors."

The recent SCAAP amounts that California has received were:
FY’99 -- $237,981,284
FY’00 -- $240,784,042
FY’01 -- $225,683,084
FY’02 -- $220,241,046
FY’03 -- $95,304,541
FY’04 -- $111,899,215

Taxes - 2004: "State and local taxes paid by the unauthorized immigrant population go toward offsetting these costs, but they do not come near to matching the expenses. The total of such payments can generously be estimated at about $1.6 billion per year."

[Movie Guy]

CALIFORNIA: THE U.S. IMMIGRATION YUM YUM MODEL

I provided a point-by-point presentation of the problems that the State of California is facing with illegal and legal immigration as well as general population growth in the comments section of a main post on another blog, Legal versus Illegal Immigration - Tuesday, March 28, 2006

The State of California analysis I assembled is available under a three part post titled, CALIFORNIA: THE U.S. IMMIGRATION YUM YUM MODEL. The link takes you to the first post.

The review includes:

California Illegal Immigrants
California Population
California Impact of Immigration on Education
California Educational Costs of Illegal Immigrants
California Health Care
California Medical Costs of Illegal Immigrants
California Poverty
California Water Supply
California Air Pollution
California Traffic
California Disappearing Open Space
California Crowded Housing
California Lack of Affordable Housing
California Farmland Loss
California Illegal Immigrants Incarceration Costs

This type of basic analysis can be performed for existing and projected conditions and population trends in any State using the information available from FAIR's Legal and Illegal Immigration Information and Costs for All 50 States as well as other sources.

In my judgment, the State of California is not the model of state financial management, immigration, population growth, or environmental preservation that any other State should embrace. I fully expect California to sink further under the weight of its financial mess, lack of supporting infrastructure, and disproportional illegal and legal immigration growth. California should be in serious trouble no later than year 2025.

[slink/js paine]

"California should be in serious trouble no later than year 2025. "

my kinda guy......

the long view

[ImmigrationMarchOrganizersHaveForeignLinks]

Let's take a step back and ask why we even see articles like this followed by posts like this. Isn't it a symptom of a serious problem, one not even alluded to in the article?

Namely: massive corruption. Massive illegal immigration has corrupted our entire political system, resulting in articles that promote illegal activity being considered acceptable.

Those who promote massive illegal immigration should consider moving to Mexico and promoting the drug trade. There's even more money in that, and money is all that matters to them.

[slink/js paine]

i for one agree with your bold analogy

between our 40 year
war on drugs
and the pending war on immigrants

t'is an uneven contest in either case

my suggestion we admit we're licked

our petty morality
is trumped
by our grand humanity

[anne]

"California should be in serious trouble no later than year 2025."

Remind me whether this will come before or after California is taken over by, say, "Shinto," I think it was Shinto, "religious fanatics."

[Movie Guy]

anne,

If you go back to the other thread, you will see that I explained to Bob that the map reference was only a point of illustration.

[DRR]

It's not just that "illegal" immigration is beneficial, ALL immigration is beneficial, Legal or otherwise. Also, contrary to the Buchananesque hysteria about Mexican crime waves, First generation immigrants on the whole are actually slightly less likely to commit crime than Native born whites.

If white workers don't wish to compete against Spanish speaking brown people that work harder, longer & for cheaper wages than you need to be pouring resources into organizing these people into the Unions. If the bosses refuse to bargain on the grounds that some workers are undocumented, WE will stand with you & defeat them (there is precedent) but we're not going to rig the system just so you dont have to compete. You as a native White American are no more entitled to a job than the brown Mexican immigrant you compete against. Give my regards to Lou Dobbs.

[John Konop]

DRR,

Should we have no immigration laws at all ?

[Mike]

… there is no need to fear that immigration will bring about negative consequences. Instead, there are good reasons to believe the effects will be positive. Mark Thoma 03:33 AM
The 'skills' you describe are available from any American high school student. The fact that America's corporations are using docile illegal workers, workers who have become predominant in some job markets, such as the meatpacking industry for example, to keep prices down, profits up, and bonuses to management at all-time highs, should give you a clue that you're talking nonsense. I remember, back in the 80's, many a high-school grad went to work with a packer for $10 per hour, which was a good starting wage with union benefits. Today, the pay is under $7 with no benefits for workers who dare not unionize.

