“Americans won’t do those jobs” is the worst argument for mass immigration ever

[Anonymous]

If those jobs are so hard and low paying, why would you want to import millions more low skilled workers to further dilute wages and put downward pressure on working conditions?

Why do you accept at face value that it is the nature of things to pay people pennies to pick strawberries for hours under the hot sun?

Why do you feel so entitled to cheap restaurant food, landscaping services, childcare, pedicures, and thousands of other things that currently depend upon the availability of cheap labor?

So many people on DCUM claim we MUST have these people here because our economy depends on it. Yeah, well that same economy was working much better for the mostly white leisure class uC and UMC people than it was for anyone trying to climb the ladder from the bottom, and a big reason for that is downward pressure on labor wages.

TLDR why do you want to protect such an exploitative system, when what we really need to do is create upward pressure on wages and job conditions and that won’t happen with mass immigration whether it is legal or not.

I just can’t believe people are still trotting out the “Americans won’t do it” line when arguing against immigration enforcement. Let Americans decide if they’d rather pay $15 for strawberries or go work on the farm themselves.

[Anonymous]

I think you think wages is the end all to this decision. As someone who HAS cleaned hotel rooms and who HAS picked crops (briefly b/c it sucks), I'd never do these jobs again. Never.

I grew up pretty poor in a rural area where kids worked young and worked ALOT. So I've done jobs most people on here have not and would not. Those jobs are back breaking, disgusting jobs.

[Anonymous]

You clearly have never employed anyone or otherwise run a competitive retail/agriculture type business.

Because the questions you are asking suggest either no employment history or solely white collar type history like a lawyer or someone who otherwise sits behind a keyboard all day.

[Anonymous]

Tell that to the guy who wants to deport everybody but is making an exception for workers in the agriculture and hospitality industries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell that to the guy who wants to deport everybody but is making an exception for workers in the agriculture and hospitality industries.

I’m sure that he’ll make exceptions for girls under 18.

[Anonymous]

We created this problem ourselves.

You can't push every graduating HS senior to go to college and then get offended in 4 years when they graduate college and refuse manual labor jobs because they feel overqualified for those jobs.

Maybe we shouldn't have vilified service industry jobs for the last 20+ years and looked down on those holding them as uneducated and lesser than.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If those jobs are so hard and low paying, why would you want to import millions more low skilled workers to further dilute wages and put downward pressure on working conditions?

Why do you accept at face value that it is the nature of things to pay people pennies to pick strawberries for hours under the hot sun?

Why do you feel so entitled to cheap restaurant food, landscaping services, childcare, pedicures, and thousands of other things that currently depend upon the availability of cheap labor?

So many people on DCUM claim we MUST have these people here because our economy depends on it. Yeah, well that same economy was working much better for the mostly white leisure class uC and UMC people than it was for anyone trying to climb the ladder from the bottom, and a big reason for that is downward pressure on labor wages.

TLDR why do you want to protect such an exploitative system, when what we really need to do is create upward pressure on wages and job conditions and that won’t happen with mass immigration whether it is legal or not.

I just can’t believe people are still trotting out the “Americans won’t do it” line when arguing against immigration enforcement. Let Americans decide if they’d rather pay $15 for strawberries or go work on the farm themselves.

What do you, mean “let Americans decide?” You know that the people you are arguing are also Americans, right?

I thought that the republicans were all free market and whatnot?

If you care then we should all support a decent federal minimum wage with COLA by state.

[Anonymous]

It's an absurd argument that defies economic theory top to bottom... especially in a world of high capital investment and free trade. It's completely made up. Just like STEM a "labor shortage."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We created this problem ourselves.

You can't push every graduating HS senior to go to college and then get offended in 4 years when they graduate college and refuse manual labor jobs because they feel overqualified for those jobs.

Maybe we shouldn't have vilified service industry jobs for the last 20+ years and looked down on those holding them as uneducated and lesser than.

Correct.

[Anonymous]

Whether or not you agree with undocumented people working in the US, sane people can anlso agree that what’s happening with the ICE gestapo and concentration camps isn’t the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you think wages is the end all to this decision. As someone who HAS cleaned hotel rooms and who HAS picked crops (briefly b/c it sucks), I'd never do these jobs again. Never.

I grew up pretty poor in a rural area where kids worked young and worked ALOT. So I've done jobs most people on here have not and would not. Those jobs are back breaking, disgusting jobs.

And here you are, missing the whole boat again.
Maybe you are in a position where you have enough financial security and other skills where can say you will NEVER do that job. Fine. But we can’t all be white collar workers, and our white collar job salaries only go as far as they do because other people are doing the nasty dirty work you do not want to do.

The fact is, if someone is hungry enough and able, they will do a job. We have tons of people who are both on welfare and overweight, while brown people are working and harvesting the crops. I mean, WTF?? And we have UMC DCUM people who have never done manual labor in their lives, because the brown people are doing it. Why is this good?

A lot of you really lack imagination and literally can’t imagine where labor and resources are distributed more equitably. I guess Larlo is just too special to work in a tire shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whether or not you agree with undocumented people working in the US, sane people can anlso agree that what’s happening with the ICE gestapo and concentration camps isn’t the answer.

Which has nothing to do with my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If those jobs are so hard and low paying, why would you want to import millions more low skilled workers to further dilute wages and put downward pressure on working conditions?

Why do you accept at face value that it is the nature of things to pay people pennies to pick strawberries for hours under the hot sun?

Why do you feel so entitled to cheap restaurant food, landscaping services, childcare, pedicures, and thousands of other things that currently depend upon the availability of cheap labor?

So many people on DCUM claim we MUST have these people here because our economy depends on it. Yeah, well that same economy was working much better for the mostly white leisure class uC and UMC people than it was for anyone trying to climb the ladder from the bottom, and a big reason for that is downward pressure on labor wages.

TLDR why do you want to protect such an exploitative system, when what we really need to do is create upward pressure on wages and job conditions and that won’t happen with mass immigration whether it is legal or not.

I just can’t believe people are still trotting out the “Americans won’t do it” line when arguing against immigration enforcement. Let Americans decide if they’d rather pay $15 for strawberries or go work on the farm themselves.

What do you, mean “let Americans decide?” You know that the people you are arguing are also Americans, right?

I thought that the republicans were all free market and whatnot?

If you care then we should all support a decent federal minimum wage with COLA by state.

If we give power and leverage back to labor, there will be no need for minimum wage increases, because they will happen on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We created this problem ourselves.

You can't push every graduating HS senior to go to college and then get offended in 4 years when they graduate college and refuse manual labor jobs because they feel overqualified for those jobs.

Maybe we shouldn't have vilified service industry jobs for the last 20+ years and looked down on those holding them as uneducated and lesser than.

Correct.

And this way of thinking is why the US will never be #1 in scientific research again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You clearly have never employed anyone or otherwise run a competitive retail/agriculture type business.

Because the questions you are asking suggest either no employment history or solely white collar type history like a lawyer or someone who otherwise sits behind a keyboard all day.

Funny you mention this. My dad owned a business that employed illegal immigrants. He tried to hire citizens, and he tried to get his employees on visas, but it never worked out, the citizens tended not to be as reliable of workers and he was too small of a shop to be successful on the visa front.

You are correct that my dad would not have been able to stay afloat if he had to hire citizens at higher wages, but that is only because literally every other similar small business was also employing illegal immigrants. If they were all subjected to the same playing field, then the industry would have to change and some businesses might not survive, but that would not be predicated on whether or not they employed illegal inmigrants.