Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Stark Contradictions

The Fresno Bee is running an interesting feature regarding illegal immigration. The contradictions are stark.

But in many ways, nothing has changed: it's always been like this in California, at least in my lifetime. I don't believe the statistic below that "in 1989, only 7% of U.S. farmworkers were illegal immigrants". It's always been higher than that, at least in California. The reason things started getting out-of-control in the 80's was that the Mexican Baby Boom of the 1960's was coming of age. Things are likely to slowly get better in decades ahead, because the birth rate in Mexico is now much lower.

Our illegal immigration "system" works well in its own crazy way, which is why it stay with us forever:
One out of 11 workers in California is an illegal immigrant, with most coming from Mexico, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

...In 1989, only 7% of U.S. farmworkers were illegal immigrants, a U.S. Labor Department survey found. Estimates today range from half to two-thirds.

...Illegal immigrants and the businesses that depend on them play a big game: Workers pretend to be legal, and employers pretend to believe them. Valley farmers say they want a legal work force, but only about 2% use a federal database that quickly checks an employee's legal status. And while California and federal politicians condemn illegal immigration, they won't pass laws requiring all employers to use the database.

...The federal agency charged with stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, under pressure from employers, has been reluctant to launch an all-out assault. Aggressive crackdowns have backfired.

...Studies show that illegal immigrants — who usually pay less in taxes than they use in government services — are a burden on local governments because of their low incomes, not because they won't work. Also, they often compete directly for low-wage jobs with some American workers, although businesses and consumers benefit from the cheap labor.

Farmers say that without illegal immigrants, their businesses — and the Valley's economy — would collapse. But some experts say farmers could survive without illegal workers if they were willing to pay more or invest in new technologies.

...While most California residents believe illegal immigrants hurt the state, and most approve of Arizona's strict immigration enforcement law, a majority also believes that illegal immigrants should be allowed to keep their jobs and apply for legal status.

Some experts predict that the system will always be broken because too many people don't want change — even if they say they do. Farmers get cheap labor, illegal immigrants get jobs, consumers pay less for services. No one wants to make difficult reforms that would disrupt this balance.Said Howard Rosenberg, an agriculture labor management specialist at the University of California at Berkeley: "This works for too many people."

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