How do hippies feel about this: ****** Study Gives Snapshot of Day Laborers By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press WriterSun Jan 22, 5:03 PM ET The immigrant day laborers who wait for work on street corners across the United States have families and attend church regularly, and the people who hire them are more likely to be individual homeowners than construction contractors. The first nationwide study of day laborers also found that one in five has been injured on the job and nearly half have been cheated out of pay. The study, the most detailed snapshot to date of the mostly Hispanic and often undocumented immigrants who've become a focal point in the immigration debate, was based on interviews of 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The authors said they were surprised by the level of community involvement among men often thought of as transients. "The day labor corner is not as disconnected from society as people think. It's seen as a shadow economy, but that's really not the case," said professor Nik Theodore of the University of Illinois at Chicago, one of three study authors. The others were from the University of California, Los Angeles, and New York's New School University. Standing outside a Home Depot store in suburban Burbank on Sunday, 33-year-old Raul Sanchez said that when he's not working, or waiting for work, he's involved in a church and tried to start a soccer league for fellow day laborers. The native of Mexico has been in the United States seven years and lives with his wife and two children, ages 13 and 14. Sometimes he worries about small work sites with little safety equipment. "We know nobody is going to help us out if we get hurt," Sanchez said. "There are risks, but what are we going to do — not work?" As often as not, a day laborer's employer will be an individual rather than a labor contractor. Forty-nine percent of respondents said they were regularly hired by homeowners for everything from carpentry to gardening, with 43 percent getting jobs from construction contractors. Two-thirds said they are hired repeatedly by the same employer. Based on their interviews and counts at each hiring site, the researchers estimate there are about 117,600 day laborers nationwide, but say that number is probably low. They said it would be impossible to count the number of hiring sites nationwide, since some spring up spontaneously. Among the other findings based on the interviews conducted in July and August 2004: _Three-fourths were illegal immigrants and most were Hispanic: 59 percent were from Mexico and 28 percent from other Central American countries. _Just over half said they attended church regularly, 22 percent reported being involved in sports clubs and 26 percent said they participated in community centers. _Nearly two-thirds had children, 36 percent were married and seven percent lived with a partner. _More than 80 percent rely on day labor as their sole source of income, earning close to the 2005 federal poverty guideline of $12,830 for a family of two. _Of the 20 percent who reported on-the-job injuries, more than half said they received no medical care because they couldn't afford it or their employer refused to cover them. Cesar Martinez, 45, another of the people waiting for work at the Home Depot in Burbank, is a Guatemala native who has been in the United States for 15 years without legal documentation. He said he sends $300 to $500 home every month to support his six children, ages 2 to 14, but that sometimes an employer rips him off. "I couldn't complain because I'm not here legally, but I was so angry because I need every cent," he said. "I'm always thinking, 'Are they going to pay me, am I going to get to work 8 hours on this job, will I get hurt doing it?'"
I hate illegal immigrants. Are illegal immigrants a problem in Indianapolis? I think we have a bigger problem with them in Arizona. Last week 2 illegal immigrants tried to get into America. The guy who owned the land they were sneaking in from hit one of them in face. So the judge put the land owner in jail and gave the immigrants his 70 acres of land! WTF! Tell me how that makes sense?! I would have fought someone trespassing on my land too!
Well if they want to live & work here there is a process they are supposed to go through, such as naturalization to be an American citizen. I am not prejudice by any means, but maybe if the immigrants learned how to speak our language & if they got proper documentation to be a citizen they would have a better chance of a good job with benefits & not face being ripped off by employers as much?? Just my thoughts.
Why is it legal for them to bypass our laws and force people who lived here before them to lose their jobs.
its too late - illegal labour is written into the economy just be thankful that you aren't one of them
Wanting immigrants to learn the language of the country is not being a hippie? I don't know about other people, but I for one am damn sure getting sick of the fact that instead of having Latio immigrants learn English, we're now expected to be bi-lingual everywhere in Spanish.
Is it any different when we go and live in other countries? Why is that deemed okay when others coming to live in ours isn't?
i think the only thing that an immigrant should have to learn before entering our country is to speak basic english, enough to get by. other than that, its stupid how people are so uptight about illegal immigrants. it isnt really any specific persons land. how can anyone own something thats billions of years older than them
Retards your jobs are taken by the Japanases in the 1970s and the Chineses in the 1990s / 2000. do you want cut the grass or repair a roof under a hot sun for less than what you make right now.
Go tell that to the Palestinians/Iranians/Native Americans/Aboriginees/etc/etc/etc.. Taxes You took the words out of my mouth.. I'ts about contributing to the country in wich you live.. vastly differing situation in the Uk.. i have to say ..but imho it's just about putting in what you take out and vice versa..
Eh ???? I think you are talking about exporting jobs...? possibly..Thats nothing to do with 'them comeing over here'.. i think your logic might be horrid..?
no the fact that thousands of products once made in the USA are now either made in Japan OR China . those factory are gone. also those jobs are gone and not every one can or well become a doctor a lawyer or fliping burgers at Buger King or work at Walmart.
Here is some of the lost factorys = Electronics including computers, Shoes, Autos, Motorcycles = for every Harley sold japs sells 50 if you include ATV, MX, Jetskis and Marine engines. The chineses are creating even a bigger Havoc with even cheaper products wish many rival the japanase in quality like PC components .
It was the Japs who destroy the British Motorcycle BISSNES and by Pure luck you were able to at least bring back Triumph motorcycles. But you lost Norton, BSA, and Vincent. AJS and few others i forgot.
would it be possible for you to 1) be clear on what you are saying and 2) not say it with xenophobic terms? "jap" is insulting, and racist. sucj language can get you banned. I suggest you edit your post. now, to the topic: the US ecomomy is built upon someone getting screwed financially. We have had immigrants, imported workers and now "slave class" that is volunteering because our bad pay is better than even the maliquidores' pay. I have no problem with someone trying to get ahead. its the grey market economy that grows around undocumented workers that causes the problems. Sure, they could hgave goten an H1B visa, if they had the skills the official job market needed. More likely, these are desparate people leaving behind family and friends to earn some money to get at least a house back home. the fact that Norte Americanos will work them like slaves, esp the women who wind up in the sex trade (what was that about taking our jobs? WHO wants to be a hooker?) and not actually PAY what they promised leads to people staying far longer than they would have.