Apparently, you advocate the destruction of the American middle class as a 'positive result.' You want cheap, illegal labor at home; and, if an illegal is inadequate for an particular job, out-source or off-shore that job.

The commenter above has it exactly right: Out source economists, off shore economic instruction. We can learn factual data better via the Internet instead of the nonsensical theories of domestic economists.

[anne]

Heck, stop the rubbish, here is what was written by Mark Thoma:

"But at reasonably liberal rates, with a mix of skills, there is no need to fear that immigration will bring about negative consequences. Instead, there are good reasons to believe the effects will be positive."

This has been the case for 300 years. Enough of distorting.

[nedlink]

There you go again John putting words in my mouth. I didn't call anyone "racist". I said much of the opposition to immigrants, legal and illegal, was due to what might be termed cultural nationalism; you are the one who calls that "racist". Please get my words and meanings correct and stop substituting your thoughts for mine.

BTW I don't think many if any here have factored in that immigrants come with all the costs of their childhood already paid. There is no period of time when they are costing the society money to raise them without being able to work. An important point.

[ImmigrationMarchOrganizersHaveForeignLinks]

DRR has to be a troll, because most people who are so anti-American aren't quite so explicit about it.

As for nedlink's comment, look at who's in the LAUSD or other CA school districts. In many areas a large number of those students are either illegal aliens or the children of illegal aliens.

Of course, one easy way to turn them from a loss into a gain is to reinstate child labor.

When I first heard about the "open_letter" I knew it would be used by corrupt forces to promote illegal immigration, and we can see an example of that in the LAT article. I wonder whether all 500 of those economists appreciate being used to promote illegal activity. Someone should ask them...

[Movie Guy]

nedlink - "BTW I don't think many if any here have factored in that immigrants come with all the costs of their childhood already paid. There is no period of time when they are costing the society money to raise them without being able to work. An important point."

nedlink,

You don't know what you're talking about. Apparently, you aren't familiar with current U.S. immigration laws.

Modern U.S. Immigration Laws

1965 Act "The INA"
The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965
(cite to 79 Statutes-at-Large 911, October 3, 1965)

- Abolished the national origins quota system (from Immigration Act of 1924 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952) eliminating national origin, race, and ancestry as bases for immigration to the United States.
- Established allocation of immigrant visas of a first-come, firstserved basis, under a seven-category preference system for relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens and for persons with special occupational skills needed in the U.S.
- Established a category of immigrants not subject to numerical restrictions: immediate relatives (parents, spouses, children) of U.S. citizens.
- Limited Eastern Hemisphere immigration to 170,000 and placed a ceiling for the first on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000). However, neither the preference categories nor per-country limit were applied to the Western Hemisphere.

The 1965 Act took one of the elements of the previous system, the admission of nuclear family members, and made it the centerpiece of a new system whose goal was the reunification of extended family members. Previous law confined admissions to the nuclear family (spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens); the new system of ‘family reunification’ made other relatives (such as siblings and adult sons and daughters) eligible as well.

The change to family reunification shifted the source immigration flow away from the developed, western countries toward the closer and more overpopulated developing countries.

1986 Act "IRCA"
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
(cite to 100 Statutes-at-Large 3359, November 6, 1986)

- Created sanctions prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring, recruiting, or referring for a fee illegal alien workers.
- Authorized the legalization of non-excludable illegal aliens who had resided in the U.S. since January 1, 1982.
- Created a new classification of seasonal agricultural worker.

As legal immigration from developing countries rose, so did the opportunities and motivation for illegal immigration. To deal with the growing population of resident illegal aliens, Congress gave an amnesty to those illegal aliens who could show that they had been resident for some time (over three million of them) and created 'employer sanctions' making it illegal to knowingly hire illegal aliens.

1990 Act "ImmAct90"
The Immigration Act of November 29, 1990
(cite to 104 Statutes-at-Large 4978, November 29, 1990).

- Increased total immigration under an overall ‘flexiblecap’ of 675,000, to consist of 480,000 family-sponsored, 140,000 employment based, and 55,000 'diversity lottery' immigrants.
- Revised all grounds for exclusion and deportation, significantly rewriting the political and ideological grounds.
- Revised the nonimmigrant temporary worker categories.

