wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Michael from New York, NY June 07, 2007 - 11:28AM

  Why not just vigorously enforce labor laws? Right now, illegal immigrants are afraid they'll get deported and so don't report maltreatment, underpayment, etc. But if the Department of Labor had some teeth and enforced wage rules, it's unlikely that businesspeople would go through the hardship of hiring an illegal immigrant for the same price as a citizen or legal resident.

  
  
• [2] Chicago Listener June 07, 2007 - 11:42AM

  Just dropped into the conversation. Not sure if you've discussed the enviro impact of pushing traffickers further into the desert

  
  
• [3] b skiff from brooklyn June 07, 2007 - 01:00PM

  I didn't catch the name of your guest, but please inform the winking and nodding Ann Coulter sound-alike that the rules have changed. The old model hard-working immigrant has been replaced by a neo slave class of WORKER that lives in legal limbo but high profile toil.

  Case in point; the house next door was burned beyond habitation last year by an overcrowded barraks style population who used electricity unsafely. The owner of the building, a contractor, is in jail. He kept the tenants of his flophouse busy at substandard wages.

  You can see, where the plywood nailed up to protect the property has fllen away, rows of bunk beds where these soldiers of fortune lived. Of course the living conditions were sub-standard, and at the wages they earned, upward mobility was not a very likely option.

  By having such conditions, the standard of living is slowly, systematically reduced as these untrained but eager and abundant indentured servants usurp more positions and proliferate this 21st century abomination where slave users exempt themselves from liabilty by simply treating the workers as sub-contractors. If Simon LeGre had only figured out this concept of leasing as opposed to owning as these current day limited liability business owners have, we might not have had the slave issue to help bring about the Civil War.

  Will the senator from Az. you quoted grant citizenship to the successful border crossers as he signs them up for the Olympics? "They won't get through MY fence," said farmer MacGregor. (sorry, Beatrix)

  Thanks, Brian, for opening up the forum on this issue that I have been lamenting for more than a decade. This is a level of class warfare that is growing larger and more complex every minute.

  Please, more on this issue. I used to do these "jobs that Americans don't want" until my American (since the 1600's) ass has been priced out. Wages for carpenters have dropped steadily since the mid 1990's. Since the concept has become "I can hire three of these guys for what you're asking," crews of undocumented aliens do my work.

  Again, thank you Brian and staff for getting to the issues that matter and discussing them in ways that inspire.

  Bill in Bk