I don't hate immigrants--even "illegals"

Why are they here? To make a decent living and/or to escape a violent shitshow back home. What jobs are they doing? The ones that are too tough/dangerous/low-paying for Americans.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, all our crops would rot if it wasn't for the annual influx of migrant workers. They usually don't stay here after the harvest season. While they're here, they work their butts off. 

I know that when I go to the grocery store, prices are lower because of these workers. And yes, some of them are doubtless here ILLEGULLY.

So fucking what? They're performing a needed service, and they're not hurting a soul. Fortunately for them, the PNW is pretty liberal, so we don't have MAGAs trying to burn them alive.

Of course, though no one's going to come out and say it, the reason why our southern border isn't all minefields and machine gun towers is that we want these workers here.

Ditto, Kevin.

I do not know, locally and US wide, the legal status or immigrant status of whomever I encounter, and really don't care.  I appreciate all they do for me at home, in hotels and casinos, restaurants, everywhere.  I wasn't raised to question those things. 

If anybody has resentments against immigrants, they can work at petitioning their representatives in government to rectify what they believe is wrong.  Folks go to work where they can get it and at what pay they are willing to accept.  That applies to everybody, yard worker or heart surgeon.  I'm thankful for the sanitation workers who pick up my trash, including discarded garbage and cat poop, every week. 

And I know about criminal things perpetrated on citizens by 'bad guys' citizen and non-citizen, legal and illegal.  So no need to come back me about that.  Thanks.

Candy

The one thing that MAGA never mentions is that a native-born American is more likely to commit a crime than an immigrant/migrant--and that includes the heinous crime of being an "illegal." It makes sense--legal or "illegal," such people would want to keep their heads down and stay out of trouble...fly under the radar.

Of course, whenever I mention this simple fact, based on law enforcement reported stats, somebody like stupid Tom pipes up and says, "What about Hector Valenzooty, an illegal immigrant who was arrested for 137 murders, 67 armed robberies, 108 rapes, and 12,888 unpaid parking tickets? What about HIM, HUHHHHH????" The idiotic approach of trying to characterize millions of people based on the actions of a few...or one.

The migrant workers will hit the apple orchards of Washington very soon. They make $12 an hour and are given temporary housing and discounted food. They come from places like Mexico, where the average wage is less than $2 an hour. So of course they want to be here. And we'd have to pay troo-bloo AMURRICANS $20 an hour or more to do that work--so of course we want to hire them.

And that applies to every job where immigrants are employed. It's been that way since the Transcontinental Railroad was built. Union Pacific couldn't get workers to climb cliff faces and set dynamite charges for $1 a day. So Chinese laborers were hired--and they were happy to do the work. But they suffered all sorts of discrimination and abuse, couldn't own property, had no access to basic resources, and depended on one another for survival. And in 1889 (I think), their very existence was declared illegal. So the MAGA race hatred shit is nothing new at all. And yeah, even back then, there was all this rhetoric about how the "heathen Chinee" were inferior human beings--just like today's MAGA yeeping about brown people.

I prefer to judge my fellow human beings as Martin Luther King said we should: on their character. Using that metric, every single immigrant/migrant, even those guilty of a felony or felonies, is a better person than President Orange Pig.

I am not being political here but instead, i want to talk about what jobs our kids and grandkids are doing , or not doing.  I see very few kids working these entry level jobs.  Kids in high school don't seem to need jobs.  Lots of people living with parents until age 25   People not getting married until latter in life maybe don't need the money.   Are we creating a society where Americans  don't need to work until age 25.  What seem to be the trends in your area.

I can't say that I notice any lack of younger workers...fast food jobs, grocery stores, delivery drivers, and such. I definitely don't see younger American workers doing jobs that are dirty, dangerous, or low-paying.

I think that younger people living with their parents well past adolescence is a reflection of the nationwide housing shortage more than anything else. We had a decade of truncated housing starts after the subprime mortgage crisis and the consequent Dubya recession. We've never really caught back up.

Doing the math for here in Portland, a one-bedroom apartment costs $1500/mo. Most landlords require you to be making three times the rent. So $4500/176 hours in a month is about $25 an hour. Most entry-level jobs don't pay that well. So young people graduating from high school or community college may have no choice but to continue living with their parents.

We've also got a recent situation where entry-level hiring has tapered off in almost all retail areas, such as department and grocery stores, because of uncertainty whether Trump is going to fart out "tariffs" or "no tariffs" tomorrow, and the day after that. Many major retailers have said that they expect sales to drop, possibly precipitously, if the Trumpiffs do materialize on a permanent basis. That would in turn cause a drop in staffing.

One article that I can't post, because of a paywall, said that summer job hiring in Portland was down 25% because of that uncertainty. That may be a permanent drop.

My guess is that trends run about 10-20 years behind; standards of living higher that ever (ever look at your first paycheck? Mine was something like $17K a year in 1968, and I was delighted.  Ended up some $90K/yr in 2014.  Sounds high but expenses higher of course).  Parents' incomes are higher now so they subsidize their kids' more leisurly lifestyles, buy them multiple new cars, etc.   Again trends, may be trending down now.

Before, there was emphasis on college, trade schools (and trades) looked down on, before folks realized that plumbers and electricians and mechanics etc. could do quite well.  So many supporting their adult kids living under their roofs.  My brothers did yard work, scraped stickers off windows in new neighborhoods, worked at OK Tire and Supply to pay for college and med school.  Younger brother worked as an "orderly" during med school breaks.  

Younger women are doing fine.   They are going to school and getting jobs.   Younger men are struggling.   they dont want to go to college....and they dont want to work.    Record numbers living in their parents' basement.    There is a more recent trend for them to be aiming towards trade jobs but the gender gap is still huge.

My disposition is anyone who is willing to work hard should have the red carpet rolled out for them in this country.   People who dont should be shown the exit.    Unfortunately the current administration holds the oppositte perspective of that.   

Here's just the latest example:

Multiple Texas Farms shutdown as 100% of workforce vanishes overnight

An article with a blanket statement and no facts.  The writer lives in south Africa and thus has no experieince in the US immigration situation

I live to serve !

Article with specific satement and actual farmer on record.

Workers either deported or too scared to show up for work at Texas farms

An article with 1 person