It's easy to understand why Mexican immigrants will do jobs Americans won't and it has nothing to do with race.  A US citizen is going to choose even our tattered social safety net over an unsafe, underpaid job.  An immigrant looking at $4.50 a day back home will have lower standards.

 Maybe we should be asking why there are jobs in the US that our citizens won't do?  Many of these jobs have unsafe working conditions, pay scale below minimum wage and long hours without overtime pay.  They're the kind of jobs that appeal only to someone with no options and no recourse. 

 Enforcing labor laws would go a long way toward leveling the playing field.

The cheap labor exploiters keep saying immigrants are doing jobs that Americans won't do.

There's actually an implied ellipse in that statement.

It's "jobs that Americans won't do ... for the wages we are willing to pay."

There's the magic of the marketplace for you.

And on this same topic, I was just discussing this whole flap with a coworker of mine, who is a Canadian national. He's been a permanent resident and his citizenship interview is coming up in a couple of months. His feeling is that there's a flaming double-standard in play here. Paraphrasing him, why have differing requirements in play, even if (and, for that matter, especially if) it imposes stricter requirements on those seeking cheap labor?

I'm inclined to agree.

"Secure our borders" is code for "screw Latinos."

____________________________

Floating face down in my NCAA pool.

There may be some racism involved but mostly it's just cheap labor. Canadians don't sneak in because their standard of living is comparable to ours.

I agree with this: It's "jobs that Americans won't do ... for the wages we are willing to pay."

But ot this: "Secure our borders" is code for "screw Latinos." Nobody I know, though I'm sure there are some out there, is saying "screw Latinos", they're saying play by the same rules everyone else does, enter the country legally, work legally, pay any taxes due, etc. Plus, how can we have any security if hundreds of thousands can walk across  our southern borders at will?

 Of course, there are  some, like the Southern Poverty Law Center who think we should give them our land if we stop them for trespassing on our property. Be careful if they walk thru your backyard. Just smile and wave. (This is not a slam on Hispanics. It is a slam at SPLC.)

It is a mechanism to hold down poor white and black job holders wages.

Good point, although I would say it like this, "It is a mechanism to hold down poor job holders wages." It's not racism, it's greed.

And I agree it's too difficult to enter legally. For temporary workers I'd be happy knowing they are not criminals or a threat of any kind. I also agree that making it a felony is not the answer and is probably counter productive.

Taking someone's land for the reason's the SPLC did seems rather extreme. If you visit SPLC's website and tolerance.org (which preaches tolerance from the extreme liberal point of view), it is easy how, due to their extreme liberal perspective) feel justified. For them tolerance is as much a one-way street as for the extreme right. Only an extreme moonbat wouldn't recognize this. ;-)