A compilation of rather technical changes to existing laws, the 1990 Act increased the level of legal immigration by roughly 40 percent. One obvious change made by the 1990 Act was the addition of a ‘visa lottery’. Because of the dynamics of family reunification, a few developing countries tend to squeeze most other countries out of the immigration flow. To compensate, the 55,000 admissions in the visa lottery were slated for applicants from the ‘squeezed out’ countries.

1996 Welfare Act "PRAWORA"
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
(cite to 110 Statutes-at-Large 2105, August 22, 1996).

- Established measures to control U.S. borders, protect legal workers through worksite enforcement, and remove criminal and other deportable aliens.
- Placed added restrictions on benefits for aliens.
- Increased penalties for document fraud and benefit fraud.

Congress passed this bill to deter illegal immigration by better protecting the borders, and by better detecting and removing illegal aliens from the U.S. IIRAIRA was originally part of a larger bill (the unpassed Immigration Reform Act of 1995) that would have reformed the legal immigration system as well by eliminating certain visa categories. Congress has so far declined to return to the issue of reforming the legal immigration system.


All text quoted from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

[John Konop]

Nedlink,

The point I was making it was not just Middle Class whites guys against illegal immigration. In facts American Blacks and American Latinos have the biggest victum of illegal workers with no rights bottom line.

I do not think your "culture" line was aim at Blacks and latinos ?

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/technology/20pogue.html?ex=1311048000&en=11b008afa13d2319&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

July 20, 2006

Like Having a Secretary in Your PC
By David Pogue

[Read this article, about which I commented on the NAFTA thread, carefully.]

[slink]

drr writes:

" ALL immigration is beneficial, Legal or otherwise"

all immigration all the time to everyone ????

obviously you imply the possiblity of otherwise

"If white workers..." --(again with the racism chest beating)---
"don't wish to compete against Spanish speaking brown people that work harder, longer & for cheaper wages... "
----(ie that lower market wages)---
"than you need to be pouring resources
into organizing these people into the Unions"
( nb "pouring resources " an imposed cost eh ??)

" If the bosses refuse to bargain on the grounds that some workers are undocumented "
----(that u imagine is the sole obstacle here ??)---

"WE will stand with you & defeat them (there is precedent)"

------ what WE is this ??? the class of righteous fair wage and organizing rights defenders -------

" but we're not going to rig the system just so you dont have to compete"

----- oh the fair play for everyone movement
even those who's wages
are lowered jobs threatened by the competition -----

"You as a native White American are no more entitled to a job than the brown Mexican immigrant you compete against "

------ i agree in some humanistical sense
but as a practical matter
this competition is hurting some ones welfare
even if you resent his/her sense of white skin privilege---

i suggest again drop the moral superiority dance
and find a way to effectively comp
the losers that is classic fair trade doctrine

pretending automatic market moves will lead to all rond win win

only redounds to the benefit of those unwilling to share the gains of free labor mobility fairly

tell me drr what do u do to earn your life style

are you a programmer a marketing agent
a small biz man

an assembly line worker

a unitarian minister

[RichB]

Does anyone else find it ironic that the world's third richest person is a Mexican? (Carlos Slim Helu, right behind Gates and Buffett according to Forbes.) It's not only in the US where the corruption and law breaking behind illegal immigration enrich the few at the expense of the majority. If Mexico wasn't propped up by remittances from illegal labor, they might actually reform their economy, starting with things like the telecoms monopoly where Slim makes his money.

[ninjaplease]

"cheaper wages than you need to be pouring resources into organizing these people into the Unions."

So let me get this straight... If I run a business and a group of my employees tell me that they want to form a union to demand higher pay, benefits, etc, and there is no law against hiring a team of illegal aliens, why on Earth would I not summarily fire every one of those union organizers and go and hire the illegals? Infact it will increase my profit margin to hire them because they will work for much less money--but with pride no doubt.

Blue collar pride is sad. Do screwdrivers have pride? do hammers have pride? They're all tools, being used.

But soon the hammer and screwdriver will be labeled: "made in Mexico."

I speak 3 languages. I'm no racist, I think its sad that 11M people are better off here than in their home country. We should be focusing on how Mexico can create opportunities for the 11M people here illegally so that they don't have to take the extremely dangerous risk which is disruptive to their families.

