From AM-NY:Perhaps the crisis is most vividly seen in the drop-off in work for day laborers. Until recently, day laborers such as those clustered along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens found plentiful jobs every day during the city’s building boom. But now, the men — their ranks thinning — anxiously wait for work that will not come, said Luis Alfonso, a construction worker who declined to give his last name. They can go two weeks without work, he said.
“No work, no money, no good,” said the Colombian native who cares for three daughters. “It’s big problems.”
In New York City, immigrants make up 37 percent of the population and contribute to 46 percent of the labor force, according to a 2007 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute. (The city’s undocumented workers make up 10 percent of the resident work force.) But experts say those numbers are falling as the joblessness rates rise.
Employed immigrants aren’t necessarily working in good conditions, said Wing Lam, executive director of the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association. “The wages are going down. Jobs that pay more now pay less.”
43 comments:
There's a whole bunch of these guys standing on 69th Street & Broadway every day, rain or shine. A mobile food pantry serves them as well. What I don't get is that they are standing there in the late afternoon. Isn't the "shape-up" done by the contractors by mid-morning?
Gee, maybe some of those jobs will revert back to the people who used to do them... you know, citizens
Now that we know that CITIZENS WILL do the jobs that the illegals are doing, can we boot the illegals accordingly?
Dont believe this.
When the economy heads south, you start to hear "A lot of immigrants are not coming here" propaganda.
This spin is to offset the inevitable "Americans dont have work and these people are taking job opportunities away from us so send 'em back to their country,"
And perhaps also the rearly examined effect they have of disinvestment in a community as they "suck money out of our community and send it to their country."
If US gets severly sick. The 3rd world is on its death bed.
With Obama and the Democratics now in power, everyone cooling their heels under the Bushies are ready to sell the shithouse and come to the good ol US of A.
You could have two hospitals in the entire borough and it would be better health care than most of the world.
Grow up people and stop watching lifestyle crap (McDonalds to the synaps) and start reading!
I so no change on the day laborers and see more 3rd world restaurants in Astoria opening every day.
"Working-class immigrants who arrived in New York City with big dreams are finding the recession is turning their lives into a nightmare."
Oh, my! How sad; how precious.
We have to end this recession really, really fast so the illegal aliens have no more nightmares.
Actually, I don't give a good goddamn about people who break the law to take jobs from our own poor citizens (some of whom may actually be real immigrants or children of real immigrants).
What is so annoying about these illegal aliens and their emotionally overwrought supporters is the knowing, persistent, deliberate misuse of the word "immigrant", to include illegal aliens.
Do these supporters never realize what we all know: If the illegal alien had stayed home, where he/she has citizenship rights, none of these "problems" would occur.
Sort of like feeling sorry for the burglar who gets caught in an air duct in the building he has broken into. Why feel sorry for people who commit crimes?
“No work, no money, no good,” said the Colombian native who cares for three daughters. “It’s big problems.”
Cry me a fucking river pal, you and your illegal friends are the big problems. What are you going to do now with no money and fewer local hospitals to treat as your personal private practicioner?
Oh wait, just go to Washington and ask for a bailout. I am sure there is still a little of my tax money that Obama will be more than happy to give to you.
No money, no work, yet you still hesitate to go back to your shithole thirdworld country. I bet even during a recession, America is still the best choice.
I think most Americans wouldn't object to illegals so much if:
1) They didn't drain resources as much as they do.
2) They didn't commit violent crimes.
3) They learned English.
4) They didn't burst people's eardrums with ethnic music.
5) They valued Education.
6) They didn't reproduce like rabbits. (How are they so fertile?)
7) They had stronger family values.
They are so fertile because they don't use birth control.
I know, but doesn't it seem you hear about whites having more issues conceiving than minorities?
Vaya con dios!
Maybe the drinking and public urination will come to an end in my nabe!
(And the local cut rate whore houses catering to illegal day workers).
Wait a minute - these are not immigrants - these folks are illegal immigrantes - don't distort the issue - these folks jumped fences to get here and export their wages back to their country of origin.
They are stealing jobs that rightfully belong to immigrants that are here legally (WITH PAPERS). They contribute to an underground economy where folks who hire them are not paying SS and payroll taxes. These same employers are exploiting individuals, breaking the law and otherwise contributing to lawless practices.
