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April 28, 2010 06:01 PM UTC

Who's land is this anyway?

  • 12 Comments
  • by: allyncooper

( – promoted by Middle of the Road)

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York Island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

The firestorm that has erupted with the enactment of a law in Arizona making it a state criminal offense to be in Arizona illegally has reignited the contentious debate about illegal immigration.

Critics say it will give the police carte blanc authority to racially profile and harass Hispanics, the state capitol has been tagged with swastikas smeared with refried beans, and the Obama administration is contemplating some form of legal action from the federal government.

The state of Arizona claims it had to take action because of the failure of the federal government to enforce the law and ultimately resolve the issue, so the finger pointing and assignment of blame continues.

So we get laws like the one in Arizona, or proposals like it in Colorado that the vehicles of anyone driving without a valid drivers license be confiscated, but in truth none of this addresses the real problem of illegals in this country. Like the 800 pound gorilla that sits in the living room of a dysfunctional alcoholic family, the blame game and the denial goes on and on without addressing the real issues.

The single biggest issue with illegal immigration, but the one rarely discussed, is the addiction to certain businesses utilizing cheap, illegal labor. It’s all about money and the bottom line.

It’s no secret certain industries rely heavily on illegal labor, such as the hospitality business. But no business is more addicted to cheap illegal labor than the residential housing business. I know, because I have been in that business for a number of years having worked for some of the larger production homebuilders in Denver.

In 2006 Colorado called a special session of the legislature to address the illegal immigration issue and to fend off a potentially contentious anti – immigration referendum headed for the ballot. Several measures were passed, which placated most parties, satisfied no one, but failed to address the core issue of illegal immigration – the employment of illegals by businesses.

HB 1018 was introduced during that special session by Republican Al White. HB 1018 would have required all employers to check prospective employees on their legal status through a production of a drivers license, state ID card, or other positive means of identification. It also provided for significant fines for busineses who failed to do so and hired illegal workers.

The Republican caucus and Governor Bill Owens were all for HB 1018. But after Bill Owens had a meeting with certain people on the Sunday morning of the special session, he did an abrupt 180.

From the Denver Post 7/11/2006

” I’ve gone to the wall for it, and I think if you talk to any of the legislators, they’ll tell you that”, Owens said. “I’ve talked very specifically with every businessperson who has discussed it with me and told them I’m strongly in favor of it” ( HB 1018).

But Republican Al White, the sponsor of House Bill 1018, told his Republican colleagues that Owens was supportive of the bill until business leaders told him the price of a house might go up by 5 percent because some homebuilders could lose illegal-immigrant labor.

“That tells me that business in Colorado is really not serious about doing away with illegal immigration in this state,” White said. “And if that is the case, this whole special session is nothing but bull.”

Rep Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, said it bothered her “when business people come to talk to the Governor and tell him what needs to be done.”

She was referring to homebuilder Larry Mizel, who talked to Owens on Sunday.

“We know, and names were named here, who came and gives big bucks to the party. It’s my party too, and I came here for us to do a job, and I’m ashamed of us,” Hefley said.

So far in the 2006 election cycle, Mizel has donated $29, 150 to Republican political action committees and candidates and another $25, 000 to the Republican National Committee.

That Sunday morning, Bill Owens had his “come to Jesus” meeting with Larry Mizel, President of Richmond Homes (MDC Holdings) and Norman Brownstein, the lobbyist/lawyer the homebuilder industry uses when they have a problem and need something “fixed”. And HB 1018 was definately a problem that needed “fixed”, because the bottom line profits of Richmond Homes and other Denver builders relied on the continued supply of cheap illegal labor.

HB 1018 was passed by the House, but died in Senate committee after Owens pulled his support.

Mizel raked in $20.5 million just in bonuses from MDC in 2005, according to SEC filings. MDC had $4.8 billion in revenue in 2005, so just in 2005 that 5% increase would have saved saved MDC $240 million – a pretty good return on Mizel’s campaign contribution investments. And that’s just the savings for one year, for one builder.

We can pass laws like the one in Arizona and arrest someone with brown skin who can’t produce an ID, we can confiscate their cars, we can deport those few who do get caught and break up families, but until we address the real issue – the people who are making money off the backs of cheap illegal labor – the 800 pound gorilla is still sitting there, the addiction to cheap illegal labor goes on, and the exploitation of an underclass to line the pockets of a few will continue.

Who’s land is this? It’s your land, and it’s my land, and it’s the land of those who still come here because of that dream known as America, that shining “city on the hill” that Ronald Reagan so often talked about.

Instead of demagoguery and divisiveness, we need comprehensive immigration reform that stops the exploitation for the profit of a few, recognizes the dignity of all those who come here to work and to better themselves, and lives up to what this nation of immigrants has always been about.  

“As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there

And that sign said – no trespassing….

But on the other side….It didn’t say nothin’!

Now that side was made for you and me !”

This Land is Your Land   Woody Guthrie

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12 thoughts on “Who’s land is this anyway?”

  1. we’re going to keep seeing horrible bills like the one in AZ passed. It was passed out of frustration that the federal government has done absolutely nothing about the issue. Their solution? Pass a truly despicable bill that only makes the situation worse.

    We’re addicted to oil and we’re addicted to $1.99 for a head of lettuce and God forbid, we ever have to pay our fair share for either.

