Chicken given ticket for Jaywalking..

...A map is your friend.

 

Illegal Immigrants in LA.... um.

I'd say close to a million. But what do I know?

Last time I was in the States (around the time you could buy an Atari Jaguar or a Sega CD new at Babbage's in the Florida Mall, Orlando) - I'd speak in English to people in stores and they'd just smile and say "Don't worry, brother" in Spanish and start a conversation about Latin America. And, well, there are EVEN more mexicans in California than there are in Florida... so I'd say it's enough illegal immigrants to give Lou Dobbs a coronary.

 

ok

 

California believes it has its own country Bezerkly.

 

You know, I think it's kind of an exaggeration, the amount of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles. There are many, but when you listen to those conservative pundits who blame all the evils of society on them they make it sound like there's some kind of human tidal wave that is going to push all the legal citizens into the ocean or something. All that crap about "They're taking our jobs, they cause crime, etc." Total bullshit.

First off illegal immigrants tend to work the shitty jobs that other people don't want, like washing dishes, picking fruit, washing cars, etc. Why do they work them if these jobs blow ass so much? Becasue they can make a decent amount of money doing them quickly without having any specialized skills, and they can remain anonomous. Okay, I'm oversimplifying, but you get the idea.

The truth is our economy (well, the economy of California's agriculture industy anyway) is pretty much subsidised through this cheap labor. If they all went away strawberries and orange juice would suddenly become too expensive. Fact is most "Americans" (by which I mean people who are born, educated, and grew up here) don't want to work these types of jobs. How many people you know said "I wanna pic avacados when I grow up?" We tend to think we're entitled to more than menial labor. But somebody has to do this work, and who does it? Who works at the resturants, who is the janitor, who cleans the office buildings, who mows the lawns, etc? Teenagers, the uneducated, the unskilled, etc. And people who come into the country illegally, becasue these kinds of jobs offer anonimity.

Crime: There are plenty of homegrown criminals running around already, and if all the criminals who just also happened to be illegal immigrants got deported I doubt that crime rates would significantly drop (violent crime rates at least.) Fact is most of these people are interested in comming over to work and send money home to thier familes to risk getting busted selling drugs or whatever.

So the way I look at it California needs these people, has always needed them, and has always benefited from them. Even the conservative anit-immigrant people need them but won't admit it (or haven't thought about it in that way.) There are two ways to imrove the situation for these people, either even out the pay so employers have no benifit to hiring illgals at slave wages, or create some kind of system so that people can come over to work legally (and not like get shot at the border or die of thirst in the desert, etc.)

But as far as the amount of illegal immigrants, well it sure doen't seem like theres millions of them. There very well could be but I haven't noticed. There is a very large Latino popluation here, which is great. Becasue Latina chicks are hot.

 

They tend to work those jobs because our so-called government decides to screw all of the Americans over by underpaying illegal immigrants. Why pay John Rawlings, a 37 year-old American $7.50 when we can pay Hector Garcia $4.50 an hour. Why doesn't our government do anything about them? Because they are making so much money off of them and laughing in our faces. I went to a meeting pertaining to the overgrowth of illegal aliens in my community, and a chief deputy of the police department said if an illegal alien does something wrong, such as steal or loiter, nothing can be done; especially with a flood of illegal aliens in the police department. Some places don't even have enough cells to hold them, so they have to let them go. Pretty sad...

 

Man, I would have said anything, but Hawanja already stated my thoughts with such an exact manner, I wonder if there's some probe in my room, or something.

Lou Dobbs even refers to mexican immigrants as "the cause of a Tuberculosis epidemic".
I fucking hate Lou Dobbs. He should go work in Fox News with the rest of the bigots and right wing pundits. Why are all mexican immigrants always portrayed as criminals and scammers? Would I be stealing somebody's job as a Spanish teacher or a college professor in an American university (or a Canadian or Japanese one)?

Also, there's this comic by maddox that's pretty explanatory of the situation of "job stealing". http://maddox.xmission.com/hatemail.cgi?p=1#CLUETRAIN
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/immigrant.gif


And finally, about latinos in the States, there's this quote from Fight Club that might fit it.

Look. The people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals. We haul your trash. We connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us.

 

Don't know if this is ironic or weird, or you know my first name.
The scary part: if I married my current girlfriend and took her family name, this would also be my complete name.*

*Xerdo knocks on wood.