Xenophobes unite!
The core issue is this:
do you believe the propoganda that they are not coming here?
As far as the procreation goes, they apparently know nothing about contraception. Why would they coming from a deeply Catholic country and small peasant villages with very low literacy rates? That's why you see eighteen year old Mexican boys on the subway wheeling new borns around. And boy, do they look mightily bewildered.
Why the misplaced sympathy of religious figures and politicos(oh,yeah, votes)? You can still be sympathetic and know this won't ultimately work--that they should go home and rebuild in their own places.
Xenophobes unite!
Spoken like a true ivory tower white liberal who sends his children to private school, and drives a gas guzzling SUV around so he doesn't have to ride the subways with the saintly "guest workers" that he loves so much.
Consider this--virtually none of the illegal aliens you complain about would be here if employers weren't so damn greedy and if the government enforced the laws that are on the books. The charade is continued by the liberals and the church who paint these law breakers as betrodden souls who are just trying to eke out a living. So much for them trying to improve their plight in their own countries. Unions have hemorrhaged jobs and industries that used to be skilled--especially construction--are being performed by the clueless who, every now and then, wind up dead and shipped off to wherever by their money worshipping bosses. BTW, these bosses don't pay a nickel into FICA or any other taxes. So much for the fantasy about illegals paying taxes. Most of the $$ they earn here is sent home, so could someone please explain the real benefit to American citizens of their presence here? Bush defanged the government in order to make things easy for his big business buddies while the rest of us sat with our thumbs up our butts. It will be fascinating to see what the new pres does with the illegals now that the recession makes it politically impossible to grant amnesty. This articles, of course, begs the question, now that these day laborers are unemployed what do they do to support themselves? Wake up people!!! Stop sugar coating illegal immigration and evaluate it for what it is: an unsustainable strain on the US economy that's ruining entire industries, devaluing labor, eroding gains won by unionization and exploiting both illegal and American workers. We cannot afford not to insist that our elected officials done something now.
Democratic Dictionary
Xenophiles: scum sucking bottom dwellers found in basement dwellings, construction sites, day care nurseries, homes in landmarked districts, hospital ER rooms, religious institutions, newspaper editorial offices, and community preservation think tanks and political clubhouses.
Symptoms are out of control rents, clogged sidewalks, schools and hospitals. In severe cases death on construction sites and Queens Blvd.
Carriers: like Typhoid Mary, this can be spread by carriers immune from symptoms: Gary, Claire, Toby, Vicki, any writer or urban planner or cultural institution in Queens ...
I just walked down Broadway from 49 Street to Steinway Street, and the corners didn't look any less crowded than they did last year or the year prior. Can someone point out to me exactly where this supposed shortage of these fine tweeded fellows is supposed to be taking place?
I have an even better idea. Leave the immigrants alone and bring the jobs back to America. Whether citizen or illegal no one can work when all the jobs are being shipped out to India and China.
end the unions and now the cost is to high , on my jobs i use tocos and the job cost me 1/2 the price and the home owner saves big bucks
Leave the immigrants alone and bring the jobs back to America. Whether citizen or illegal no one can work when all the jobs are being shipped out to India and China.
Do you happen to still believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy?
How do you propose "bringing the jobs back to America", à la Justin Timberlake? Set up protectionist trade barriers and tariffs? I'm sure the Chinese will simply love that idea, and will continue buying U.S. Treasuries to fund our bloated economy......
And to think......critics of this blog accuse us of being simpletons????
Even better idea than the last better idea: bring the jobs back to America, AND DEPORT the illegal aliens!
Whether citizen or illegal no one can work when all the jobs are being shipped out to India and China.
There's also a "minor" issue of the obvious logical inconsistency in Anonymous' call to bring back jobs to America from India and China, but yet allow illegal immigrants to fill said jobs.
So, it's wrong for jobs to go overseas to foreign countries, but yet it's OK for non-citizen illegal aliens to fill those jobs in the U.S.?
And they call us "know nothings"??
Oh what a shame - illegal immigrants (and don't tell me they're not) can't get illegal jobs. Pity.
First. You get what you pay for. Union construction means trained help. These non-union people build death-traps, I see the work on my own apartment building. It is a swindle on the eventual purchaser.