Someday, all these ivory towers will fall and we'll all be on the same level.

[ninjaplease]

Mint chocolate chip icecream is good. Go ahead and refute my argument.

[lonesome moderate]

"If Mexico wasn't propped up by remittances from illegal labor, they might actually reform their economy, starting with things like the telecoms monopoly where Slim makes his money."

I don't see any evidence to back up this idea in the rest of Latin America. With the possible exception of a few small Caribbean and Central American countries, no other country in the region is propped up by remittances to anywhere near the extent that Mexico is. And, frankly, I don't see how any of those countries could be held up as an economic model for Mexico to follow.

[lonesome moderate]

"We should be focusing on how Mexico can create opportunities for the 11M people here illegally so that they don't have to take the extremely dangerous risk which is disruptive to their families."

How could the Mexican government do that? I don't know of any alternative to free trade that they hasn't been tried in the fairly recent past, with discouraging results.

[lonesome moderate]

"Economists are less divided. In the main, they say the American engines of industry and commerce have always been fueled by a steady supply of new arrivals. Immigrants, they contend, contribute to consumer spending and, instead of replacing native workers, create jobs. .."

Didn't Paul Krugman look at illegal immigration a few months back and conclude that, at current levels, it was probably a slight overall minus?

[John Konop]

Lonesome,

If immigration was in balance, then we should forget supply and demand when it comes to wages.

[slink]

the mexican government
does not use its credit system to create maximum effective demand

why?

cause unlike say ...china

(which has a similar
rural surplus population
and a similar task
ie
to re employ
these masses
now pouring into
the modern sector
from the "modernizing"
tradtional sector )

yes unlike the one party state
people's republic of china
the pluralistic "emerging open society"
of mexico
does not control its own credit system
wall street does

there is no reason technically speaking
why mexico couldn't have 10% real growth each year
till its huge and growing
surplus population is gainfully re employed
instead mexico fills up with the jobless millions
looking to cross the river
to lower the wages and increase the profits
on all those forex inflated
dollar jobs in el norte

trans nat amerika uber alles

vide if you must
my pitchfork
my horns and my tail

[John Konop]

Ninja,

You are right about Mexico. That is why NAFTA is so sad. It killed the small farmers in Mexico. In fact that was one of the largest waves of illegals are X farmers and workers we put out of business. But hey we did here as well.

[John Konop]

NAFTA & Globalization is Killing Mexico's Farmers
The Dallas Morning News
August 9, 2001, Thursday
Mexican farmers take to streets to protest free trade, demand crop subsidies
BYLINE: By Brendan M. Case

MEXICO CITY _ Thousands of campesinos set out Wednesday to protest
Mexico's agricultural policies in this sprawling metropolis. They ended up
picking a fight with President Vicente Fox over the soul of the Mexican
economy. Busloads of people like Jesus Godinez blocked thoroughfares
and snarled traffic in Mexico City, demanding government help to alleviate
years of hopeless competition with U.S. farmers and a long decline in the
prices of corn, sugar, coffee and other basic crops.
Fox's reply: join the new Mexico of entrepreneurs. And forget about
government handouts. "The government has a big responsibility in the
(agricultural) sector, and we're fulfilling that with policies that
eradicate corruption, paternalism and red tape in the countryside," said Fox
in comments as many protesters began arriving late Tuesday for the Wednesday
protest.
"Some people still want the government to intervene and substitute for the
creativity of farmers, ranchers and fishermen," said Fox, a former rancher
and vegetable farmer. "But that's no longer possible."
The standoff illustrated the split personality of the Mexican economy, and
the culture clash between Fox's new administration and the millions of
Mexicans who grew accustomed to the paternalistic policies of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
Fox, who ended the PRI's 71-year grip on the presidency last year, has
pledged to make Mexico a nation of bootstrappers and business opportunities.
He also aims to destroy the last vestiges of the PRI's network of subsidies,
which the party often manipulated to generate votes.
At the same time, a decades-old crisis in Mexican agriculture has been
getting worse, due to falling commodities prices and intensified competition
stemming from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Desperate farmhands,
farmers and ranchers say they need a lifeline.
"Prices have been falling ever since we joined NAFTA, and the best we can do
is make enough money to eat poorly," said Godinez, 44, a day worker from the
state of Hidalgo who cultivates corn, alfalfa and beans. "A group of us have
raised half the money we need for a ranching project. But without government
support, there's no way we can make it work."
When it comes to inefficiency, few areas can compete with Mexican
agriculture. In the wake of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the government
handed out small parcels of land _ called ejidos _ to landless peasants.
Over the years, however, those plots were divided and subdivided; they also
lacked investment and economies of scale.