Weirder, because Hector is definitely not a common name in Mexico, and it's written the same way in many other languages.

Is this a coincidence, or were you taking me as a reference?

 

LoL, I just thought of some name that sounded American. That's definitely irony at its finest.

 

I don't think your government decides how high (or low) wages are... unless you live in Cuba.

 

I'm sorry to disagree about the Minimum Wage and Government issue, Antipasta. It has an influence, for sure, Sir.

The minimum wage is set by the government, and sometimes a lobby of businesspeople, who of course want to pay the workers zilch for their work. Unless you lived in 100% free market capitalism (which would make slavery legal), then there's a serious government influence in the value of wages.
WHICH, by the way, is one of the reasons there ARE illegal mexican immigrants, being that transnationals (many american, given tax breaks by your government) come to Mexico to pay our workers less than minimum wage. Since they drive mexican businesses out of business, they can pay our workers anything. They give them month-long contracts so they can't accumulate any benefits. They run away with the pay, they subcontract, they discriminate, give hours of work beyond those permitted by law, and any good job, they bring an american to do. So pretty much, if Mexicans stay in Mexico, they become slave labour. They leave to the States so they can feed their family. They're still slaves up there because people can pay them less (nobody protects their wages, because, they're there illegally)... but they get more rights up there, than down here. And a chance to survive, economically.
If the situation weren't so horrible because of both our governments and the big businesses and capitals that control them, I'm sure these family leaders would not cross a desert, swim to cross a river, and then try to fend off misguided nationalists with rifles that want to take back their country if there was a viable alternative. I'm sure Working Class mexicans don't just do this because they're greedy, disease ridden brutes - like Lou Dobbs and other people portray them, but because they have to set their dignity and country aside. Sure as hell the situation is serious on both sides.
I wouldn't blame the workers - who, after all, need to survive, even if it means breaking the law. I'd blame, first and foremost, the (United States-sponsored) government on Mexico, then the Transnationals and then the Governments (I.E. the American government) they control.

 

Ooooops.
What did i start...
Hector if the heat in Denmark gets to hot i will love to have a refuge in Mexico since you know why i was threatened out of the "AEC" and now in august i will go back to "school" at another "AEC" so the question was only a question and not an offence.

And Second is your name pronounced Hector or Ector ?

 

Ah, I'm not offended by any of you guys. We're all comrades, so no worry there.

But I'm offended by the Lou Dobbs's of the world who unabashedly mouth off against immigrants and my country - without truly knowing the reasons it happens. So I make sure I explain what I consider true when the situation arises. Both Mexicans and Americans should team up and improve the situation for all of us, not just for big businesses and politicians in both our countries that always screw us.

Sure, you can take refuge here any time you like, you know that from before. Just make sure you're ready for Montezuma's revenge (and I'm not talking about the Commodore game!) and can cope with Piracy.

And in Spanish, the H is silent - so it's most likely to be Option 2.

 

Piracy = heaven and Montezumas revenge..... don´t know what it is but i will respect it .

But let us hope i can keep my mouth closed and my mind focused on my education and not the other things .

 

Montezuma's Revenge (which, by the way, is the English mis-spelling of Moctezuma's name) is a phenomenon that usually affects foreigners that come to live in Mexico because the water and food have somewhat different compositions - especially the food, which is spicy, heavy, sometimes greasy, and, in the street, not as clean as it is in most of the civilised world.
Most foreign visitors get Montezuma's revenge the very first time they come to Mexico. Essentially, they get extremely sick for some two or three days because of the food and environment change is so sudden - but after that, they're immune to mexican food (most of it, anyway) for life.

 

LOL ooooh vacation stomache :-D

 

Xerdo: I am familiar with the concept of minimum wages, no problem
My point, however, was aimed perhaps more at the semantic of the quoted post... the government doesn't decide to underpay *illegal* immigrants... it's the bussinesses that do that, unless they somehow formally put illegal immigrants on their payroll and pay tax for it (not sure if it works that way in the US though), which, I think, is impossible as they are illegal immigrants and don't live in the country. Please correct me if I am mistaken, though.

 

Anti:

I see what you are saying. Maybe I should have been more clear. Big businesses decide to screw over an American for an illegal alien, and those businesses are our government.

 

Ah yes, I get your point (and I agree). But isn't hiring illegal immigrants, like, illegal? Is there no inspection?