Aliens and the flow of money out of the country

[Brett]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15790995.htm

[Matt]

Well I hate to say it but these figures do not add up. I have a very close friend who owns 2 quick stops here locally and I spend much time there... seeing as my store is located above one of them. I see every week thousands of Hispanics sending much more money than this...$2k is the average here. We often ride to the bank together and his deposits every day average close to 90k and cashes 50k plus in checks which is mostly to Hispanics. As I installed the video surveillance systems in many of the quick marts around here I am able to see what the normal is and I find that this is echoed in most of the other stores that send money and cash checks.

I do not for one minute believe that they spend more than they send... 8 or sometimes as many as 12 people will live in the same house and split the cost. most of the time this is a mere $500 a month for rent $150 for power and maybe $50 for cable. Always use prepaid cell phones, several will chip in and buy a car and share it. They work together and lower the overall individual cost and send the rest back to mexico. Often to help another member of the family to come over here.

One sad fact that is happening in all three larger cities close by me is that they are not ticketing or arresting Hispanics. The police have the attitude of if I write them a ticket they will not show up for court and I still have to so why bother... We can never find them when they don’t show and waste money looking so why bother... This is the normal for all three cities... And most often these people have no license, insurance, ID, registration or proof of being here legally. And they are just let go... what... come on... they are a strain on our economy not the grease that is keeping it going...

Matt

[rockbilly]

As Vincinte Fox stated in a recent interview, the money sent home from America is the second greatest source of income for the Mexican people.  The first is the proceeds from their oil industry.  I worked in close contact with a large number of illegals over the years, most have families back in Mexico that they support, the majority of their income is sent home.

One group lived in a stable, took care of a bunch of horses after working all day at a construction site.  They were allowed to use a tact room for sleeping free of charge for taking care of the horses.  Their diet was mostly beans and rice which they bought in twenty-five pound bags.  They spent very little money on other things.

I have no problem with them sending the money home, my major concern is that so many are here illegally.  This needs to be stopped, and a guest worker program established where background checks are conducted and workes are documented to eliminate some of the criminal elements that are slipping into our country.

If we let the probllem continue to exhist, and grow, they will not have to send money home, this will be their home and America will be degraded to that of a third world nation.

[magooch]

It's time that we Americans start making money off the illegals.  Put a bounty on them.  I know where I can bag a whole truck load of them on any Sunday.

[pills]

Seriously if INS wanted to catch them Home Depot would be a good place to start. Home depot even has a map of all their stores on their website just in case INS doesnt know the addresses.

[Swampman]

The only reason they send the money home, is that they lose it all if they are deported.  If they were given work visas they would spend it here.

[rockbilly]

Swampman.  The main reason for sending the money home is to support the wife and family left behind.  Providing a work visa and gold plated key to the city would not prevent them from supporting their family.  In other words, short of giving them citizenship and allowing them to bring their family with them, there is nothing that will prevent them from sending the money home.

I have lived in Mexico (at the expense of the US Government), traveled quite a bit, and continue to visit on occassion.  It is a very poor and backwards country for the most part.  I fully understand why they want to come to America, and could support a work permit program where background checks are conducted, but in mo way do I support the illegal entry and hide-and-seek games they play after arriving here.

[Sourdough]

In know a couple, man and woman, who illegially came to the US.  To keep from being deported they both joined the US Air Force, then did the paperwork to became legal.  They both spent 20 years in the Air Force, raised two kids, and sent every dime they could spare back to the family in Mexico.  When they were preparing to retire from the Air Force at the ages of 41 and 40, they showed me pictures of their home that her mother and brothers had built with the money they had sent them.  It is a beautiful place.  They told me that with their Air Force retirement they will never have to work another day in their lives.  That their Air Force retirement is enough to live on comfortablly for them and her mother.  Her brothers had used part to the money sent to get a better education for themselves and are now able to support their families far better than they would have without the help.  In twenty years they sent a lot of money back to Mexico. 

I also have a niece that married an illegal from Guatamola, the entire family is up in arms because he makes her work and she is supporting the family here in the US.  They live like paupers.  He makes over $35.00 an hour in high rise construction, and sends everything he makes back to his mother and father in Guatamola.  I keep thinking as soon as his bank account is high enough he will disappear, taking their only child with him, and leaving my niece here.  She was only a means of his staying in the US legally.  The way he treats her we all feel that he does not care one bit about her, he is just using her.  But we are unable to get her to see that.