Should illegal immigrants get jobs or welfare?
By kbkbooks
@kbkbooks (7022)
Canada
December 28, 2006 9:32pm CST
I am an immigrant to Canada. I was given the opportunity after 3 years to become a citizen and I took it. Before my citizenship here I was still allowed to receive healthcare from the province of Quebec where I live as well as having the opportunity to work. I just saw a special on how the US is trying to have more control over immigrants, particularly from Mexico. Many employers feel that the Mexicans are more dependable and efficient at work than others who always want more money and less time at work. The Mexicans appreciate the job, and work hard, get the work done. This is good for them, their families and for their employees.
When I moved to Canada I had to fill out alot of paperwork and it was a long process. I couldn't move until 9 months after I started the process, but it was worth it to be legally given a job and access to healthcare. I still get the idea that the US is a little stricter than Canada about all this. Maybe they are not the land of opportunity they once claimed to be and were seen as.
Maybe if they were given the chance to immigrate a bit more easily, there wouldn't be illegal immigrants pouring into the US (not just from Mexico but anywhere). The employers who are hiring illegal immigrants claimed on this program I saw that they would be short of workers if it weren't for the illegal immigrants. Without the workers, their businesses would fail and then that would start another whole chain of negative events.
6 people like this
42 responses
@Asimo69 (21)
• United States
29 Dec 06
Sorry if I wasn't clear, I do not hate immigrants. This is a country of immigrants. The discussion is not of whether or not we like immigrants. It is about whether or not ILLEGAL immigrants deserve jobs. I say, if they can find a job, then good for them, but if the get caught and deported, there shouldn't be an effort to bring them back in because they didn't belong there in the first place. Go wait in line like everyone else.
3 people like this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
That I agree with. They should wait in line and do things correctly. However, if they get a job and work and don't seek welfare or other benefits, then they should be allowed to work. If they then get caught they should be deported. What I don't like is that there are Americans who say they are taking away jobs from the Americans. How can this be true when the employers who hire the immigrants say the Americans aren't even showing an interest in the jobs.
@malsun (1528)
• United States
29 Dec 06
i agree there is a law for everything and your aspirations should be fulfilled provided you can respect the rules of the nation. There are hundreds who are waiting in the queque who spend years getting through the legal channel. they are not fools.
1 person likes this
@shooie (4984)
• United States
29 Dec 06
I think here in America it really wouldn't be and issue but a lot of times the people that were born and raised here can't get help because the system is over loaded. I have know problems with immigrants wanting to come here and make a better life for themselves but if they are here illegally they shouldn't collect from the government. I will say something should have been done a lonnnnnnnnnng time ago when it wasn't so bad and yes they should have help to help these people to get legal to get here and make a better life but until they are legal then no benefits. If people want to go around the laws then people need to supply there workers with insurance and enough money to live on.
2 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
29 Dec 06
Excellent response. I agree with you.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
I don't think immigrants should be getting government support in the form of welfare. If they can't get jobs as they expected, they should go home. Also, this program I watched said that the government provides pregnant female immigrants with prenatal counseling AND care because the children born to them in the US WILL be legal citizens. If that is the case, we should also give women who bare children here citizen status at the birth of the child. It may not be fair but you certainly don't want the child's mother to get deported and leave an orphan. So many facets to consider!
@conniej14 (248)
• United States
29 Dec 06
I agree also. I have worked in a family children services office while I was going to school and more than half the people that came through the door we immigrants. The thing that bothers me it that they don't stay in one place for maybe a season and its hard for them to be caught. We don't have the man power to get them all because of this but yet we still give them aid that could be given to the elderly or to a mother and child who were abused. I don't have faith in our government to fix this problem. Don't get me wrong, I have feelings but enough is enough.
1 person likes this
@lauriefnp (5109)
• United States
29 Dec 06
I feel that illegal immigrants should be pursued and sent back to their countries of origin. If they want to immigrate to the U.S., or to any country for that matter, there are laws and regulations as to how that must be done. The laws are in place for a reason, and that is to protect our society and our people.
Anyone in the U.S. illegally has broken the law; they are criminals and are not entitled to ANY of the rights and benefits that come with being a legal, law-abiding, and tax-paying citizen of our country. They need to be sent back and put on the bottom of the list for entry. There are plenty of people who have gone through the proper legal channels and who are patiently waiting for legal entry into the U.S. Why is it fair to "pardon" the criminals and put them ahead of everyone else? And what does it say to everyone (in other countries as well as to our own citizens) about our laws? I think a lot of people would take this to mean that "laws are meant to be broken". We need to get tough on these people.
