two weights, two measures
Last week started with Portugal sending back to Brasil some 200 illegal immigrants and ended with Canada sending back to Portugal some 200 illegal immigrants.
Hard has it may be on those families affected, there are international laws that must be respected and those who risk working in another country without documentation know what their chances are.
In a way I feel sorry for those who search for a better life and get their dreams destroyed, but such is life. When one decides to go against the law there is always the chance that person will be caught, and I agree immigration must in fact be controlled lest the impact is destructive to the economy of the host countries.
The thing that is puzzling me though is the fact that so far most people around here seem to agree with immigration control when it comes to those guys from Brasil, people know they come here and work for lower wages and longer hours and Portuguese workers either work for less or they will loose their jobs to illegal aliens (from Brasil, from Africa, from the Eastern European countries, etc...). But the same people who say our country can't support the huge number of illegal aliens we already have seem to have a different opinion when our countrymen ARE the illegal aliens elsewhere.
I've just been accused of lack of empathy today, because I pointed out to some co-workers this discrepancy. Maybe so, maybe they have more empathy, selective empathy that is...
Hard has it may be on those families affected, there are international laws that must be respected and those who risk working in another country without documentation know what their chances are.
In a way I feel sorry for those who search for a better life and get their dreams destroyed, but such is life. When one decides to go against the law there is always the chance that person will be caught, and I agree immigration must in fact be controlled lest the impact is destructive to the economy of the host countries.
The thing that is puzzling me though is the fact that so far most people around here seem to agree with immigration control when it comes to those guys from Brasil, people know they come here and work for lower wages and longer hours and Portuguese workers either work for less or they will loose their jobs to illegal aliens (from Brasil, from Africa, from the Eastern European countries, etc...). But the same people who say our country can't support the huge number of illegal aliens we already have seem to have a different opinion when our countrymen ARE the illegal aliens elsewhere.
I've just been accused of lack of empathy today, because I pointed out to some co-workers this discrepancy. Maybe so, maybe they have more empathy, selective empathy that is...
posted by DCveR at 7:53 PM
10 Comments:
Ah,
D, don't get me going! I'm always struck that immigration controls only apply to the poor and never the rich who are allowed to travel wherever their wealthy hearts so desire. I'm an internationalist and believe people should be allowed to live where they wish, and immigrants should always be welcome. As I've mention in previous posts we live in a world of abundance where scarcity is manufactured so profits can be maintained. We can't be surprised therefore when people fleeing povery seek somewhere safer to live, somewhere they can find work, earn a bit of money, be free from fear. I don't think that's asking for much, whether you're Portuguese, Brazilian, British or from Beijing.
Hear, hear, Dan!
Immigrants try to flee unfair regimes in order to have a decent life.
And most of these regimes are sponsored by rich and powerful countries.
A good test would be to see if immigrants go back to their countries once they achieve true democracy.
dan:Well, ideally I would agree with you, but sadly, in the real world I don’t think any economy would be able to withstand uncontrolled immigration. When people move to a different country those people will need housing, food, healthcare, basically those people will need the same things the natives do. Much as I hate paying my taxes I know those taxes are needed (even though most of those taxes are squandered), illegal aliens pay no taxes, worst than that, the employers of those illegal aliens evade taxes. By taking lower wages and by evading social security contributions the illegal workers become a source of profit to a few employers but end up living in misery in most cases.
cream: Even in the case of refugees, there is always a limit to how many people any country can welcome providing for their needs, if a country takes in too many refugees and can’t feed them, house them and care for them, what good is there in being in a new country?
dcver - the 'immigration' issue goes both ways- employers that hire illegal aliens without papers for lower wages...
what i dont agree with is eu rules that say that en employer has to "prove" that there are no qualified eu members for a certain position to hire someone from the us for example- ... kinda funny when you're applying to work in a bar on some italian island... hmmm... i'm the ONLY one that can make little hearts in the cappucinos! i must be hired!
Teach me how to make the little hearts, ale.
DC- love the cat and hat photo of the day... LOVE IT!
People (gringos) complain about Belize's immigration laws but what they don't realize is that the immigration laws in the U.S. are way way more complicated.
Many years ago I did volunteer fundraising for "Freedom House" which is located under the Ambassador Bridge linking Michigan to Windosor Canada. It is a safe house for indigent illegal aliens seeking political refugee status in the U.S. They had no government funding and existed on only donations. I figure that about 50% of the people claiming political refugee status their had really left their country for economic reasons, which was sad because those needing the precious few resources, weren't getting them. I am all for moving up and out, for moving yourself into a situation for your betterment, for your survival.
DC- Don't you think though that social security is such a joke? And that most of income tax is wasted anyways?
Even with the lower wages, its still better than what they get in their own country.
We have a situation in Belize where aliens from Guatemala, Salvador and Niceragua come to Belize because we have one of the highest standards of living, higest wages, second only to Costa Rica (If you can believe THAT) BIgness hires day laborers to work construction for him because he's always ripping a wall ouat or adding a room on or pouring concrete or moving a bathroom. He hires them because Belizeans dont want to work for those wages, but the poor people from Salvador come here, work, live off it, and even send money home to their poor families.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm making any sense at all, but that was my 2 cents worth.
the united states congress is now considering legislation that would make being an illegal immigrant a punishable crime. it is true that it'd be hard to support unregulated immigration, but there has to be a better solution than letting it come to that.
Ale: That is one of the things I have just said to dan, a few unscrupulous employers are the people who really profit from all this. As for those said European laws, you are probably aware that we have employment offices, where unemployed people can register in order to get a new job, the only thing an employer must do to prove there is no local applying for the job is register in one of those centers too, if nobody is sent to him he can hire a Martian if he can find one. From my point of view those laws are fair, in the sense they protect local workers.
CC: I’ll let Good Half know that, this photo is hers not mine. :D You make a good point with your “Freedom House” example, when people have limited resources there is no way they will be able to help all those in trouble, priorities must be set and should be kept. As for those workers Bigness hires the situation is pretty similar to what we have here.
Cadiz: Now let us see how smart that move will be. If you Americans make it a crime to be an illegal alien it means instead of deporting people you’ll start applying jail sentences? American tax payers will save a fortune on plane tickets, but you’ll get a horde of people to feed. Jailing people is expensive. It would be much more productive to make it a crime to employ illegal aliens instead.
to make hearts in the cappuccino? oh, that's easy.. just kinda swirl around in the cup with your finger and voila' !!!
I wonder if the Portuguese in Canada are held in the same esteem as the Mexicans here in the US or, for that matter, the Brazilians/Angolans/Cabo Verdeans/etc...in Portugal?
My impression is that the Portuguese in Canada are a much more "settled" and "established" group with their own niche economic markets (fish mongering, bakeries, coffeeshops)...sort of more like the Italians or Irish or Greeks in the US.
Therefore, it comes as a surprise that people would be sent back to Portugal.
A local guy was caught coming in the back door into the U.S. and jailed. He begged them not to deport him back to Belize because the American jails were so nice.
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