Viewpoint on the Immigration Bill

There are a lot of different views on this new immigration bill Gov. Brewer signed in last week. The dilemmas that will arise from this are expected to raise the tension levels among our neighbors from the south. That is to be expected, and one would wish we could avoid. The Dynamic driving this is the insatiable yearning by the undocumented workers to provide a cash flow for their families, some here in US, but mostly down in Mexico. What's going on here is that we have been asleep at the switch for some time now and the boiling cauldron of volatile viewpoints on the subject is taking on a life of its own. Actually becoming bigger than the issue itself. The fact that we cannot control the flow of illegals into Arizona stands on its own. We have become complacent to the fact, and are being fed a line of hooey about the potential loss of value to our economic system when the undocumented workers are forced to leave their street corners. Some say that when the illegals leave, there will be a vacuum left and nobody, in our country's workforce will provide the manpower to fill this hole! Wrong! We need to reset the structure of the current workforce and fill the vacuum with US citizens. Its a bitter pill to swallow, but none the less, needs to occur. I, being knowledgeable about the local trades here in Prescott, can safely say the wages the illegals are getting are sufficient enough to garner the attention of the unemployed citizens in town. I can remember back about 10 years ago the illegals were getting about 5-8 American dollars per hour. The housing boom was blossoming and in full swing! General contractors were taking on all they could get, and were using these guys to knock out as much as possible. That's the American way, get the money, get the money, get the money! As time progressed, the illegals wages have jumped up to the range of 10-15$/hr. They have started to take on skilled labor positions that were once held by the locals. Now keeping in mind that we allowed this dynamic to evolve because of the desire to use the cheapest labor out there to build the cracker boxes that were selling for 250$per square foot! When the real estate bubble burst a few years back, the local workforce did not adjust the wages for skilled labor. This is when we first noticed how the illegals were beginning to zoom us, filling positions that were once earmarked for local tradesmen. Now with this new bill on immigration passed we need to step up to the plate and do those jobs that were once deemed only suitable for the "trabajodores. I personally can say that I'm working for less than half of what my old wages were. When this dynamic becomes the model for new business, which is slowly developing, we will see things begin to turn around! At that point we will begin to see some sustainable growth here in Prescott. Let's take back our jobs Prescott, and when the time is right we will start using cheap labor again, like the entry level laborer who legally lives in town. At any rate.. Cooler heads will prevail and the disconnect we are experiencing will soon go by the wayside.