Now, more than a quarter of the labor force works in agriculture, but
farming and ranching account for less than 5 percent of economic output. And
while many economists laud Fox's business-oriented policies, they fret that
unfettered free market policies could cause serious pain in the countryside.
"There's been a crisis in the Mexican countryside for decades, but there's
something different going on now," said Rogelio Ramirez de la O, the
director of Ecanal, an economic consulting firm in Mexico City.
"The old governments were always ready to spend money when things got too
bad," said Ramirez de la O. "This government is opposed to that on
principle, but it's being quite naive. We have more than four million people
who grow corn. You can't teach them to grow asparagus overnight."
Such troubles have already expelled millions of campesinos to the fields,
restaurants and construction sites of the United States. Millions more have
fled to hardscrabble neighborhoods in Mexico City.
Now a few experts even say that hard times could bring social unrest and
armed guerrilla groups. Low coffee prices ranked among the key underlying
causes of the 1994 uprising of the Zapatista National Liberation Army in
Chiapas.
"Social movements, including violent ones, have arisen in recent years in
places of economic misery," said Bernardino Mata, a professor at Chapingo
Autonomous University, an agricultural college, in comments to reporters.
"If the countryside gets no help, more serious problems could arise."
Experts like Mata call for government subsidies for farmers, pointing to
price supports and other incentives for farmers in the United States, Japan
and many European countries.
Fox recently said that rich countries spend a yearly average of $1 billion
each on farm subsidies, but said Mexico could not afford such policies.
A few Mexican farmers have found prosperity by planting flowers, herbs and
organic vegetables. Javier Usabiaga, Fox's agriculture minister, has been
dubbed the "king of garlic" for his success with that herb.
But for most people, the problems on the farm seem to be getting worse.
That's especially true for the millions of ejido farmers who have relied on
traditional crops like corn, beans, sugar and coffee.
Mexico used to buy their corn at prices far above those on world markets.
But free market reformers abolished that system in the 1990s, and NAFTA
opened the border to U.S. imports. Over the past three years, prices for
Mexico's 4 million corn farmers have fallen by nearly half.
In the state of Veracruz, sugar farmers are lurching toward ruin. Mexico
says NAFTA allows the export of Mexican sugar to the United States. U.S.
officials disagree, and keep the border closed. Meanwhile, U.S. companies
export corn syrup south of the border, and their low prices have wrested
market share from Mexican sugar.
As for coffee, world prices have fallen to their lowest level in years. And
about four million coffee farmers have seen their incomes plummet.
"The first thing we need is for the government to listen to us," said Jose
Luis Hernandez, an activist with campesino groups and labor unions. "How can
they come up with solutions for the countryside if they don't even ask
campesinos what we need?"
A 20-year-old farmhand named Memi Rios says he needs government subsidies,
after years of watching his wages drop. Two dozen of his friends saw the
same thing, and they decided to move to take their chances in Texas,
California and New York.

"These jobs aren't worth anything anymore," Rios said. "The government is
doing everything it can to force us off the land. Sometimes I think it would
be easier just to leave the harvest in the fields, and go look for another
job."
___

[anne]

Slink is arguing that Mexico could use the development model of China but does not because the Mexican government has not chosen to control the credit system to directly stimulate increasingly widespread employment-generating investment.

[slink]

precisely anne..

right or dead wrong

my my some one reads my stuff for substance
not pot shots
god bless u anne

no one really enjoys
the voice crying in the wilderness bit
for long....

[dryfly]

my suggestion we admit we're licked

Ditto. 'El Anschlus', bring it on.

I've been saying this for 20 years. History is a one way arrow and from what I can see that arrow isn't pointing toward two seperate independent countries for much longer. We will have 'one country, one folk' so either this merger happens accidentally or we design & plan for it.

