• SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Lots of people are opposed to all sorts of legal immigration. Many people actually believe that immigrants can take away jobs from natives if they come over en masse, and then we won’t have jobs for people born here

      It’s dumb but they believe it.

      • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I am under the impression that the H1-B visa program is taking away jobs from people born here (aka citizens) because it all you have to do is lie about how you couldn’t find a qualified citizen to work, then you can pay someone a fraction of what it would cost to hire a citizen.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The point is that en masse, when immigrants move to America, they create more jobs than they “take,” because immigrants are also consumers.

          H1B visas might be used to make certain specific roles far more competitive, but you’d be hard pressed to make the argument that the tech sector isn’t one of the highest paying sectors period, or that they’re short on jobs

        • squiblet@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          H1-B isn’t relevant to people working jobs like picking crops, who far outnumber tech workers.

            • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Why do you assume unskilled labor must be illegally migrating? Migrant workers are the norm and usually come in on a temp visa. Huge numbers of undocumented workers are here because of an expired short work visa for something like summer-fall harvesting.

              • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Outside the scope of my point, but fine. Though splitting hairs between illegal entry and illegal remaining is a fools errand. I wasn’t talking about migrant workers. Nor asylum claimers (does anyone NOT claim asylum in this day and age, vs just crossing and hoping to not get caught?).

    • squiblet@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I don’t mean highly skilled work. Approximately 10 million undocumented immigrants work low paying jobs and are deprived of any sort of benefits or protection under law such as minimum wage, overtime, health benefits, OSHA protections, unemployment and workers compensation for injuries. Oddly they tend to work for businesses owned by conservatives such as meatpacking, agriculture, roofing, and construction. These businesses are well aware that they are hiring people who do not have legal authorization to work in the US. At the same time, they support politicians who demonize immigrants and have made absolutely no effort to legitimize the legal status of their workforce. Huh, I wonder why.

      • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You had said legal immigration, now you’re talking about undocumented workers. They’re different topics.

        • squiblet@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Republicans oppose legal immigration, otherwise the undocumented workers could easily become citizens or at least be here on long visas. As noted, it’s because they like having an abused subclass that won’t speak up lest they be threatened with deportation.