| This article made me sick, but similar scenes are probably playing out all over the country. I think that people are in for a shock when the immigrant laborers leave for more accepting climates and suddenly, GASP, they have to pay a living wage and benefits if they want anyone to work for them. Or, OH NO, they actually have to pay a bit more at the local diner or nail salon because, you guessed it, the cheap labor has left the building. I’m not saying that the exploitation of these workers is fair or just, but I am saying that those who oppose immigrants (legal or illegal) often don’t realize just how positive of an effect they have on the local economy. Even the border states have found that the economic benefits come out ahead of the economic losses when they tally it all up.
Mr. Reza says he can’t understand why America accepts global flows of companies, money and jobs but not workers. Why faith in market forces seems to have been eclipsed by fear of immigrants. Or why the country cannot set up legal channels to let jornaleros come and go and not be hassled. “They actually are people with a work ethic that would make the Puritans proud,†he said.
