Some illegal immigrants might get stimulus-related jobs

[JBond]

I wonder why the Democrats want the money to go to illegal aliens instead of United States citizens?

Some illegal immigrants might get stimulus-related jobs

Thousands of N.C. jobs and millions in wages created from the federal economic stimulus package could wind up going to illegal immigrants.

Congress stripped language from the $789-billion package that would have required employers to verify the legal status of workers paid with stimulus money.

The White House estimates the package will generate or save an estimated 105,000 jobs in North Carolina over the next two years.

While it's impossible to say definitively how many illegal immigrants will get jobs, multiple studies estimate at least 1percent of the construction labor force is in the U.S. illegally. Experts say actual numbers are likely much higher.

North Carolina could get $1.3 billion for highway and school construction, which, based on federal estimates, could mean more than 5,000 jobs for undocumented workers.

"That's not right," said Jon Holstead, 24, a Charlotte electrician helping to build Salome Church Road Elementary School near Lowe's Motor Speedway. "You have Americans out of work, but you have illegal immigrants coming to work."

The stimulus package was a popular topic this week at the school construction site where Americans and immigrants work side-by-side. Several immigrants on the project told the Observer they are working without proper legal papers.

A masonry worker, Juan Luis, 28, said Latinos are struggling as much as anyone.

To read the complete article, visit www.charlotteobserver.com. (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/546586.html)

[ajk23az]

*shakes head in dismay*

[JBond]

Seriously, what is wrong with making sure the bailout money is going to people who are in our country legally? What is so bad about that? Why are the Dems not supporting Americans?

[Doomsday101]

Seriously, what is wrong with making sure the bailout money is going to people who are in our country legally? What is so bad about that? Why are the Dems not supporting Americans?

Nothing at all. If this is a US stimulus bill it should be geared towards the American workers. Let Mexico come up with their own stimulus to get their people to work. I understand these people come to the US looking for work if I was in their shoes chances are I would do the same thing that does not change the fact that our country and our people should come 1st always I would expect that from any country

[Cajuncowboy]

Why is anyone surprised?

We sold our soul as a nation in November. We are reaping what we sowed.

You elect people who have this mentality, you should expect it.

Heck, I expect a lot worse.

[Doomsday101]

Why is anyone surprised?

We sold our soul as a nation in November. We are reaping what we sowed.

You elect people who have this mentality, you should expect it.

Heck, I expect a lot worse.

He is opposed to NAFTA but is in favor of having outside labor come here and take jobs. :(

[adamc91115]

How does that help anyone?

Giving jobs to people who don't pay taxes... There's a great idea.

[DIAF]

Why is anyone surprised?

We sold our soul as a nation in November. We are reaping what we sowed.

You elect people who have this mentality, you should expect it.
Heck, I expect a lot worse.

Yeah, because hiring illegals to work construction jobs only started happening when Obama took office. Please.

He's right about one thing, though. Is anyone surprised? The companies that contract out these building jobs loooooooooooooooove cheap labor. The cheaper, the better. They wouldn't hire americans to do the job before, why would they now especially in a WORSE economic environment? No surprises here.

[adamc91115]

Yeah, because hiring illegals to work construction jobs only started happening when Obama took office. Please.

He's right about one thing, though. Is anyone surprised? The companies that contract out these building jobs loooooooooooooooove cheap labor. The cheaper, the better. They wouldn't hire americans to do the job before, why would they now especially in a WORSE economic environment? No surprises here.

But why remove the language that required employers receiving stimulus money to verify legal status?

[Doomsday101]

But why remove the language that required employers receiving stimulus money to verify legal status?

Exactly, the cry of the dems have been to punish business for hiring them and now that there is a system (e-verify) with 99.6 accuracy rate the same people now are saying no to that. I think business who knowingly hire illegal’s should be fined and the illegal’s deported now we have a tool to allow business no excuse for hiring illegal’s

[DFWJC]

Disturbing would be understating it.

I really don't get it. I want everyone to find work...assuming they are not breaking any federal laws to obtain it and assuming that they are not taking (possibly) someone else's job by underbidding at the same time.

[DIAF]

But why remove the language that required employers receiving stimulus money to verify legal status?

