THE EDITOR, Sir:
IMMIGRATION TO the U.S., legal or otherwise, is a problem that directly affects tens of thousands of Jamaicans and will continue to do so until it is dealt with and solved in a manner that is fair to all involved, not just one that is most advantageous to the upper class.
Recent news media attention to the problem by Lou Dobbs on CNN, for example, has not, despite all appearances, addressed the issue in an honest, professional manner.
The truth is that legal immigration into the United States for decades now has meant either having enough money or, as in the majority of cases, a skill that an employer could use to keep his or her labour costs down at the expense of existing workers.
Are there really more jobs in the U.S. than people to fill them? Nonsense. Are there really jobs that even blacks won't do? That's simply a lot of élitist, racist garbage. Lou Dobbs will not even show his viewers how much money American workers make, as found in the actual distribution of income reported and easily found on the U.S. Census website.
And just why not? You try explaining to the American people that the top fifth of income earners makes 15 TIMES what the bottom fifth makes. Fifteen times, in this case, is the difference between US$10K and US$150K, It is literally the 'difference between wealth and poverty.'
Try using that fact to justify more tax breaks, like the ones that the Congress recently passed and the President will soon sign into law. With that money, employers will be able to hire more and more immigrants, legal and otherwise, giving them less and less in salary and benefits.
I am, etc.,
ED McCOY
mmhobo48@juno.com
Bokeelia, FL
Via Go-Jamaica
