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waffle-princess t1_ivq4yey wrote

Reply to comment by waffle-princess in Who else is surprised Q4 was so close? by 737900ER

My hangup is this - why are we extending licenses to people who are in the United States in violation of our immigration laws instead of deporting them? This makes no sense. This ends up creating unfair competition for jobs with our least prepared workers and puts a strain on public funds.

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hyperside89 t1_ivqn8cg wrote

"Unfair competition for jobs" Listen, I work in HR, and we are desperate for hourly employees willing to work for $16 - $22 / hr. Unemployment is at a record low. We NEED more people to perform work.

Not to mention the jobs many undocumented immigrants do are jobs Americans do not want to do. Look into what happened during COVID when vegetable and fruit farmers in the south were unable to utilize LEGAL temporary immigrants during the harvest due to border closures.

We might not like it, but we rely on both legal and illegal immigration to keep the economy going.

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petal_in_the_corner t1_ivs17ah wrote

I really hate this argument coming from the left. $16 an hour in MA in 2022 is not a good wage. I imagine Americans would be more willing to do this job if it paid the rent.

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hyperside89 t1_ivt12c8 wrote

Just pointing out we hire nationally and $16 is our starting wage in other states, no MA. In some locations $16 - $17 is a living wage (https://livingwage.mit.edu/) for a single person.

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StarbeamII t1_ivs2vv8 wrote

So how much more do you want to pay for groceries?

Also with record low unemployment at some point there just aren't enough workers out there, and crops are going to just rot in the field unless you find more people to do the work. If you just pay people higher wages to try to get people to do the job, then that one extra farm worker is one less cashier, one less cook, or one less cleaner, and now you just moved your labor shortage problems elsewhere.

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GreenPylons t1_ivs1wbh wrote

Because immigration is the federal government's responsibility, not the states. State and local governments aren't the people that are in charge of the immigration system and aren't responsible for enforcing it.

It's similar to how marijuana is illegal federally but it's legal at the state level. Your local or state police isn't going to arrest you for possessing or selling weed despite it being a federal crime, because it's not Massachusett's responsibility to enforce federal drug laws. That's the fed's job.

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