2 people like this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
I have a feeling there are other causes and needs for tax payers money. What about healthcare reform first. Worry about immigrants later. You know God didn't create borders. People should by all rights be able to live and move about the earth freely. But no, You have to ask my Daddy first if you can come over to my country and sleep over.
@sunshinecup (7871)
•
29 Dec 06
Well companies that hire illegal immigrants, are short changing them and barely paying them minimum wage. That's wrong. Americans can't servive on that type of income, due to the rise in cost of living. illegals can because most of the time, they aren't paying taxes so their Pay would be more than an American's would be at that same pay rate. I think these companies need to be boycotted, IMO.
Our policy to become an American, can't be that darn hard, we have plenty that do it every year. It's just when you do, you pay taxes and THAT is what the illegals from Mexico are trying to avoid. At least that is how many see it.
2 people like this
@sirensanssmile (3764)
• Netherlands
29 Dec 06
Think about it.... An illegal's check with taxes taken out of it, can't possibly be going to the government because an illegal does not have a social security number to go with any sort of tax papers. (Illegals with fake social security numers is the same story if you think of it.) So if an employer is deducting taxes out of the paycheck from the illegal you can bet they are pocketing it.
You can't pay taxes without a social secuirty number!
2 people like this
@feralcat (426)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
Those who come in legally and go to through the process deserve opportunity but there are many cases of people who immigrate to Canada, on the way "lose" their paperwork and once they are accepted go underground and cannot be found. This is wrong, not only for those who try to become Canadian legally but also for us Canadians who were born here.
There are procedures to follow and I think that those who choose to go against the law do not deserve anything but if caught to be deported. Too many people in Canada have a hard enough time to raise their families and too many good people in other parts of the world who do deserve a better life are short changed in the end.
My ancestors are french and native hence I am Metis and often times I wonder who gets the short end of the stick and sadly people who immigrate here illegally make it hard for all the rest who try hard to live day by day.
2 people like this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
29 Dec 06
NO, NO, NO and NO. I came to the US after having worked for the US government in Europe for 12 years, was married to an American for 8 of them, but I got no short cuts, got my green card came to the States and became a citizen. I saw an interview on TV last week (I think it was Dateline) and they went to a small town in Oregon where the majority of the people who lived and work there were illegals. The company they worked for checked there social security card, driver's license etc. before they were hired, it later turned out they were 99.9% false. They showed how easy it was even in such a small town to get false documents. They were all (those interviewed) very hard workers but each one of them wanted to earn as much as they could and go back home. Even if they got the chance to be citizens the most of them said they would go home.
I get mad to think that my tax dollars pay for their children's education, medical expenses etc. etc. and the US government wants to cut Medicare for people who have worked hard and obeyed the law all their lives. Say that Social security will be depleted in the near future......keep our tax dollars for people who deserve it.
NOT illegals
2 people like this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
I applaud you for going through the paperwork and redtape to become a US resident. I went through alot for my Canadian residency and then later for my citizenship. It kind of makes one mad to think others are just skipping over all this stuff and still getting benefits. Some of those people were sending home their earnings to their families in their home countries. They had deductions taken from their cheques. The employers were claiming they didn't know the documents were false. Give me a break. Even when they knew the documents were false, they hired them, it showed that too. It isn't the fault of the employee then but the employer. All he is interested in is being able to accept more contracts.
@sirensanssmile (3764)
• Netherlands
29 Dec 06
Illegals should NOT receive ANY social benefits because the tax payers pay for it and it isn't right. I went to USA LEGALLY and it was a lot of work, yes.... but not impossible at all. I worked legally and paid taxes and to think that my tax money was going to people too lazy to follow the legal process sickened me.
Why should they be rewarded or allowed to drain the social system of a country they do not belong to? NO WAY. I
1 person likes this
@babykay (2131)
• Ireland
29 Dec 06
I think that illegal immigrants should not be entitled to benefits but if they are working it should become a matter of time before they are in fact legal. Some countries do not ever give even third generation migrants citizenship which seems wrong, this was the case for Turks in Germany until recently. I think asylum seekers should be given the right to work also, Ireland is one of the few countries where this is not the case. If somebody is working and contributing to the economy why would the host country and its citizens have a problem with this? I know this simplifies the issue somewhat, but I can't understand Americans of all people not wanting illegal immigrants who want to work, pay taxes and integrate into American society.
