As a retiree I have had time to watch and communicate with representatives in Washington about the disastrous effect illegal immigration has on our country. The shell games and head fakes they use to game the illegal immigration issue is infuriating. To save our country from self serving politicians we need to give our full effort to expressing our outrage at their disregard for logic, financial responsibility and the long term welfare of our country. Then we need to remember to work to replace those who do not heed our call at election time.

In northern Westchester my father tried to rent the house I grew up in. He has been advertising since the beginning of August. It is a two bedroom house renting for $1500 a month. Decent neighborhood. The house has been viewed 12 times. All the potential renters were illegal aliens. They couldn't come up with the first month rent and security along with a heating contract. $3000 is all that stands between them filling up the house with too many people. My father can't refuse them if they come up with the money because that would be discrimination. I think we've been displaced by illegal aliens. The invaders are winning by the sheer force of their numbers.

Illegal aliens have driven Americans out of the construction business. My brother was working as a welder on the construction of a school building. The welders were angry about all the illegals so ICE was called. Americans were being paid $125 a day and the illegal $100.00 a day. The welders felt if they did not put a stop to the illegals it would get to the point they would no longer be able to find jobs.

Mu brother had started out as a cement finisher but had to learn a new trade because if you were not illegal and if you did not speak spanish you would not be hired.

I was a General Contractor for over 14 years in Texas and because of my health I was forced to retire a couple of years ago. It didn't come too soon as it had become very plain even then that the illegal aliens were destroying the industry. They come over here illegally and as many as 3 to 4 families of illegals will rent a 2 bedroom house and all the men go out and bid construction jobs at a rate I could not compete with because I bought the insurance, the bonds, and the permits to legally do a job and they dod none of this. Thus they could bid the job much lower than I could so they got the job. It was almost always the same outcome for the owners, they paid a percentage down in cash, they got substandard work with no recourse to get the bad work corrected or their money back. The illegals took their money and did substandard work, if they did the work at all, and refused to correct anything until they were paid the remainder of the cost of the job and when they received the remainder of the money they never showed up to correct what was wrong or not done. Sure, they could be prosecuted if they could be found but most times, if the money was enough, they went back to Mexico or wherever they came from until the smoke cleared and then they were right back under another name doing the same thing again to some unsuspecting citizen. Sure it is the primary fault of the customer for hiring them in the first place without the proper bonds and insurance but greed gets to them and they think they will save money. They end up with bad workmnship or nothing and then they have a bad taste in their mouth for Contractors. Greed on the customers part is the problem but human nature causes them to take the chance in most cases and Contractors in general get the blame making it really hard to make a living. Those who do it right and legally can't compete in a market flooded with illegal aliens and I'm sure it's the same for anyone who tries to deal with them, whether it be employers or private cotizens.

Sad stories of Illegal Aliens get all the attention of this government, film makers, news casts, and everybody. When is the government and all these groups above mentioned dedicate some time to the problems that we, the real americans, are going through because of the invasion of Illegal Aliens. I am unemployed, an Illegal Alien is holding a job that I could have.

I recently needed to replace the roof on my house. I ended up doing it myself, with the help of a friend.
I told every contractor that came to bid on it that this is an English only job. I would not tolerate any language but English to be spoken on my property. If anyone spoke anything but English they would be kicked off the property.
Not one of 6 different contractors returned a bid on the job.

Their impact, since 1986, has been much worse.

Potential LEGAL immigrants (including myself between 1997 and 1999) have had to pay the stiff price (through unreasonable wait-times) as "adjustment" for this foolish act by Reagan--which encouraged a far-larger number to enter US illegally, contributing greatly to current problems.

Basically, US should deport all aliens found obviously overstaying (having made no attempt to renew/extend) existing visas or who are present without completing necessary paperworks--if they have produced "anchor-babies", then "family-separation" sob-stories should not elicit pity!

I find the quality issue to be very important. I bought this house three years ago. I was doing considerable remodeling work and had a terrible time getting qualitiy work out of the contractor and his subs who hired many illegals. The painters did not prep the work or mask off for spraying. The floor people made the front stairs different than the back stairs and refused to start over, not to mention the calls to Mexico. Once the house was clean and we were not yet moved in, I found illegals with a table saw in my entry working on the staircase. I ordered them outside.

The problem is that many of the illegals intend to eventually return home and are not concerned with establishing a reputation. I also think they lie about their skills in order to get work. I have spent a lot of money correcting what the original builder did wrong--principally masonry.

I make it a point to ask if tradesmen hire illegals. If they do I do not hire. I now have a contractor who has one illegal and who does most of the work himself. My housekeeper is getting her papers, otherwise I would not have hired her. Yard and pool people are probably illegal but they do a good job and I am satisfied. It is kind of a "don't ask-don't tell" situation here in Texas. With a little diligence, one can find quality work.

I have been in the construction industry for twenty years right here in Texas. When I started out as a carpenter it was a good job with room for advancement. I am now working for a construction Mangagement company and have seen a huge decline of young american men and women intering the constuction "trade" business and it is because the carpenter trade that I started in is still making about the same amount of money. Why? because of illegal workers coming over and working for less money. I am working on a bid right now and I can not get any contractors to bid the work because this particular client does background checks on all the contractors workers and wants to see everyones
social security card. It is sad to see what used to be a proud trade become so weak.

Since we returned to the U.S. from overseas military bases in 1993, I have had a difficult time finding a job which does not require me to be bilingual. Not only do employers in the southwest require you to speak Spanish, they now want you to be able to read and write Spanish. My 15+ years of experience in all types of settings - medical, legal, accounting, schools - get me absolutely nowhere. Even my experience with the DOD gets no respect.

Almost all jobs out here (AZ and NM) where you will have any contact whatsoever with the public now have the bilingual requirement. An applicant who is bilingual, even with little or no actual experience, gets the job. In fact, in the three years we lived in Las Cruces, NM, I never even got a call for an interview, even though the jobs I applied for specified "bilingual preferred." Apparently, they should have said "bilingual REQUIRED."

The final straw came when I applied for a house cleaning job, and I was rejected because I wouldn't be able to understand my Spanish-speaking supervisor and co-workers.

NumbersUSA Moderator:

Check out ProEnglish (http://www.proenglish.org/).

Please, I encourage everyone who is a witness to illegal aliens taking jobs or living in a house, apartment, etc. to call the ICE tipline. I have called them several times and it does help. They ask a lot of questions and you are not sure if they will take action, but my experience has been that they enforce the laws without much notice. They don't want anyone to notice, however, it is effective. You have to document the who, what, where, when, why and how. You have to be prepared with as much information as possible. When I called ICE on the apartment complex harboring illegals, it didn't happen for some time. When the dust settled, 8 workers at the apartments were fired, including the Manager and Assistant Manager. Also, dozens of families were gone overnight. One man would park his vehicle with Mexican plates at the complex, he had a parking sticker, and drive anywhere in town he wanted to. He did this for many months and then after I called he is no longer around. You have to observe details and record them. The more details you have, the more likely ICE will take action. Please call when you witness a violation.

Everyone should do as we do. Whenever we need any work done, such as our new roof, windows, carpet etc. we tell them right up front that there will be no illegal aliens doing work for us. If they don't agree to our terms they don't have the job. And if they can't agree to our terms we know they do indeed hire illegal aliens and we pass the word along. If everyone would do this these scumbag employers of illegal aliens would soon be out of business.