Second. To the person who thinks I believe in the tooth-fairy. The jobs are coming back, like it or not because our dollar has been turned into toilet paper and the foreigners won't take this forever. Already the Chinese are making very threatening noises.
If we want it, we'll have to make it. We are in for a rough transition.
Once again, vaya con dios!
Spoken like a true ivory tower white liberal who sends his children to private school, and drives a gas guzzling SUV around so he doesn't have to ride the subways with the saintly "guest workers" that he loves so much.
Silly little Wade, we've been through this all before.
Ivory tower white liberals abhor SUVs, first thing.
Second, my family and I ride the subway every day and are not particularly bothered by our fellow human beings.
You, on the other hand, are on record as saying you avoid the subways and the proletariat "riff raff" they carry. So who's the card-carrying elitist here?
You, on the other hand, are on record as saying you avoid the subways and the proletariat "riff raff" they carry. So who's the card-carrying elitist here?
Yes, I avoid the subways like the plague. But I don't own a car, so I don't have much choice. Also, I wouldn't use the word "proletariat". I prefer hoi polloi or unwashed masses, since they are more accurate.
Funny, you conveniently avoided the private schools issue. I wonder why?
So, it's wrong for jobs to go overseas to foreign countries, but yet it's OK for non-citizen illegal aliens to fill those jobs in the U.S.?
Different anon here.
You seem awfully desperate, Wade, to impress upon us that you're not a simpleton or know-nothing.
Perhaps you would acknowledge, then, that allowing corporations to export jobs and establish tax havens in small sovereign island nations does America absolutely ZERO good. Is that a statement you could agree with?
Increasing employment in this country, on the other hand, means that the taxes (corporate, income) will benefit America. Surely, as a patriot, you don't have a problem with increasing employment in the US of A!
So what exactly IS your problem?
Funny, you conveniently avoided the private schools issue. I wonder why?
Oh, silly Wade... the world is not so sinister and mysterious as you believe.
I avoided it because it's a non-issue. My wife and I have not been able to bear children. Are you going to mock that situation, too?
Hope you feel better now.
Perhaps you would acknowledge, then, that allowing corporations to export jobs and establish tax havens in small sovereign island nations does America absolutely ZERO good. Is that a statement you could agree with?
In several instances, yes, it's not necessarily in America's best interests to have jobs sent overseas. However, what's the alternative? Require all goods sold in the U.S. to be manufactured in the U.S.? How would our foreign trading partners react to that? A bit ironic that the other Anonymous invokes the politically charged word "Xenophobe", yet one could also lay the same charge at one who proposes protectionist trade barriers. It's intellectually the same thing, but you score more points in the Great White Status War by accusing those opposed to illegal immigration of being "Xenophobes", versus calling those who wish to force companies to keep their manufacturing plants in the U.S. "Trade Xenophobes".
Increasing employment in this country, on the other hand, means that the taxes (corporate, income) will benefit America. Surely, as a patriot, you don't have a problem with increasing employment in the US of A!
Can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't argue in favor of illegal immigrant labor, and also invoke taxes, both corporate and income, as an additional benefit. What's the tax benefit that illegal labor provides? Who receives that benefit, other then the business owners perhaps? How does illegal immigrant labor impact the wages of unskilled U.S. citizens? Surely as someone who supports the "little man", you're not in favor of holding down the wages of working class Americans by allowing illegal immigrant labor, are you?
So what exactly IS your problem?
No problem. These issues are indeed much more complex than anything you or I say on this blog. Easily digestible sound bytes and cutesy cliches should be reserved for talk shows. I don't have all the answers, nor claim to. But the fact that you choose to respond to me, and avoid attacking some of the more odious comments in this thread, means I must be doing something right.
Oh, silly Wade... the world is not so sinister and mysterious as you believe.
.
.
Are you going to mock that situation, too?
Touché. And I'm not quite as nefarious and evil as your imagination might lead you to believe. I don't belong to any sinister "right wing organizations", nor am I typing in some smoke filled back room at the New York chapter of the Illuminati.
nor am I typing in some smoke filled back room at the New York chapter of the Illuminati.
---
Damn.