Again, are you surprised? Why do you think? Because business enjoys having a cheap source of labor around. It's a bone thrown to the construction companies. Big business and money vs. interest of the people, who do you think is gonna win that fight?

[ABQCOWBOY]

Again, are you surprised? Why do you think? Because business enjoys having a cheap source of labor around. It's a bone thrown to the construction companies. Big business and money vs. interest of the people, who do you think is gonna win that fight?


I'm not surprised that Unions would do this. After all, all these jobs will be Union right? I'm surprised that our own Government, who is supposed to look after her own people would encourage this. Does the Constitution say anything about taking care of other countries people? So far as I know, it is of U.S., by U.S., for the U.S.

But I read that a long time ago. Perhaps it is the "Change you can trust" we were also promised by our Government.

[CowboyWay]

Shouldn't the responsibility belong to the employers who choose to hire illegals? Why does nobody here want to blame them for hiring those people?

Aren't there laws that will punish businesses who hire illegal aliens? Of course there are.

But lets blame Obama.

Unbelievable. Just more evidence that if you try hard enough, you can blame anyone for anything.

[ABQCOWBOY]

Shouldn't the responsibility belong to the employers who choose to hire illegals? Why does nobody here want to blame them for hiring those people?

Aren't there laws that will punish businesses who hire illegal aliens? Of course there are.

But lets blame Obama.

Unbelievable. Just more evidence that if you try hard enough, you can blame anyone for anything.


I expect business to try and take advantage of me. I also expect my Government to support laws that prevent that. The simple truth is that those laws that are supposed to punish businesses for doing this are slowley being erroded. If not, why else would our own government be putting together Stimulus funds to employee illegals?

[Bob Sacamano]

I thought we were supposed to be kicking out illegals?

whatever happened to immigrants going through a check-point and being declared citizens? like the Irish, German, Jews, Scandinavians, Austrians etc. etc. etc. of old?

[theogt]

Wait a second....money that goes to construction might end up employing illegal immigrants?

Noooooooooo....you don't say!

[CowboyWay]

I expect business to try and take advantage of me. I also expect my Government to support laws that prevent that. The simple truth is that those laws that are supposed to punish businesses for doing this are slowley being erroded. If not, why else would our own government be putting together Stimulus funds to employee illegals?

I think this part is a bit of a stretch.

Do any of us know if this was in the bill prior, and someone wanted it out? Obama wrote the stimulus right? Someone wanted it out. Who? And why? I doubt Obama took it out because he wanted to give illegals jobs. But thats what the OP implied.

Also, in regards to the first two sentences of you post. Does that mean you are in favor of regulation of certain businesses?

[Hoofbite]

But why remove the language that required employers receiving stimulus money to verify legal status?

Do you really want know what is behind that door?

DIAF is right. Cheap labor is the name of the game. Its stupid that this money will go to those who are here illegally but if you started digging around, you're going to get TONS and TONS of construction crews sitting at home. I'd say the 1% estimate is a little low.

And how do you even regulate it? What are we working on, the honor system?

Companies aren't supposed to hire illegals as it is. So a company says it doesn't have illegal employees. Who is going to say they are lying? There aren't pay stubs. No paper trail whatsoever.

So what do you do, send some guy around to "investigate"? Say he finds illegals working for Joe's Construction. What then? Can't prove that these illegals work for the guy's company. All Joe has to do is say that he subcontracted that work out and he is free from any possible reprocussions.

Like I said, I think it sucks that taxpayer dollars are going to go to illegals but there is nothing you can do about it. The effort and potential cost of hunting down companies that have an illegal workfoce far outweighs the percs of finding these companies whos employees occupy this "1 percent".

[SuspectCorner]

Honestly, some of you operate on just the thinnest of margins of credibility in your rush to knee-jerk reactionaryism.

The stimulus is aimed at bolstering US firms - but the government can't realistically be expected to micromanage all these US firms down to their payrolls. You might as well expect them to inspect the individual lunchpail's of all employees - "Simon says: no PB&J sammiches - except on Tuesdays".

Think about who in the US really benefits from the hiring of undocumented workers.

Duh! How 'bout US firms.

