Part-Time Pundit

Editorial up: The Edit Board Revolts over Cartoons

I’ll let you read it for yourselves. There’s an all-staff meeting this evening, high comedy will likely ensue.

UPDATE:
The editor-in-chief and opinions editor wrote a response that did not get published. Perhaps a strange technical glitch…

UPDATE 2:
The response is now published.

UPDATE 3:
Additional thoughts from another DI staffer up at the Next Frontier.

UPDATE 4:
As far as the Sabir issue is concerned, yeah wrote a letter and yeah, he’s Acton’s friend. But he’s also the student body VP and a Muslim. He’s the best pick for public voice here, and it wasn’t like he didn’t come down hard on Acton.

February 13th, 2006 Posted by John Bambenek | DailyIllini | one comment

Immigration Analysis by Darnell McGavock

By Darnell McGavock at Independent Conservative

Contrary to popular belief, most illegals coming to the USA already had jobs in the country that they left. Also, they are seeking much higher paying jobs than some might believe. Their days of trying to just pick fruit are over!

Here are some details, although it is best to read this entire article:

Study: Most illegal immigrants had jobs

The research, believed to represent the largest-ever study of undocumented migrants, contends that the vast majority of illegal immigrants from Mexico were gainfully employed before they migrated to the United States, and failure to find work in their native Mexico did not seem to be the primary reason for their departure, said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director for research at the center and author of the report.
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In fact, the majority of new migrants will look for work with higher wages in industries such as construction, hotels or sales, said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center.
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Only 5 percent of the 4,836 migrants surveyed were unemployed in Mexico before moving to the United States - a significantly lower number than in past studies and theories about migrants, Suro said.
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Ironically, Kochhar added, immigration status (in the United States) has little to do with finding employment. Migrants without identification had the same chance of landing a job as those with valid U.S. IDs.
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So much for all that talk about illegals needing to find work. They already had work where they came from. They just come to the USA for a higher wage. And so much for all that talk about illegals only filling jobs “that Americans will not do”. As I’ve previously explained, Americans did those jobs and can do them again. And never mind “those jobs”, now the illegals are going for YOUR JOB. They want to move up the pay scale. The illegals coming in now are better educated than prior generations and so they are seeking higher paying jobs that require a higher skill set.

The actual report is available here.

The complete report mentions:

Once they arrive and pass through a relatively brief period of transition and adjustment, migrants have little trouble finding work. Family and social networks play a significant role in this; large shares of migrants report talking to people they know in the U.S. about job opportunities and living with relatives after arrival. They easily make transitions into new jobs, even though most find themselves working in industries that are new to them.
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There is a steady and strong demand for migrant workers from Mexico in agriculture, construction, manufacturing and hospitality. These four industries employ about two-thirds of the survey respondents, irrespective of their background in Mexico or their year of arrival.
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Migrants from Mexico are responsive to regional variations in demand for their services. Construction is the dominant industry for employing migrants in Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh; hospitality is the major employer in New York City; manufacturing in Chicago; and agriculture in Fresno.
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The percentage of survey respondents employed in agriculture in the U.S. has dropped from 17% of those in country more than 15 years to 9% of recent arrivals. At the same time, the percentage employed in construction and hospitality has increased from 23% to 42%.
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The time is now to close our borders to illegal immigration.

__________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Blogs already on board:

February 13th, 2006 Posted by John Bambenek | Immigration, National, Politics | no comments