"Consider this--virtually none of the illegal aliens you complain about would be here if employers weren't so damn greedy and if the government enforced the laws that are on the books. The charade is continued by the liberals and the church who paint these law breakers as betrodden souls who are just trying to eke out a living. So much for them trying to improve their plight in their own countries. Unions have hemorrhaged jobs and industries that used to be skilled--especially construction--are being performed by the clueless who, every now and then, wind up dead and shipped off to wherever by their money worshipping bosses. BTW, these bosses don't pay a nickel into FICA or any other taxes. So much for the fantasy about illegals paying taxes. Most of the $$ they earn here is sent home, so could someone please explain the real benefit to American citizens of their presence here? Bush defanged the government in order to make things easy for his big business buddies while the rest of us sat with our thumbs up our butts. It will be fascinating to see what the new pres does with the illegals now that the recession makes it politically impossible to grant amnesty. This articles, of course, begs the question, now that these day laborers are unemployed what do they do to support themselves? Wake up people!!! Stop sugar coating illegal immigration and evaluate it for what it is: an unsustainable strain on the US economy that's ruining entire industries, devaluing labor, eroding gains won by unionization and exploiting both illegal and American workers. We cannot afford not to insist that our elected officials done "
Sorry to re-post, but I wont consider this, because it is a rambling anti-American screed. Sounds like it was written by one who was not well-schooled in the written arts.
Wade owns Know-Nothing. That Was Easy.
However, what's the alternative? Require all goods sold in the U.S. to be manufactured in the U.S.? How would our foreign trading partners react to that?
Never said 'nuthin about "protectionist trade barriers" or all goods sold here being manufactured here. That was YOUR original contribution (and false choice), which you attempted to pin on me to help you make your thin argument more robust.
In other words, Straw Man.
Of course this is a global economy, and we can no longer be entirely self-reliant. But that's a separate issue.
My suggestion was merely that we need to make it harder for American corporations to send jobs and headquarters (i.e. tax obligations) overseas.
Can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't argue in favor of illegal immigrant labor, and also invoke taxes, both corporate and income, as an additional benefit.
Wasn't. That's why I said "other anon."
I only invoked taxes, so I guess I just want my cake. We can all share in the eating.
But the fact that you choose to respond to me, and avoid attacking some of the more odious comments in this thread, means I must be doing something right.
Hmmm... maybe.
You do seem to have more intelligence than the average visitor here, if that means anything to you.
...nor am I typing in some smoke filled back room at the New York chapter of the Illuminati.
Would never give you THAT much credit, though.
Hmmm... maybe.
You do seem to have more intelligence than the average visitor here, if that means anything to you.
----
Yes, Wadie, what brings your silver tongue (or sould we say golden fingers) to this rough part of town?
Yes, Wadie, what brings your silver tongue (or sould we say golden fingers) to this rough part of town?
Elegant slumming, or perhaps bourgeois bohemianism.
Plus, it will look good on my resume, and give me some "street cred".
Maspethian, you are on the rag today!!! Snarky, aren't we? Why not use this post to say something intelligent rather than wasting our time by dishing out the hostility and berating the opinions of people with whom you disagree. It's boring and counterproductive.
Plus, it will look good on my resume, and give me some "street cred".
----------
You are in the right place.
Might be some hope for you after all...
The economy will dictate if illegals will continue to be even able to find work. Competition for much less work will require some to take wages that are much less than last year. Many will drop out of this labor pool and return home. Those back home looking to come here will probably not do so. The back lash of legal folks will only increase against the illegals as the economy worsens - which it will. The laws of suppy and demand will be the great leveler.
To Italian Girl all the reasons you stated like
1) They didn't drain resources as much as they do.
2) They didn't commit violent crimes.
3) They learned English.
4) They didn't burst people's eardrums with ethnic music.
5) They valued Education.
6) They didn't reproduce like rabbits. (How are they so fertile?)
7) They had stronger family values.
Are the same reasons that were applied to Italian Americans at the turn of the century, ironic isnt !!
No, most of these were never applied to Italians. Back then, everyone had large families in America, there really was no opportunity to play loud music unless you were doing it live, they didn't drain resources without paying taxes (there was no welfare or Medicaid so they couldn't), and one thing they definitely couldn't be accused of was lack of family or religious values. Italians also were forced to learn English because they were immersed in it without the government translating everything for them. So in other words, you're full of shit.
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