Jobs Americans won't do...

I'm sure that we have all heard the excuse that without cheap immigrant labor (especially ILLEGAL immigrant labor) that there would be hundreds, nay, thousands of jobs left vacant, which no self respecting American would take. Isn't the argument in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens that they simply do the jobs that Americans are not willing to do? I caught a few moments of Bill O'Reilly's show where he had as his guest Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs. The show consists of Mr. Rowe traveling around the country in search of (and then participating in) the dirtiest jobs. While O'Reilly's segment with Rowe was light-hearted and comical, the point was obvious. In every episode Rowe interacts with all kinds of hard working American citizens who do some of the most nauseating work. For example: septic tank cleaner, church steeple bird poop cleaner, clam farmers, pest control (in this episode the house was crawling with cockroaches), horse semen collector, and so on. If Americans can be found working these kinds of jobs, isn't it a little bit offensive to claim that Americans won't clean hotel rooms or work on farms?

I think the reality of the situation is that the industries dominated by cheap, unskilled labor WANT illegal alien workers because they are easily exploitable. If an employee is desperate for a job and in the country illegally how likely are they to file a sexual harassment claim (especially if they don't speak English, have no resources to pull from, and aren't familiar with the system)? How likely are they to seek disability if they are injured? How likely are they to complain if they are being treated unfairly or being paid below minimum wage? All an employer would have to do is threaten to report them to ICE.

The fact of the matter is that employers* lobbying for amnesty for illegal alien workers do so because it saves them money. Employees being paid under the table don't require health coverage, social security payments, disability payments, or even often times minimum wage. If hotels and farmers (and numerous other employers) would only offer a fair wage and decent benefits, Americans WOULD work those jobs.

*It came to my attention that Senator Diane Feinstein attached a nifty little piece of legislation to the recent war funding bill in the Senate. It would have allowed illegal alien farm workers and their families a five year grace period in the U.S. When I called all four of Senator Feinstein's California offices to complain that this was nothing more than short term amnesty and political dishonesty , the girl in the San Francisco office was nice enough to explain to me that the good Senator had added it to the bill at the request of California farmers. They claimed, the girl explained, that they were going to face a labor shortage for the coming harvest and that this would only add to rising food costs. For this reason Senator Feinstein had added it to the war funding bill at the last moment when few people noticed (a bill that should have sailed through Congress). I am happy to report that it died in the Senate today (besides the fact that President Bush promised to veto it with that provision still attached). I called all four of the Senator's office today to tell them that I am happy that the bill died and that Ms. Feinstein should get the hint by now that Americans don't want amnesty (of any sort) for illegal aliens.

Here is a link to the Dirty Jobs homepage (so you can see what sort of

jobs Americans ARE willing to do).