    1. But cooper is right.  It’s not only employers who benefit but the owners of low cost, non-government subsidized housing.  I know.  I’m involved with that business.  I can tell you that if everyone who rented an apartment was required to show proof of citizenship, there would be far fewer illigals.  Those of us involved with the industry can tell you that 50% or more of the residents in these apartments are not legally here.  But, the apartment industry doesn’t want any part of enforcement and doesn’t want to keep illegals out as this would result in lower overall costs for apartments because of lack of demand.  To be effective a provision requiring landlords to check on citizenship would need to be enforced through forefeiture of the real property at some level.  This is never going to pass and illegal immigration is here to stay.  This is an issue without a solution.

  2. This has little to do with Allyn’s terrific diary, but here’s where the Arizona law gets me:

    My family has lived in the territory we now call “Colorado” since before it was conquered by the United States.  My ancestors were Mexicans who lived in the San Luis Valley, and most of my cousins who live there look Hispanic and speak Spanish to this very day.  I’m sure that identical situations exist in Arizona.

    Those people didn’t immigrate illegally.  In fact, they didn’t EVER immigrate to the United States – their roots are deeper than Governor Brewer’s or Senator McCain’s or the roots of any of the politicians who have backed and defended this bill.

    I’m all for making it tougher to enter this country illegally – illegal immigration poses a security threat, for one thing.  But any foreigner who is willing to work and pay taxes (as almost every immigrant would be happy to do) should be admitted to this country free of charge.  If they’re willing to work for less money than natural-born US Americans – well, that’s what you put up with in a capitalist society, amigos.

  3. … should begin with a secure employment ID system (Social Security and green cards aren’t it), work their way through employment status verification, dwell a while on enforcement of employment status verification, and end with reform of immigration quotas.  It doesn’t really need to meander past border security – we already have a lot; if it involves local law enforcement, it should be as part of the employer enforcement brigade.

    If it wants to get innovative, it should include a discussion of marijuana legalization.

    And that’s it.  Anything else is just window dressing or avoidance of the main topic.

  4. Trying to seal the border makes no sense. Mexico is a huge trading trading partner and this would bring legitimate trade to a crawl.

    Considering that the US trade policy since Pres.Clinton has focused on North American integration as a trade bloc (NAFTA) and the rise of the WTO as an influential entity, a reassessment of Cold War immigration is needed. Hsitorically only political immigrants wre granted quick status as exemplified by the Cubans. Economic immigrants suffer from no access to legitmacy.

    Economic insentives have sent factories to Mexico, and not just in the maquiadoras on the border. Mexico’s agricultural products have sufferred in price and campesionos can barely survive.They move North.

    Farmers in the USA (example: Wisconsin) have stated that they can’t compete without migrant workers.

    When conservatives say that jobs are taken from Americans, this is a bit of a fallacy.

    The jobs aren’t where the unemployed populations exist, or in many cases the long hours and poor conditions cause Americans to reject certain jobs. Ona flip side, employers that follow the rules often are undercut in bidding constacts. Perhaps North American green cards make sense.

    I do know that if anybody without a felony was permitted a green card that ID theft would fall, the  tax base  would rise, and labor unions would quit being undercut by cheap labor. The last only if this is combined with enforcement of companies hiring only people with green cards.

    It would go a long way to resolving many problems.

    There some down sides. Produce and dairy prices would rise. i’d be willing to pay more to  know that social conditiions improved.

  5. all people.  We are, each and everyone of us,  fundamentally equal.  We believe that because we’re Americans.

    Second, we have to have a rational policy to deal with people who are already here with lives, homes, families, jobs–woven into communities across the nation.  

    This includes helping people to assimilate, first functionally and over time more fully: economically, socially, politically, and culturally (in about that order probably), remembering that we become richer as we cherish other traditions and influences.  Like all organic systems, diversity makes us stronger.    

    Finally, of course nations–since they exist–have a right, you could say obligation (it is in the Constitution), to defend themselves and presumed in that are borders and the like.  If you have them they need be sufficiently secure, relatively defined (to the situation).

    But merely building walls and presuming that any ‘reasonably suspicious’ person in our midst needs put on the other side, defies something akin to the laws of physics.  Like imaging your inverted bucket below a swimming pool will forever keep the water out, as you hold your breath in the deep end pressing it against the bottom.

    We need a just and rational national immigration policy.  When states like AZ go renegade, and defame our shared American values, they need to be taught a lesson.

    1. Some people think we’re all fundamentally equal and that we need to respect each other.  Others don’t.  The whole election thing is rolling the dice and trying to figure out which side is more important.

      My guess is that certain candidates feel it’s more important to appeal to certain xenophobic white folks that to do what’s right.

      With that in mind, whatever that the rest of us think doesn’t matter to those candidates.

    1. and a lot of companies would prefer to look the other way.  There’s not a lot of enforcement, and not a lot of motion toward making a stronger employment / tax ID system that would help out the situation.

    2. and there is a lot of “looking the other way”

      When you hire someone (put them on your payroll as an employee where you will be deducting payroll taxes, FICA, etc.) your supposed to fill out an I-9 as well.

      However, in the production housing industry, everybody is an independent contractor or subcontractor. The only employees a production builder ( like Richmond, D.R. Horton, Lennar, etc.) has are management personnel (superintendents, construction managers, project managers, etc.). So when hiring a subcontractor, there’s absolutely no requirement to check anything.

      I can tell you with virtual certainty that at least 50% of the labor used in the last ten years in the production housing business was illegal. Probably much higher.

      1. If you hire an independent contractor, you should be paying them via 1099, and that requires a tax ID for the contractor.  And getting a tax ID for a business should require some means of proving your company can legally work in the U.S. – and the sign-off saying you only hire legal labor (and, under my ideal reform proposal, that you verify the employment status of every hire).

        Of course, that’s the theory.  The reality is, I’d be surprised if only 50% of the labor was illegal in the construction market.  

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