A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

[Chevy454]

A lot of the problem is exactly *which* folks are actually trying to get here and what their intentions are...by that I mean, the vast majority are doing it illegally, which shows they're not above (below?) breaking the laws...we already have enough lawbreakers here without recruiting more.

The wife and I (along with some others from our church) went on a mission trip to Mexico earlier this year...a pastor at one of the church's we were helping repair had like an 8 year old daughter that had fallen accidently into an open chemical pit (from one of our outsourced plants, of course) on her way home from school...she had chemical burns all over, but one of her legs was severely disfigured, so she needed some special surgery, and they found a doctor to do it, but he was across the border in Texas...it was an expensive surgery, but the doctor agreed to work with them, but they had to get across the border...well, last I knew, they're on their third year of trying to go through the proper channels and spent several thousand dollars (which they didn't have to spare) as well...but NO DICE. Naturally, they're upset, because they said they could've spent a few hundred bucks and hired a "Coyote" to smuggle them across and probably already been there and back, but they knew it wasn't the right thing to do, but that the right thing to do has gotten them no where and their daughter still needs the surgery. They told us point blank they had no desire to stay in the U.S., and most of the folks they knew/associated with felt the same...but there are plenty of folks wiling to break the law and take the easy way out, and those seem to be the majority of the ones we're getting.

Even in our podunk town here in Hillbillyville, I can name off a handful of sawmills that have who knows how many of them employed...the sawmills love 'em, 'cause it dangerous work so insurance and workman's comp and all the other BS love the premiums, but with immigrant work all of that non-sense is negated...just worry about the locals, slip the Mexican *pimp* a few hundred bucks extra each month to make sure you have enough hands to work, and you're in like Flynn.

[PeteLeathersac]

Sad tale Rob. . Have you looked into Toronto's 'Sick Kids' Hospital? . Every year they bring kids in from all over the world trying to make a difference for sick children caught up in political situations etc. . Here's a link below and God bless! .
~ Pete

http://www.sickkids.ca/internationalprogram/

[ANDY M]

You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.

[427TJ]

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How can Congress do anything about Illegal Immigrants when 90% of them have them living in there homes raising their kids and cleaning their house?

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Well said!

[Turbo Regal]

Last time I checked, when you enter a country and plant a foreign flag, your intent is to take it over for your own. Pretty chilling!

[71-LS6]

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Steve,How many Drywallers,Landscapers, Roofers, and Siders do you know who do not use mexican labor?
Your doing the right thing. I have restructured my entire business to the point where we do everything in house except Electrical as Im not licensed for that but I use a company who has the same ideas we have. We also have more work than we can do so it works and people know the difference and are willing to pay more to use an all American workforce.

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Sam, I am in the process of moving every job to "in house" status also. As to how many of the local subcontractors DO NOT use illegal labor, I would guess it to be less than 50% for sure, and shrinking quickly. For many years I was a "volume builder" on the southwest fringes of the Kansas City metro area. At a 5%-7% net margin, it did not take much to "tip the scales" toward the guys using illegal labor. In addition to moving most of my operations back to "in house" status, I have transformed into a regional builder, doing higher margin jobs, anywhere within a 250 mile radius of my original area. It sounds like I'm serving a similar need here in the midwest, now if I can only keep diesel prices below 3$/gal.

[SamLBInj]

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[quote)
now if I can only keep diesel prices below 3$/gal.

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After $3.00 it will become cheaper to have 20 Mexicans pushing your trucks to the sites.
How many Mexicans do you get to the mile?

[jeff morocco]

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Steve,How many Drywallers,Landscapers, Roofers, and Siders do you know who do not use mexican labor?


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im a superintendant for a union drywall, tape and paint company. 100% of my drywallers and tapers are mexican.99% of my painters are white. i know that all my hangers and tapers are legal, the union makes sure of that. they pretty much cater to these guys because they know that they only stay in this country for about 7-10 years and then go back to mexico, leaving behind all the money they put into their retirement funds fattening up the union officials retirements. thats why the laborers and carpenters unions are the highest in the country for retirement funds !!! its pretty sad when people say that mexicans are cheap labor but that is not the case for a union company. a journeyman hanger makes 33.32 an hour. then add roughly 10-15 for benefits and another 5-7 in workmans comp. so wheres the cheap labor ?

[Rick H]

Did anybody else happen to see the Fox news this morning? It had a great segment on illegal's and the new Minuteman watch group watching the border.

They saw a few coming across and notified Border Patrol who rounded them up and sent them back. BUT, before they went back the news crew interviewed an illegal immigrant and he stated (this got me rilled) that he already had a roofing job waiting for him in Virginia. Absolutely frickin' amazing. To bad the didn't mention the company's name. Oh, he did say he will try again until he makes it.

Ever wonder how many companies are "recruiting" across the border?

Another interesting tidbit was that if Bush passes this law 10-22 MILLION new people will be eligible for healthcare. Think of the welfare increase as well. Just who the (fill in the word of your choice) do you think will pay for that? Yep. WE WILL!

Ahhhh, makes you want to hmmmm!

Rick H.

P.S. on a lighter note. 83 degrees here in Las Vegas. Sure beats Western NY. To bad it ends Friday. Darn. Darn.

[SamLBInj]

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Steve,How many Drywallers,Landscapers, Roofers, and Siders do you know who do not use mexican labor?


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im a superintendant for a union drywall, tape and paint company. 100% of my drywallers and tapers are mexican. its pretty sad when people say that mexicans are cheap labor but that is not the case for a union company. a journeyman hanger makes 33.32 an hour. then add roughly 10-15 for benefits and another 5-7 in workmans comp. so wheres the cheap labor ?

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And you wonder why union projects cost so much, $60.00 gross to hang drywall is a little steep dont you think? How many boards per man per hour get hung? In the real world you get paid per board not the hour, whats the incentive to get things done? Famous union saying, "Cost Over Runs".