The real problem with the immigration bill
I am pretty ambivalent about the issue of illegal immigration. I have friends and family who live in the south and southwestern states that bare the brunt of it, but in D.C. my interactions with illegal immigrants have largely been postive. In general, I don’t buy into the crushing hysteria that these people are going to bring about the end of the union — Latin American immigrants have brought a lot to U.S., most of it positive. Horror stories about Salvadoran street gangs aren’t enough to convince me that these are bad people.
Still, I’m also not a firm believer in the hard left position that illegal immigration should be encoruaged. Any son of the working class can tell you that cheap labor depresses wages, making life difficult for blue collar people. There was a time when the construction trade was a good way to make middle class living, but the influx of undocumented workers has depressed wages to the point where unskilled high school graduates have seen their wage potential drop significantly. This is just another way for employers to abuse workers and pay them next to nothing. I think people should have the opportunity to come to America, but not when they become low wage workers with no hope of achieving the American middle class.
Trapper John at DailyKos has a pretty convincing progressive argument against the immigration bill. Read it here.
