A question for pro-immigration people
 

I really am curious as to what the response to this question could be. I have asked many and so far everyone including myself is stumped as to a good anwer.

So here goes:

If you believe that Illegal Immigrants are doing the jobs Americans wont do and that they should be given a path to citizenship then who's going to do their job after they become Americans?

I would love to ask Bush this specifically since he believes so strongly in the first two parts of the question.

I love a good debate and love looking at a position from both sides so when I came up with this question it scared me. For the first time I couldnt come up with any good point from the pro-immigration side for this question and no one I contacted could either.

I thought about this for several hours after that and came up with what I think is the best response to this argument:

(Im going to use language that I would use if I was on the other side of this argument and make the case for them in the best way I can)

This is a very big economy in need of many people with many skills and of many back grounds. As people come to this country they will naturaly move up and integrate and given the opportunities of citizenship will create and fill new needs as others are moving up as well.

Think of it like a resteraunt you dont start off as a manager but work your way up from say a dishwasher but still you allway have a need for the dishwasher. So there will allways be a need in a growing economy for migrants and they will simply rise up and progress and the chain will keep us growing and maintaining a strong economy.

If anyone has a better answer than that then please let me know I am interested in debates and exchanges of ideas.

So far that is the best I've heard to a question I created.

Marcus Danis

Not at all Xng the point of this thread was I came up with a question that for the first time in my life stumped me. I couldnt for the life of me come up with a good counter argument and then I asked everyone I could and then a friend finnally said the only thing that can be said to the question: She said you must have more Illegal immigration.

So then I thought about that from the pro-immigration side and took a few hours while I was walking around doing some things and came up with that response. To me I felt it was a good response but far from perfect and I would prefer a better response.

I was playing the devils advocate because I believe there are two sides to an argument and was stunned when I couldnt find one after more than two hours of soul searching and talking to as many as possible.

I still feel that my argument agaisnt my own question is weak and wish that I could do better and am hoping that someone can do better.

You know what honestly I dont want to debate my response but rather the original question. I am convinced that there is a better argument than the one I gave. I only gave it as i couldnt find a better one.

If the illegal immigrants are given citizen status, they are going to have the right to minimum wage in whatever jobs it is they work. That means that they won't be as much an asset to the development of the American economy as they have been. The point of their efficiency is that their willing to work, and for less, doing the jobs that no one else is willing to do.

I've thought of this question before, and personally, I don't have an answer. They could always agree to work the same jobs within their generation as they have since they came in, but with increased pay or something. That's not really a problem for the general populace to contemplate.

i understand the question, however i believe the premise is false. it originated from pro-illegal immigration groups and advocates to justify the need for illegals to remain in the u.s.

a starving and unemployed american is the same as any other human from any other country. give him an opportunity to work, put food on his table and support his family, regardless of the work involved and he'll take it.

Exactly and thats what the question is meant to do. Show that the premise is false to begin with. I'm getting some interesting views and feedback on different boards on it that really makes you think about this in a different way. One person says that its a cultural thing and so there would be no difference once a currently illegal immigrant became an American.

In other news there have been 2,000,000 deaths by earth quack in the last 100 years and it only took a total of an hour to do it.

Crazy

earth "quack"? is that like a fart?

It's a sound made by the slumbering duck-giant, just beneath the earth's crust.

Like we're not used to that?

Go change your shorts, love.