Elana Levin
Watch DMI on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight - 6-7pm
Ready your TiVo. DMI's Executive Director Andrea Batista Schlesinger is going to be talking immigration policy and America's middle class on CNN's Lou Dobb's Tonight show (airing this evening from 6-7 est).
The topic? Why it's Andrea's Open Letter to Lou Dobbs which first ran on this very blog last week.
Posted at 5:20 PM, May 30, 2006 in Economic Oppertunity | Economic Opportunity | Economy | Immigration | Media | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)








Comments
Dear Drum,
ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL.Arguing with Lou Dobbs will not change one damn letter.I-L-L-E-G-A-L.Comprende?
Posted by: George Alva | May 30, 2006 05:52 PM
What a rediculous arguement your representative made on Lou Dobbs this evening! Illegal aliens are taking jobs americans want..but she does not seem to understand how the real world works. Go to any construction site and you will find "spanish spoken here"..not english. Many of the general contractors hire illegals off the streets, itself a felony, and underbid honest contractors who try to work within the law with union people. How does it help a tradesman when he is put out of a job by an "illegal" willing to work for far less money? Other industries are also affected..just examine the decline in average wage in the meat packing industry as illegals dominate that industry, and the list goes on. Where is Jesse Jackson and other black leaders seeing entry level jobes, trade jobs, etc, going to illegals while strong men cannot get work? Gimme a break!
Wake up people..we are all the children of "legal immigrants" who came to america with a dream. They did not want the national anthem to be sung in german, jewish, italian or greek, etc. The wanted to become americans and waved our flag in the streets..not the Mexican flag.
The Senate version of an Immigation Bill is a sham and insults the intelligence of americans. Giving amensty to both illegals and the companies that hire them is a disgrace and shos the lack of guts these politicians have in D.C. SHAME ON THEM!
Posted by: Joe Zollo | May 30, 2006 06:54 PM
You have to give us a bigger window than 40 minutes! Will there be a re-run?
Posted by: anon | May 30, 2006 07:22 PM
Your representative on the show tonight seemed uninformed and bent on presenting a skewed point of view. I think Lou made his points well and Andrea did not. The fact is that no matter how many of you get on TV and say you represent the American people, the fact will remain that we are tired of illegal immigration. You can not brainwash us into thinking that amnesty is somehow good for us. What about the aliens who stand beside the road waiting for jobs. They are not gainfully employed and contributing members of society. They are doing nothing except putting out of business the "labor pools" that we all grew up with. Why? Because they don't have ID and stand outside and undercut the wages. Andrea talked about reforming the wage, these illegals are the ones who set the wages by accepting them. Their plight is their own fault.
Posted by: C. Marshall | May 30, 2006 09:06 PM
Ms. Schlesinger's arguments this evening do not hold up and are not the wish of most Americans - conservative or liberal, Democrat or Repbulican.
Americans would like to see our high school and college kids once again be able to find jobs in fast food, lawn care and construction, and our young adults that don't attend college find jobs in transportation, farming, factories and all of the other industries that these two segments of our population have always gravitated towards. The umemployement rate of these segments of the population are never captured in the calculations that represent the "official" umemployment rate and have grown significantly.
The costs of illegal immigration is measured in millions of lost jobs, lowering of wages, entire segments of communities where English is not spoken and where there is little to no interest in learning English, education degradation while schools struggle with funding special programs to teach English and bring students up to grade levels, healthcare costs and stolen identities.
The response to this problem is to dry up the jobs by punishing employers for hiring the illegals. If they can't find work they will return home. As employers are forced to pay a decent living wage for jobs that illegals are no longer available to do, the wage issue will be solved and the jobs and better wages will be going to American youth and families.
Absorbing these people into our economy is a bad move for Americans and it allows Mexico to continue to do nothing for their own citizens - so it essentially solves nothing.
The argument that illegals are paying large sums into Social Security just doesn't wash because the myriad costs are much greater.
Finally, the H1B visa's have taken large amounts of our technology jobs which is a critical skill for nearly every industry that we should be supporting in our own population.
There is just nothing about the solution of amnesty for illegal immigrants and increasing of H1B visa's that supports a highly skilled American workforce, which our country needs to move forward and stay competitive. It is another example of band-aid solutions for the short term that don't take into consideration where we need to be as a country going forward.
Posted by: CK | May 30, 2006 11:18 PM
I was disappointed with the overall show, yesterday, at Mr. Dobbs Program. It seems irrational to try to debate such a complicated issue in 5 minutes.