1 person likes this
@taruha (559)
• United States
29 Dec 06
lot of hard working jobs in usa are mostly done by illegal imigrants and if they are not allowed to work, it is felt that our countries work system will collapse.this is the fear prevailing and that is why all the presidents try to make compromise in the issue and avoid taking harsh decisions.very high population in usa today is of illegal imigrants and to drive them out overnight or take away their rights is going to be dificult.
@MrNiceGuy (4141)
• United States
29 Dec 06
" Maybe they are not the land of opportunity they once claimed to be and were seen as.
Maybe if they were given the chance to immigrate a bit more easily, there wouldn't be illegal immigrants pouring into the US (not just from Mexico but anywhere). "
This is just not true. You see, America is the #1 spot that everyone wants to come. You don't understand the waves of people trying to come to America. The majority of immigrants are poor and really strain the American economy when they take jobs, use health care (which isn't nationalized like in Canada) or get arrested. If it were easier to immigrate, there would just be more of that, overcrowding etc (you said yourself the immigrants are "pouring into the US" so why would opening the tap all the way up help?
Its just hard on America to try to help all these people.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
30 Dec 06
For myself, I have been an American, and now I am living in Canada as a Canadian citizen and I also maintain my American citizenship according to the government records. Having lived and worked in both countries I will tell you I don't believe the USA is all it's cut up to be. People have this rose coloured glasses view of the USA and I don't think its all true.
@FredDurst (82)
• Qatar
29 Dec 06
if a person is hardworking and has come to earn his living den he should be given a chance
1 person likes this
@FredDurst (82)
• Qatar
29 Dec 06
sometimes due to some trouble u r at the wrong place at the wrong time
1 person likes this
@hare_krishna (20)
• India
29 Dec 06
No, illegal immigrants should not get a job. Its effect the hosts country's economy.
2 people like this
@Asimo69 (21)
• United States
29 Dec 06
I don't think they deserve jobs. It may seem unfair, but how fair would it be for the people who actually waited to immigrate legally? Should everyone just skip the immigration process and just hop over? I don't think so.
In regards to companies hiring illegal immigrants in order to not be short of workers are simply defending them for the sake of continuing to hire workers for a cheap price. If they cannot afford to hire American workers, then don't hire any workers. Why finance a car if you can't afford it?
2 people like this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
In the documentary I saw, the company was hiring the immigrants because the Americans would not take the jobs they were being offered. They wanted to enter the job at a hire level of pay. The immigrants are happy to work at minimum wage, to start at the normal entry level and WORK their way up. Americans (and remember I AM one by birth) seem to be showing their greed and laziness, in my opinion, another reason among many I would not be proud to say I am/was one.
@espulido76 (155)
• Philippines
29 Dec 06
i don't think that's fair to give illegal migrants those benefits. Though this may sound unhumanitarian because they are poor people and they just want to have better lives for their families, but hey, how about those hardworking people paying government taxes???They're working hard also for their families.
1 person likes this
@cuddlebug79705 (2003)
• United States
29 Dec 06
I think if people are going to come here, they should do so legally. And if they are illegal they shouldn't have the right to welfare.
@mamabulldog60 (351)
• United States
29 Dec 06
Boy doe this hit a nerve, NO, I cannot understand why a couontry including mine rewards people whose first act is to BREAK THE LAW. I live in the snakes nest of illegals. They do no appreciate anything except what you can give them for free. They routinely work under one ID and collect state benefits with another, not stereotyping here, I have seen it over and over. They don't pay taxes, and out govt routinely sends "run" letters in the guise of "your visa is up or please report to get a visa" letters. I have seen them fired under one ID go to the trunk of their car and get another one and get rehired within an hour. Its a real good thing I don't live in the border states.
1 person likes this
@mikaghi (388)
• United States
29 Dec 06
i am an immigrant living in US, legally.i believe that legal immigrants are suffering because of illegal immigration, but then the government should give the illegals opportunity to be legal. they are hardworking people are deserve a fair chance. that being said, i know many illegals pay tax but never get the benefit. that is wrong. if they are paying the government, they should get some benefits.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
29 Dec 06
Glad to hear from you. I think you are probably right. I think the whole populations suffer in some way. Like you said, some are paying taxes but getting no benefits back, and that is unfair. I think the government should seek them out and if they want to become citizens or even just green card residents they should be given a chance. If they want to continue illegal status, they should then be deported.
@FredDurst (82)
• Qatar
29 Dec 06
if the immigrant is deserving and is not involed in any crimes and has come to seek a legal job den he must be helped
1 person likes this
@FredDurst (82)
• Qatar
29 Dec 06
i think a person should be judged on wat he is
1 person likes this
