SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Adam Davidson at The New York Times has a story debunking the myth of the job-stealing immigrant:
When I was growing up in the 1980s, I watched my grandfather — my dad’s stepdad — struggle with his own prejudice. He was a blue-collar World War II veteran who loved his family above all things and was constantly afraid for them. He carried a gun and, like many men of his generation, saw threats in people he didn’t understand: African-Americans, independent women, gays. By the time he died, 10 years ago, he had softened. He stopped using racist and homophobic slurs; he even hugged my gay cousin. But there was one view he wasn’t going to change. He had no time for Hispanics, he told us, and he wasn’t backing down. After all, this wasn’t a matter of bigotry. It was plain economics. These immigrants were stealing jobs from “Americans.”
I’ve been thinking about my grandfather lately, because there are signs that 2015 could bring about the beginning of a truce — or at least a reconfiguration — in the politics of immigration. Several of the potential Republican presidential candidates, most notably Jeb Bush, have expressed pro-immigration views. Even self-identified Tea Party Republicans respond three to two in favor of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Every other group — Republicans in general, independents and especially Democrats — is largely pro-immigrant. According to Pew, roughly as many people (18 percent of Americans) believed in 2010 that President Obama was a Muslim as believe today that undocumented immigrants should be expelled from the United States. Of course, that 18 percent can make a lot of noise. But for everyone else, immigration seems to be going the way of same-sex marriage, marijuana and the mohawk — it’s something that a handful of people freak out about but that the rest of us have long since come to accept.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday March 28 2015, @04:04AM
but we don't do that with h1b's. we let them in at full force and we don't even make them citizens. probably most don't want that, anyway, they often move back home rather than making the US their new permanent home.
the influx is unbalancing many areas of the US and its causing problems, backlash, resentment (on both sides) and its just too much, too fast in too short a period of time.
yes, it very much is displacing those of us who were born and raised here. the social contract used to include us. it does not seem to, anymore. this causes indirect resentment and that's not good, either.
all we need is HONEST h1b style programs where a very few are allowed to enter the US to work, and those are individually monitored to ensure that they really did exhaust all attempts to find local US talent, first.
hey, I have an idea. many of us are not currently employed (count me in on that list, sadly) - how about I go to work for the US gov as a h1b 'fake detector'. I can apply for jobs and when I'm turned down, I can report it to the government so they can truly verify that the guy who DID get the job is really heads and shoulders above me. lots of people like me could help out like that. if there were many like us doing this, the companies would not take the risk of being caught (because there really is not much enforcement right now, its a bad joke, in fact) and then there would be balance again.
there is no one really keeping the companies honest. and greedy entities (ie, companies) will do what they always do; whatever they can GET AWAY WITH that will save them money, no matter what, even if it cuts their own legs out from under them. companies are very short-sighted and they don't see that the destruction of the middle class is going to hurt THEM sooner or later, directly or indirectly. but if we had people helping to police this, maybe the h1b program would be restored to what it was meant to be; importing TRULY EXCEPTIONAL people, not just workers willing to be indentured servants.
if the h1b program was honest, life would be better for EVERYONE, including the few h1b's that truly do qualify to be here. their wages would be higher, too!
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 28 2015, @04:11AM
> they often move back home rather than making the US their new permanent home.
Given that half of them are working for offshoring companies [computerworld.com] AND given how much of a PITA it is to go through the process of getting a green card, [nytimes.com] you can't really blame them.
> how about I go to work for the US gov as a h1b 'fake detector'.
There is literally zero budget allocated for H1B enforcement.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 28 2015, @01:45PM
given how much of a PITA it is to go through the process of getting a green card,
That doesn't prove that they actually want to stay here. It's easy for them to save up a bunch of $USD working here and living cheap, and then go back home after a while and live like a king with servants. Why would they even want to stay here long-term, with the high cost of living and lack of their own culture?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 28 2015, @01:57PM
> That doesn't prove that they actually want to stay here.
I didn't say it does.
What it does prove is a strong system-imposed incentive to leave. For which you literally can't blame them.