There are only two groups who don't see it coming - those folks running Washington and their partners in Mexico City.

[calmo]

no one really enjoys
the voice crying in the wilderness bit
for long....

would that be
the loon --
such a lovely sound
or the wolf
closing in?

it is not easy
picking up the
melody --or
skipping
through the woods
after the
nimble slink

wait up for me
to learn this
leap, this dance
that kisses
the highway
goodbye way

[Ivor Manuel prophet]

911 JUDGMENT of GOD

Does anyone doubt 911 as the JUDGMENT of GOD upon AMERICA, and the NATIONS of the WORLD? Read on now; writes Ivor Manuel, Branch of the Lord.

Yesterday 10/22/06 Associated Press published the following story: NEW YORK – Searchers found more bones believed to belong to Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack victims Sunday in manholes and utility areas, areas that apparently were overlooked years ago…

Utility and city officials have excavated more than five hundred areas, yielding more than 100 pieces of human remains, since construction workers discovered bones earlier in the week in a manhole excavated as part of work in a transit hub…

The medical examiner’s office said 18 pieces of remains were found Sunday. The bones found thus far range from tiny fragments to recognizable bones from the sculls, torso, feet and hands. Some are as large as whole arms and legs bones…

Now read the WORD of the LORD by Prophet ISAIAH chapter 34: 1, 2, 3, 4. For the LORD shall accomplish His purpose according to the WORD by His prophets; writes Ivor Manuel.

“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken ye people; let the Earth hear, and all that is therein; the World and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their ARMIES; He hath utterly destroyed them; He has delivered them to the slaughter. THIR SLAIN also SHALL BE CAST OUT, and THEIR STINK SHALL COME UP OUT of their CARCASES, and the MOUNTAINS SHALL BE MELTED (mountains in Afghanistan) with their BLOOD. And all the Host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the Heavens shall be rolled together as (Tsunami, Earthquakes and Hurricanes) a scroll; and all their entire host (idols of America and the World) shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”

Now, read the WORD of the LORD given to Ivor Manuel prophet, and published before the Presidential elections of 2004, in his Web Page named www.Aleuzenev.com

End of page 4 and part of page 5 of 22 pages:

Then from there; JESUS the son of man; The MESSIAH SON of GOD; The HIGHEST PRIEST and PROPHET of the prophets; ALEUZENEV; HIS NEW NAME (Revelation 3:12); Our HEAVENLY BROTHER whom is set down with OUR FATHER in HIS THRONE; spoke saying to HIS brother: “Write all that I AM saying in your ears; that MY sheep may read and understand MY FATHER’S WORD, and also hear MY VOICE in their ears; to understand “The COVENANT of PEACE and ETERNAL LIFE.” And HIS prophet opened the LORD’S BOOK of REVELATION given to HIS servant; Saint JOHN THE DIVINE 2:23 and read HIS Written WORDS: “And I will kill her children with death [JEZEBEL’S children, those who idolized their own FREDOM, Statue of Liberty, Goddess of Liberties; worshipers of Baal god of material images from the church of THYATIRA]; and all the churches shall know that I AM He whom searches the rains and the hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your Works.”

Thereon, the prophet recalled December of 1998; after President Clinton had been impeached by the House of Representatives, and before the Senate of the United States would vote on February 12, 1999, Year of Our LORD, to either remove or leave the President in office. The following testimony of JESUS was dictated to HIS brother Ivor Manuel (prodigal son); by HIM; The SPIRIT of PROPHESY. The testimony was published in a tourist magazine named ORIENTATION; and was read by people all over the World visiting Orlando; and few shall know, they were blessed with this knowledge during their visit to Florida. It was titled, “KING and COURT vs. the people;” and it is written: “Raising the consciousness of the planet is the job of the King (Establish Morality and Peace by the WORD of GOD), but the King is a liar (then, President Bill Clinton) and teaches immorality and adultery to the people. The King has broken The Law of the land and that of Heaven. He has lied to his people and murdered his brothers [lies about adultery and bombing of Baghdad during Ramadan] as they prayed. The House has judge the King and found him guilty (Impeachment by the House), but the King and his court (The President and Senators that voted against his Impeachment) believe he is above The Law. The King is arrogant, his court is in darkness and they blind the people with the veil of money and idolatry to the host of impurity. The speaker of the House has shown the way and has asked the King to follow in the way of constriction (resign as President), but the King and his court will not yield to the wisdom of repentance. Therefore the people (common people must raise a voice against the President and the Congress) must raise the consciousness of the King and his court. The people who say: “In GOD we TRUST,” must follow The Consciousness of Light (CHRIST’S CONSCIOUSNESS) and punish the King. If the people fail to fire (Impeached the President) the King, they will bring GREAT CONDEMNATION UPON the LAND of AMERICA.”

