[Magdalen] Gap year (or more)

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Jay Weigel

>You don't have to be nasty about it. They were legal, as a large percentage
>of hspanics in that particular town are. Now. Again, guess why carpentry is
>a particularly respected trade among Hispanics, or at least among the ones
>there. Or do I have to prompt you?

Nothing nasty at all. I certainly support the idea of hiring people regardless 
of papers, though I object strongly to exploitation which is endemic for those 
undocumented among us.. And if the workers were being paid less than the others, 
that counts -- but I don’t think either of us know that answer. I also know that 
some work on other's Social Security Numbers. I was shocked to get a W2 when I 
worked part time for ARA Slaters while in college. It turns out that the manager 
of wone of the kitchens had simply used my SSN for lots of employees without 
papers -- and my Sophomore Year had a W2 that indicated I must have worked 60 
hours a week when my average as actually about 5 hours every 2-3 weeks.

The reality of immigration is the U.S. is that all those people who came through 
Ellis Island and Castle Garden and all the other Ports of entry had no more 
"papers" than a Mexican or Central American sneaking across the Texas border. 
Anyone who arrived from anywhere would be welcomed with a medical examination 
and a question as to whether they meant harm to the U.S., and given a Parole 
Card -- in today's terms an I-94.

What's funny is that working with people interested in family history here in 
the anthracite region, people are distressed because they can’t find 
great-grandpa's citizenship record. That's because great grandpa (and great 
grandma) never became citizens. Some of the coal barons tried to have some of 
these people deported for things like union organizing, but since the borders 
were open to anyone who arrived -- no passport, no visa no nothing -- just show 
up at the door, even those deported for "threatening" the oligarchy could save a 
little money and com back if they liked.

Those who arrived before the Civil War simply arrived -- nothing more. The first 
immigration law was passed after the Civil War -- not to control people, but to 
protect those coming to America from terrible conditions on the ships carrying 
them here.

Everything post WWI (save for Chinese entering in San Francisco --  a special, 
sorry case of American History) is tied to racism, xenophobia, and the rise of 
government benefits regarding Social Security, Welfare and the like that tend to 
require more than a simple parole card.

But getting back to the original subject, one problem in immigration is the 
argument that immigrants (particularly Hispanics) "take jobs that Americans won’t 
take." And the counter among Conservatives is, "Well, if they didn’t take those 
jobs Americans would be happy to work."  The answer is that Americans won’t take 
those jobs because they are hard and dirty  and don’t pay enough even to attract 
those discouraged workers (mostly high school graduates, I might add) who have 
dropped out of the workforce because those jobs that allowed a high school 
graduate to make a decent living and support a family are simply gone.

What would happen to, say, the market for farmworkers if the job paid old UAW 
wages instead of exploitive wages?

Cheers,
Jim

Cheers,
Jim



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