Illegal immigration is vital to some sectors of the economy. It's "vital" in the sense that it allows employers to pay their employees less, deny them benefits, make them work in harsh or dangerous conditions, and so on, because they have no one to complain to.
"Guest worker" programs are pretty lame -- you just wind up with people living in the country for a long time who know they can't stay. They send as much money as they can out of the country, and they don't invest here, because they know they're not welcome. On the other hand, at least people here under that kind of visa have some kind of protection under the law.
But we're certainly not willing to tolerate a flood of legal immigration from Central America. Why is that, I wonder? Can you think of any possible reasons?
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 09:24 am (UTC)"Guest worker" programs are pretty lame -- you just wind up with people living in the country for a long time who know they can't stay. They send as much money as they can out of the country, and they don't invest here, because they know they're not welcome. On the other hand, at least people here under that kind of visa have some kind of protection under the law.
But we're certainly not willing to tolerate a flood of legal immigration from Central America. Why is that, I wonder? Can you think of any possible reasons?