Villaraigosa warns ICE to back off immigration raids

[Midnight Mike]

An undocumented worker is an illegal alien, they are not supposed to be here, sheesh.


04/10/2008 07:10:57 AM PDT

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa warned that work-site raids on nonexploitative" businesses could have a severe impact on the local economy.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead.

The mayor said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that work-site raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have "severe and long-lasting effects" on the local economy, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

ICE made more than 4,900 work-site arrests nationwide in fiscal 2007, a 45-fold increase over the number in 2001, authorities said.

More than 130 undocumented workers were arrested at a San Fernando Valley manufacturing company in February and over 60 workers were arrested for immigration violations at South Bay-area warehouses last week.

[Matt Molnar]

If ICE were ever to raid an American Apparel factory in "downtown LA" and find illegals, it would be the highlight of my week.

[adam613]

I just hope these ICE people don't eat in restaurants. If there were no illegal immigrants, the whole culinary industry would immediately collapse.

[Matt Molnar]

It might cost a little more to get a plate of spaghetti or get your leaves raked, but those industries wouldn't collapse. I think it's safe to say most national chain restaurants have very few illegal workers, and they manage to turn a profit.

[adam613]

Right; the national chain restaurants have enough money that they can afford to take care of their employees' immigration problems. But the nice restaurants? In their kitchens, most of the employees are from Central and South America, and maybe half are legal; not because they don't want to be legal, or because they are criminals (any more so than anyone else who works in a kitchen), but because they can't afford to be. And the industry can't survive on chain restaurants alone.

[PhilDernerJr]

The nice restaurants, with their "nicer" prices, will surely be able to afford normal help. They will be able to employ people to replace them, I am sure.

[adam613]

The nice restaurants, with their "nicer" prices, will surely be able to afford normal help. They will be able to employ people to replace them, I am sure.

That premise relies on two incorrect assumptions:

1) That restaurants hire illegal aliens to skirt wage regulations. They don't; they hire who they can hire, and in most places even the dishwasher is making at least minimum wage. The number of illegal aliens working in kitchens is a result of the fact that most of the people in large cities who are willing to work in kitchens are illegal aliens. Without their reasonably-paying restaurant jobs, they can't afford the process of becoming legal, and if they start the process of becoming legal, they can't keep their reasonably-paying restaurant jobs.

2) That "nicer" prices increase margins. They don't; the higher your prices are, the fewer people you will serve, and the fixed costs of running a restaurant are pretty high. There are maybe 10 restaurants in the city that can charge whatever prices they want, and all of them are well-established and run by very famous chefs. For the places that mere mortals like me can afford to eat at, prices are set by the customer, not by the restaurant.

[PhilDernerJr]

Point taken on #2, but I personally believe (I don't have stats), that there IS a workforce to fill those roles.

[T-Bird76]

Point taken on #2, but I personally believe (I don't have stats), that there IS a workforce to fill those roles.

I agree 100%. I think the old rant that "Americans won't take these jobs" is pure BS. The reason today Americans won't take these jobs is because there are far too many cheap illegals in the country who'll take these jobs. If that sector of the pool of labor dried up business owners would be force to raise wages to attract quality labor. The illegal worker problem in this country is the SOLE reason for wage stagnation and it needs to be corrected. This is the one issue I think we need to take a very firm stance on. These people are not citizens, they have not rights nor do they deserve the same rights as citizens. If they wish to live in the U.S then let them go through the process legally. Our country was founded on laws that govern the populous. When we throw these laws by the way side we jeopardize the foundations that built this nation.

[Tom_Turner]

If people want to go to restaurants then they'll have to pay more to go to restaurants, thats all.

Too many social welfare programs are taking away the proper "incentive" for some Americans to work at certain jobs. The proper incentive for the able bodied should be "work or perish". If they don't want to work, maybe they should be transported by the US Military and parachuted into Central Mexico or Nigeria etc... and we can make the make the current illegals citizens on a 1:1 basis.

But, I also agree with Tommy. Plenty of Americans to take most of these jobs. I am pretty sure some of these jobs are not even being offered to American citizens. The employers know they can exploit a more desperate human being who is illegal and thereby make them work harder.

T

[emshighway]

One of the problems is that the teenage workforce that use to do these jobs and now these teenagers think they are above these jobs. They want high paying jobs right off the bat without paying their dues or Daddy will buy them the expensive car.

[Midnight Mike]

One of the problems is that the teenage workforce that use to do these jobs and now these teenagers think they are above these jobs. They want high paying jobs right off the bat without paying their dues or Daddy will buy them the expensive car.

Many jobs that teenagers used to do were taken by illegal aliens, so, yes, it will be difficult for teenagers to fill these jobs again as they have not been available for quite some time.

People started using illegal aliens to fill many jobs as they were cheaper, more reliable, & complained less, but, they were still illegal...

[flyguy1]

Though I in no way condone illegals, economists have shown that they do have a positive effect on GDP.

[Tom_Turner]

Many "studies" have purported to have shown that, but it seems they leave out much of the "costs". We must consider the source of many of these "studies".

I am sure some US banks wished they were not suffering the exposure they are now due to the housing crisis, but their models showed something different..whether it was what they wanted to see, or they simply didn't factor the variables correctly.

Tom