It was signed, prophet for the new millennium. Then he (Ivor Manuel prophet) recalled that February 12 of 1999 Year of Our LORD came; which is also his birthday as well. On that day, the Senate voted to leave the President in office. Then on April 20th 1999, the day of the prophet’s 25th wedding anniversary, while US. Jet-fighters where bombing Kosovo; The LORD began to pass through the land of America; Littleton, Chicago, Atlanta, etc; and smite the children of the Christian nation, according to “The WORKS” the leaders of America have Glorified; “THE TEACHINGS of WAR [Kosovo then, now Afghanistan and Iraq] and VIOLENCE”, just as The LORD had prophesized it would happened in HIS BOOK of REVELATION chapter 2: 23; and had told HIS prophet to warn the nation before February 12 of 1999, which he did accordingly. “I pray for you to understand in The LIGHT”, says Ivor Manuel.

Today, October 23, 2006, the WORD of the LORD remains with HIS JUDGMENT and CONDEMNATION upon the LAND of AMERICA; unless the people REPENT and IMPEACHED President George W. Bush; thus says The LORD, and writes His prophet Ivor Manuel.

“And He said unto me, THOU MUST PROPHESY again BEFORE MANY PEOPLES and NATIONS, and TONGUES, and KINGS.” Revelation 10:11
And I praise Him: ALELUYA! AMEN! ALEUZENEV! Vengan mis hermanos Judios (Los Aztecas and all Immigrants) para ALEUZENEV!

[Amadou]

to read when you have time

[PJGoober]

http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1529

Study sheds light on how young adult children of immigrants assimilate

Largest, longest study of children of immigrants reveals certain groups are left behind

Irvine, Calif., October 4, 2006
While the vast majority of young adult children of immigrants experience upward economic and social mobility, a new study finds that a significant minority are suffering from lower levels of education, lower incomes, higher birth rates and higher levels of incarceration. Furthermore, it is the U.S.-born children of Mexican, Haitian and West Indian immigrants who experience these problems in the largest proportions.

The study, led by sociologists Rubén G. Rumbaut of UC Irvine and Alejandro Portes of Princeton University, appears online this week in the Migration Information Source. The largest and longest-running study of children of immigrants yet conducted, the study also confirms the critical importance of education.

“The greatest educational disadvantage is found among children of Mexican immigrants and Laotian and Cambodian refugees in our sample – close to 40 percent of whom did not go beyond a high school diploma,” said Rumbaut. “Education is the key to successful upward mobility among children of immigrants, so the discrepancies that emerge in educational achievement among immigrant groups tend to persist in trends for income, employment and incarceration.”

The researchers also point to the influence of human capital (the skills and education of immigrant parents) as well as family structure, racial prejudice and government policies toward certain immigrant groups – particularly the undocumented – that influence this “downward assimilation” process.

The researchers found that children of Laotian and Cambodian Americans as well as Haitian Americans had the lowest median annual household income at just over $25,000. They were followed closely by Mexican American families, which had a median annual household income of about $30,000. On the other end of the spectrum, children of upper-middle-class Cuban exiles in Southern Florida reported a household income of more than $70,000, and Filipino Americans in Southern California had more than $64,000, followed by Chinese immigrants.

Furthermore, the study found that the most educationally and economically disadvantaged children of immigrants were most likely to have children of their own at a young age, compounding their difficulties at pursuing higher education. When surveyed at the average age of 24, none of the Chinese Americans had children, while in contrast 25 percent of Haitians, West Indians, Laotians and Cambodians did, as did 41 percent of Mexican American young adults.

Differences in arrest and incarceration rates are also noteworthy, particularly among second-generation, U.S.-born, males. While only 10 percent of second-generation immigrant males in the survey had been incarcerated, that figure jumped to 20 percent among West Indian and Mexican American youths.

