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Speaking from Finland here, in a town that has a high level of immigrants because of the refugee centre. I'm an immigrant myself so of course immigration has affected my life a lot, in a good way. When I first moved to this town four or five years ago there were very few immigrants but since the refugee crisis they have increased a lot. I like hearing different languages when I'm walking round town, seeing children of different ethnic backgrounds mixing happily in the daycare and schoolyards but because they're refugees its not a stable community as many will have their applications rejected and be sent back, and others will be moved on elsewhere so the town is changing in the sense that its not somewhere that everyone knows everyone any more but change is inevitable and its better to look for the positives than dwell on the negatives.
Also, quite selfishly, there's a lot more information and services available in English in the town now than there was when I first arrived thanks to all the refugees (as lots of them speak English as well as their own languages) so I do appreciate that!
I live in Idaho. We have many immigrant farm workers, and they have been a part of the agriculture labor force for decades. Hispanics here have also made inroads into other professions. Many eventually became US citizens. One of our Congressmen is Hispanic.
For a long time, there were many families who would come here to work the crop season from planting to harvest, and then go back to Mexico for the winters. Typically these folks would work for one farmer over and over for years. They would call to see when the best time to arrive was and would call home from here to tell their people in Mexico when they would be returning.
This tapered to a near-stop during the second Bush administration. Many stayed, for fear they could not come back to their jobs, and others went and never came back. Almost all sent money home to parents and relatives.
Almost all worked in the potatoes grown here.
Since their labor is so needed, assimilation and integration here as been pretty peaceful. Their wages stay in the community, and their kids go to local schools. Since almost all came from farms in Mexico, they were a lot like the locals when they arrived.
Boise has a higher percentage of Hispanics than the rest of the state, but not by much. They now comprise 12% of Idaho's population, and are found all over the state. Many have converted to Mormonism.
I'm an American Citizen, 18 years ago I worked as a part time preschool teacher and to supplement my income I cleaned houses. It was an honest living and I enjoyed the work and it paid well, however over time I was replaced by illegals who would do it for less money.
That's capitalism. Blame business owners, not the immigrants.
Immigration that focuses on the needs of the nation and evolves with the needs of a nation is good. Immigration that ignores or creates a burden is never good. In our case a decided lack of enforcement has created a huge problem and invited a lot of abuses.
I thought about specifying legal vs illegal but thought it'd be better to leave it open-ended. Since I'm asking about personal experience, I assume most people can't tell by looking at someone if they're legal or not. And overall I'm more curious about immigration generally, not specifically low or high skill, income, race, age, etc.
It's amazing to me that some people have answered this question with comments about how white their community is or isn't. Do they not realize that the word "immigrant" covers a lot of territory, and that many, if not most, immigrants throughout our history are or have been white? And do those who say its effects have been totally negative really want to give up all of the wonderful foods and traditions these people brought with them from their homelands? No pizza, no sushi, no Mexican or Chinese food? No Christmas trees??? Have they considered that if they ate any fresh fruit today, chances are good that it was picked by immigrants? Or that without immigration, they would probably not even be here themselves?
Unreal.
Last edited by Catgirl64; 08-05-2017 at 03:58 AM..
I'm an American Citizen, 18 years ago I worked as a part time preschool teacher and to supplement my income I cleaned houses. It was an honest living and I enjoyed the work and it paid well, however over time I was replaced by illegals who would do it for less money.
Keep looking. I know several people who have housekeepers, and none of them use people who are here illegally. My housemate had two different women who worked for her, until I moved in and took over the job. One has moved on to other things, the other still works for several families.
Illegal immigration in NJ was out of control. I found illegals sleeping on my porch.. they would go to the bathroom in any ones yard. They let their children including two year olds run up and down the busy street in a beach town.. The kids would vandalizewhat you had in your yard.. my concrete birdbath knocking it off the pedestal. I had a fear of running a child over as they would run the streets and go into my driveway behind my suv..
One house on the block was busted for selling drugs.
The men would walk down the sidewalk drunk at night. Things went missing if I didn't lock my car.. they would take anything that was not nailed down.. my bike trailer was stolen out of my driveway but as they rolled it down the street a cop came upon them and they fled.. the police were told by the dispatcher it was my trailer by the plate on it and rolled it back in my driveway all cockeyed and a friend whose son works as police dispatcher in the town told me what happened in the wee hours of the morning .
I have since moved. Sold my home of 40 years because I didn't like what was going on. It was hard to believe this nice quiet beach town became what it did. Illegals do not respect your property and they let their children run around with no supervision.
I now live in a very nice diverse neighborhood, it is known as a very safe town and has actually been mentioned many times on the cities across America as one of the safest.
Sorry, but I have never seen any americans cleaning offices or apartment buildings. It's a BS job that no one wants.
You are wrong.. many hard working Americans will do anything to help raise their children , pay their bills because they are responsible.. you know slackers. I know workers who will do anything to make ends meet.
Lots of good Mexican restaurants and food and that you used to seldom, if ever see, unless you were in the southwest.
Many local jobs in construction, lawn maintenance, etc, have many Hispanic workers.
I do not seem these jobs being 'lost' to immigrants. I see them being fulfilled by people that want to work. If indeed a job was 'lost' it is simply because someone else was too damn lazy to do it.
Many of these Hispanics have gone on to create companies for themselves, grown, and become 'big players' in the local markets. They contribute in significant ways to the local economy by purchasing everything from groceries, to cars and houses.
The same could be done by any 'non-immigrant' if they had the gumption to get off their arse, go out, and get to work.
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