But where's your flipping deregulatin' free-market ideals when it comes down to crunch time? Gone!

Nope. Let's just chalk it up to another evil Dem plot. The nerve of dose guys for not inspecting these companies with a microscope!

Seriously, you guys kill me.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0418/p01s01-usec.html

[ScipioCowboy]

Honestly, some of you operate on just the thinnest of margins of credibility in your rush to knee-jerk reactionaryism.


Mirror, mirror on the wall...

[SuspectCorner]

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

That's it? that's what you got?



Bummer... I was expecting some heated debate on this.

[ScipioCowboy]

That's it? that's what you got?



Bummer... I was expecting some heated debate on this.

Debate isn't likely when you seem to be suggesting that immigration laws are somehow antithetical to laissez-faire capitalism.

[burmafrd]

I notice suspect says nothing about the Dems stripping the enforcement language out. But is that surprising about him? Just another lib singing the song of the Messiah.

[DaBoys4Life]

I don't find a problem with this illegal immigrants are the back bone of America I mean if they all just left it wouldn't create million of jobs.....

[trickblue]

I don't find a problem with this illegal immigrants are the back bone of America I mean if they all just left it wouldn't create million of jobs.....

Seriously?

[DIAF]

Seriously?

Im pretty sure that was a troll post. trickblue fails the internet!

[trickblue]

Im pretty sure that was a troll post. trickblue fails the internet!

I guess I should DIAF... ;)

[Doomsday101]

I don't find a problem with this illegal immigrants are the back bone of America I mean if they all just left it wouldn't create million of jobs.....

It's wouldn't the jobs would just go undone? or would the jobs then be open to American workers at a fair price

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think this part is a bit of a stretch.

Do any of us know if this was in the bill prior, and someone wanted it out? Obama wrote the stimulus right? Someone wanted it out. Who? And why? I doubt Obama took it out because he wanted to give illegals jobs. But thats what the OP implied.

Also, in regards to the first two sentences of you post. Does that mean you are in favor of regulation of certain businesses?


If you wish to assume that the language was stripped for other reasons, that's fine. To each his own I suppose. However, if the result is that Illegals end up with jobs from the stimulus, it wont matter what assumptions were. Americans are going to be pissed. Americans who are unemployeed and looking for work are going to be violently pissed.

I think it's nieve to think that people on a message board can understand the implications of what has been done but somehow the President and his Administration can not but it's up to you to decided what you are willing to believe and what you are not willing to believe.

[ABQCOWBOY]

Honestly, some of you operate on just the thinnest of margins of credibility in your rush to knee-jerk reactionaryism.

The stimulus is aimed at bolstering US firms - but the government can't realistically be expected to micromanage all these US firms down to their payrolls. You might as well expect them to inspect the individual lunchpail's of all employees - "Simon says: no PB&J sammiches - except on Tuesdays".

Think about who in the US really benefits from the hiring of undocumented workers.

Duh! How 'bout US firms.

But where's your flipping deregulatin' free-market ideals when it comes down to crunch time? Gone!

Nope. Let's just chalk it up to another evil Dem plot. The nerve of dose guys for not inspecting these companies with a microscope!

Seriously, you guys kill me.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0418/p01s01-usec.html

I think it's funny that President Obama promises to be out of the Middle East in 6 months but after being elected, he's now slowly coming off that strategy. I think it's funny that President Obama says he's going to close Gitmo and open up American soil to prisoners but not so much. I think it's interesting that President Obama accuses Conservatives of being dirty but he himself, apparently, can not find it within himself to find anybody who is clean to serve in his cabinet. I think it's funny that President Obama promised transparency in the Stimulus spending yet we still don't know where the money has gone. I think it's funny that claimed he would be creating thousands of new jobs if we would only elect him and give him the tools to effect change but now, his promise is to save thousands of existing jobs with no mention of new jobs being created. I think it's all pretty funny but mostly, I think it's funny when Liberals wont even admit that President Obama is not following through with the things he promised. I know, I know, it's only been a couple of weeks and it's going to take some time right?

Honestly, it's Liberals who should really be more disappointed over what's going on. We conservatives kinda expected it. I guess I just don't understand the whole thing.