“Unfortunately, these trends perpetuate the racial and ethnic stereotypes that contributed to their situation in the first place,” Rumbaut said. “On the positive side, we see that children of immigrant families with little money and low human capital can move forward positively in American society. But there is clearly a minority segment among the native-born children of some immigrant groups that is getting caught in a cycle of downward mobility, and we need to understand the trends that drive this process.”

There are more than 30 million U.S.-born children of immigrants. Rumbaut is continuing to explore the major events influencing the social outcomes of the immigrant second generation, focusing on early childbirth for women and incarceration among men.

About the Study: The surveys were conducted over more than 10 years with random samples representing 77 different nationalities originally drawn in 1991 in San Diego, Calif., and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., of more than 5,000 respondents who were then in junior high school, The most recent surveys were conducted from 2001 to 2004 when the respondents were between the ages of 23 and 27. The surveys are part of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, which was designed to examine the in-depth interaction between immigrant parents and their children and the evolution of the young from adolescence into early adulthood. Results from the CILS surveys provide the most compelling current evidence to date of how the second generation adapts – from education and income to unemployment, family formation and incarceration. The study was funded with support from the Russell Sage Foundation. More: www.russellsage.org.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

[Joe Stevenson-Macrome]

joe is happy to be part of the illegal immigrant project. he is hoping to get an A, but is expecting probably a C or B...but hopefully not a D...that would make me saddened.

Thank you much

-Joe Stevenson

[harry potter]

i rule! did u know i'm an illegal immigrant? without me you would all be sad and depressed and commit suicide okay? and yes i AM the real harry potter all of you posers out there!!! I'M A MOVIE STAR!

cya!

-Harry

[Karen Hudson]

CROSS COUNTRY ROCKS!!! I SHOULD RUN ACROSS THE BORDER AND BACK!!!! TO PROVE MY POINT! this pencil is pointy...just like my point! you know how these things are...
well, dont eat too much junk food

sincerely,
Karen

says...

IMMIGRATION IS AMAZING.....BUT THEY NEED TO HAVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS EXPORTED BECAUSE THEY RECIEVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AND CAN ALSO APPLY FOR TAX CUTS WHEN THEY PAY ONE THIRD THE TAXES LEGAL AMERICANS PAY.

[Annette Marroquin]

Illegal immigrants are such a great part fo the U.S. they take all the crappy jobs we don't want and then spend their money giving it right back to the government. Everyone should re-examine their views because everyone comes from an illegal family wheather it be as close as the 19th century or as early as the 1300's.

[enrique]

im gonna use this for spanish class
es por ti

[Callahan]

Go tell this to Lou Dobbs.

[enrique]

wait, who is lou dobbs?
-but im still using this for our spanish presentation
llorare

[Microsoft Sam]

your mom is lou dobbs

says...

Well Immigration is not such a bad thing as u guys make it seem. You are right when you say that we come here because the situation is worse in our countrys but then why are you deniying us the right of coming in. Is this not the land of the free a country which gives us lots of oppurtunty and stuff like that. You should support the people that want to come over for a better life instead of denying it.

says...

Well Immigration is not such a bad thing as u guys make it seem. You are right when you say that we come here because the situation is worse in our countrys but then why are you deniying us the right of coming in. Is this not the land of the free a country which gives us lots of oppurtunty and stuff like that. You should support the people that want to come over for a better life instead of denying it.

[Rebecca]

Immigration is not bad, everyone needs a job.

[sean n.]

imigration is bad

[eric kim]

i like immigration and men

[ugh]

Screw the governmet
they are going to kill us off anyway
there are concentrations camps going up
and they only want a certain amount of people around
so they are going to kill off most of us americans
look it up and you'll see that i'm right

[cookie]

i think that they should let immigrants be here in the US isn't this a free country?they are only here to have/get a better future how can that hurt anyone?i am standing up for them because i am a daughter of immigrants and i am living their sufering to find a job and get me and my brothers and sisters a good future.they don't want to hurt anyone they just want a job.i meen its not their fault that they work harder i am not saynig that Americans don't work hard but i want to see them one day living like the immigrants are living now with fear to be deported back to the place they know wont take them anywhere,where it is much much more harder to work and earn money.