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Comment by monero-xmr | Hacker News Reader

One reason why elites tolerate so much illegal immigration is that they will do back breaking labor, often under the table or with illegal papers, and never complain with minimal wages. That labor is needed to keep the system working.

To be clear I am an “open borders” guy but both political parties in the US make a lot of noise but never change anything.

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> To be clear I am an “open borders” guy but both political parties in the US make a lot of noise but never change anything.

Significant changes in immigration system were made through law in the 1960s, 1980s, and 1990s; the inability to reach a sufficient consensus to pass legislation (both divided government and the weaponization of the filibuster to functionally act as a supermajority requirement for almost any legislation in the Senate have played a role in preventing legislation) has resulted in most changes since then being by executive action, with drastically different approaches between the parties. “Both parties make noise but never change anything” is, well, quite false.

Minimal wages is relative. I imagine that most people do it because those wages let them support their families and build a house / start a business back home. The crossing takes about a year to pay back, and there are living costs, but many work double shift at different jobs, with one paycheque going for living costs in the US and the other for savings/family/setting themselves up for a better life back home. 5-6 years "echando ganas" and you can be set for life. It's a pretty rational thing to do, much like pensioners who retire "down south".

Of course it’s rational - my primary point was that the left pretends to want to make citizenship for undocumented workers easier, and the right to kick them all out, but for the last 30 years we have been at a stalemate and more people come to the US illegally than ever. IMO both sides like the status quo and endlessly hype to their base but never intend to do anything.

I agree with that. It was surprising to me how easy it seems to be in the US to get by as an undocumented worker, compared to in many places in Europe for example. It's also surprising how mandatory eVerify hasn't been rolled out in all states, despite being in existence for more than 20 years.

It is not surprising. Those in leadership positions intentionally look the other way because they and their cohorts benefit from the cheaper labor. They openly issue paltry fines to giant companies found to be violating the law.

If they really wanted to, they could easily make it a jailable felony to not eVerify employment status of immigrants.

I think this is key. If the jobs paid enough for Americans to do the same thing in their hometowns after 5-6 yrs of work then Americans would sign up for these "labor shortage" jobs.

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