[SuspectCorner]

I think it's funny that President Obama promises to be out of the Middle East in 6 months but after being elected, he's now slowly coming off that strategy. I think it's funny that President Obama says he's going to close Gitmo and open up American soil to prisoners but not so much. I think it's interesting that President Obama accuses Conservatives of being dirty but he himself, apparently, can not find it within himself to find anybody who is clean to serve in his cabinet. I think it's funny that President Obama promised transparency in the Stimulus spending yet we still don't know where the money has gone. I think it's funny that claimed he would be creating thousands of new jobs if we would only elect him and give him the tools to effect change but now, his promise is to save thousands of existing jobs with no mention of new jobs being created. I think it's all pretty funny but mostly, I think it's funny when Liberals wont even admit that President Obama is not following through with the things he promised. I know, I know, it's only been a couple of weeks and it's going to take some time right?

Honestly, it's Liberals who should really be more disappointed over what's going on. We conservatives kinda expected it. I guess I just don't understand the whole thing.

I don't think it's all funny and some of it has me pretty concerned. But the "e-verify" thing... not so much.

That system has been reviewed and there are certainly problems with it. 99.6% accuracy claims don't really jibe with what I've read about it. Many of these "stim" programs are going to be less-skilled labor intensive. The current e-verify system and associated data bases tend to have some pretty big issues when it comes to foreign-born, yet legal and even naturalized, workers... and that's under it's current low capacity. I think there are legitimate concerns about placing an abrupt and substantial additional burden on that system. And employers are still required to hav I9's on file.

[ABQCOWBOY]

I don't think it's all funny and some of it has me pretty concerned. But the "e-verify" thing... not so much.

That system has been reviewed and there are certainly problems with it. 99.6% accuracy claims don't really jibe with what I've read about it. Many of these "stim" programs are going to be less-skilled labor intensive. The current e-verify system and associated data bases tend to have some pretty big issues when it comes to foreign-born, yet legal and even naturalized, workers... and that's under it's current low capacity. I think there are legitimate concerns about placing an abrupt and substantial additional burden on that system. And employers are still required to hav I9's on file.

All of these things are currently required and more. Yet, I know that I can go down to any local job site and find illegals working. Right this minute, I know that I can find illegals working under what can be considered tougher standards then will exist in the next few months, should this all come to pass. There is no part of me that believes this will not happen. What am I going to believe, what I'm being told or my own dang eyes?

[iceberg]

Shouldn't the responsibility belong to the employers who choose to hire illegals? Why does nobody here want to blame them for hiring those people?

Aren't there laws that will punish businesses who hire illegal aliens? Of course there are.

But lets blame Obama.

Unbelievable. Just more evidence that if you try hard enough, you can blame anyone for anything.

you mean like bush hates the blackman and made gitmo = gulag?

i'm agosh with surprise.

[CowboyMcCoy]

I wonder why the Democrats want the money to go to illegal aliens instead of United States citizens?

Some illegal immigrants might get stimulus-related jobs

Thousands of N.C. jobs and millions in wages created from the federal economic stimulus package could wind up going to illegal immigrants.

Congress stripped language from the $789-billion package that would have required employers to verify the legal status of workers paid with stimulus money.

The White House estimates the package will generate or save an estimated 105,000 jobs in North Carolina over the next two years.

While it's impossible to say definitively how many illegal immigrants will get jobs, multiple studies estimate at least 1percent of the construction labor force is in the U.S. illegally. Experts say actual numbers are likely much higher.

North Carolina could get $1.3 billion for highway and school construction, which, based on federal estimates, could mean more than 5,000 jobs for undocumented workers.

"That's not right," said Jon Holstead, 24, a Charlotte electrician helping to build Salome Church Road Elementary School near Lowe's Motor Speedway. "You have Americans out of work, but you have illegal immigrants coming to work."

The stimulus package was a popular topic this week at the school construction site where Americans and immigrants work side-by-side. Several immigrants on the project told the Observer they are working without proper legal papers.

A masonry worker, Juan Luis, 28, said Latinos are struggling as much as anyone.

To read the complete article, visit www.charlotteobserver.com. (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/546586.html)

Good going, Congress. :bang2: Promoting the corporate agenda...