This issue has created strong opinions on both sides, what it is sad is the amount of misinformation that people like Dobbs, throw out there, which creates copy-paste comments like Mr. CK
?The costs of illegal immigration is measured in millions of lost jobs, lowering of wages, entire segments of communities where English is not spoken and where there is little to no interest in learning English, education degradation while schools struggle with funding special programs to teach English and bring students up to grade levels, healthcare costs and stolen identities? Blah, blah, blah?. (Yawn included)..
Sounds like Mr. Dobbs echo, but no scientific data, or attempts to see both side of the story just a Grandma type of fear of what is different, fear of new things, attitudes that will hurt America in the long run. Comments like, ?They have a hard time speaking English!!!! Oh my God!!! Well duh! If they have to live under the radar all the time, afraid of deportation and discrimination, that is just closed minded and retrograde, we live in a different world Grandma! a world of interaction and Globalization, there is much more in the world than the store in the corner and Church on Sunday, Some people has to realize of that, and embrace change and the influx of people, be wise! otherwise China and India will overrun the U.S. with more flexible labor markets and cheaper costs.
I have a laugh with the curiously dumb argument of George Alva
?Dear Drum,
ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL,ILLEGAL.Arguing with Lou Dobbs will not change one damn letter.I-L-L-E-G-A-L.Comprende??
Yeah Comprendo you are a not very smart, sorry.
The vilification and dehumanization of your opponents has been the most efficient way to attack them efficiently. In this case Lou Dobbs is, I hate to say, a Genius he carefully uses, deforms and adapts his statements in order to dodge any responsibilities, of the constant inaccuracies he irresponsible throws at the public opinion, but at the same time he fuels the Ignorance and fear of the CK?s and the Alva?s of the world.
An example of that is how after years of attacking the Hispanic communities he realized that the tactic was not helping him so, lately he started to praise the Hispanic communities, and speaking for them stating that they disapprove undocumented workers/Illegal immigration yeah right!?! But he wants their relatives criminalized and deported? Many of the people undocumented here has a relative who is a legal resident or a citizen, that is why the Hispanic community knows who is their friend and is actively working to return the favor to Mr. Dobbs, it is just matter of time.
The legacy of Mr. Dobbs will be one of misinformation and scare tactics, nothing more nothing less and for the people to cry over Amnesty and Immigration they better stop watching Lou Dobbs and start reading more reliable and unbiased sources, they may end up learning something new and Original.
Have a nice Day!
Posted by: zorba | May 31, 2006 02:11 PM
Dear zorba,
We will have a nice day when we are informed that you have been admitted to a mental institution, and are taking lots of stupid pills.
Yeah, Lou Dobbs' viewers need to forget the GAO and their reports of $17 Billion
a year being looted out of our economy (and re-inserted into Mexico's), PLUS many more
billions going out in remittances, not counted (because only the wires are counted not cash sent regular mail). Try watching Lou Dobbs (with an open mind), zorba - you'll learn a lot.
Posted by: Miguel Berreradad | May 31, 2006 02:53 PM
I believe in the neutrality of the law. Neutrality does not mean taking action outside of legal standards. The law is the baseline information needed to act in a netural way toward all persons in our country. Public officials should act like a refree in calling any game according to its rules. Neutrality about immigration should be based on legal rules, not on the arbitrary judgments of the interest of a political, religious, or corporate group.
Posted by: p.s.harkness | May 31, 2006 07:52 PM
A WOMAN'S VIEW ON THE IMMIGRATION INVASION
Posted By: Seawitch
Date: Thursday, 1 June 2006, 11:30 p.m.
Everyone,
A friend emailed this to me:
The following is a Letter to the Editor (newspaper unknown) written by a disgruntled lady:
A lady wrote the best letter I have seen in the Editorials in ages!! It is so good. It explains things much better than all the stuff you hear on TV.
"Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the U.S . might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.
Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house)."
According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family's insurance plan and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part). If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there. It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm hard-working and honest ... um, except for ... well, you know.
And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house,contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being anti-housebreaker.
Did I miss anything? Does this sound reasonable to you? If it does, grab a sign and go picket something. If this sounds insane to you, call your senators and enlighten them because they are stumbling in the darkness right now and really need your help."
***************************************************************
I DO like her point of view.
Regards,
Seawitch
Posted by: AL | June 2, 2006 01:16 AM