On The Wings Of Homelessness

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We have a homelessness thread?

Your dad is a good man and this is a potentially dangerous situation for him, although some people overlook the danger in roder to help others.

Here in Australia, the (new) government has put homelessness on the agenda and has given it a spotlight for the next term. There was a documentary aired a few days ago about a man who runs a refuge for homeless youth - it was absolutely fantastic, for me not so much because of the homeless kids (although they played a huge part, obviously), but because it highlighted the fact that there are people out there who dedicate their lives to helping others. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/oasis/about/watch/watchFilm.htm

Illegal immigration or not, you should be proud that your dad is helping people less fortunate than him, and sacrificing his time and effort for this cause.
 
I'm still confused about the homeless and what that has to do with workers waiting to get day labor. I have seen legal Americans waiting on corners looking for day labor. If indeed you are wondering if we have seen illegals then yes I have seen them in New Orleans. We did in fact have illegals on corners after Hurricane Katrina looking for work. I admit that myself and many others that desparately needed workers picked them up daily and used them in our warehouse. We scoured the city looking for legal workers so we could stay in business and could not find them. We even raised our pay $4 an hour at a complete cost to us. I brought in temps from Mobile and Baton Rouge, but they were hard to get and transportation was horrible. I admit my circumstances were irregular, but I did take advantage of the available workers. My spanish was as poor as their english, but they were good workers and I ended up hiring 3 of them permanently and got them work visas under the guest worker program. We even bought travel trailers to put them up in. I am assuming that most people that use day laborers could find legal workers and that cannot compare to a disaster situation.
 
My daughter and I were at a gas station and my daughter was putting gas in he lady parked next to us was in a beat up van... You can tell by looking at her she was very poor.

My daughter said, Mom, she looks very poor, I should give her some money. I said no, because I felt as though this lady could go off at any minute.

This guy pulls up in the most beat up truck I have ever seen right in front of us. I mean, the driver door when you open it, had nothing holding it together, the whole panel was missing. He goes into the store, comes out, and then comes to my window. I knew what he wanted and I was kinda scared to roll down my window. But I did. He wanted money for gas as he stated he ran out, he was homeless and hungry.
My housekeeper is here now. She comes once a week, and honestly, I prefer every other week, but i know she needs the money. I do pay her a little extra on every check and I haven given her and her family LOTS of clothes, and a few home decorations that I don't use any longer. she is hispanic and knows very little english.

Do any of you have the illegals hanging out in a particular corner of a particular part of town where they wait for anyone to come pick them up for day labor?

I am afraid sometimes because they could do harm to him if they were to get really pissed. He also carries quite a bit of cash in his pocket because he pays them daily in cash, and he never fails to pull the wad out in front of them. You just never know how desperate any one of them can get and attack my dad for the money. He has been doing this for years, so I pray they appreciate his kindness and don't hurt him.

Maybe I'm interpreting what you are saying all wrong, but it seems like you pass judgment on quite a lot of people and have a great deal of misconceptions about people's background and how they end up in their particular situations. You're entitled to your opinion, however controversial, incorrect, biased it may be.

Just like the homeless thread, I hope that you will come to realize that "illegal" workers are just trying to do the same thing that "legal" works are - provide for themselves and their family, and have a decent life. If your father has been doing this for years, and has yet to be hurt, robbed, attacked - wouldn't this tell you something about their character? "Illegals" just like "legal" citizens, are trying to make a living, provide for their families, and in many cases, find a better life than what they left behind.
 
Maybe I'm interpreting what you are saying all wrong, but it seems like you pass judgment on quite a lot of people and have a great deal of misconceptions about people's background and how they end up in their particular situations. You're entitled to your opinion, however controversial, incorrect, biased it may be.

Just like the homeless thread, I hope that you will come to realize that "illegal" workers are just trying to do the same thing that "legal" works are - provide for themselves and their family, and have a decent life. If your father has been doing this for years, and has yet to be hurt, robbed, attacked - wouldn't this tell you something about their character? "Illegals" just like "legal" citizens, are trying to make a living, provide for their families, and in many cases, find a better life than what they left behind.

I'm gonna go with you are interpreting it all wrong. I am in no way passing judgement and am very proud of my dad and children for helping those less fortunate - no matter what race they are. The majority I see standing on the corners for day labor are illegal immigrants and I don't care either way where their from because they are willing work and earn money for themselves and their families back in Mexico. I did say I am worried for my dad because as stated, there are two that seem to always want more from him and that is why they are not allowed to go to their house.

I am sorry you interpreted wrong. that was way off base on how I feel about the situation. I apologize.
 
I see a lot of guys standing around trying to get day labor since Katrina. I really have a lot of respsect anyone who wants to work for a living, regardless of how they go about it. It's got to be pretty tough to go stand with a bunch of other guys and hope you get some work for the day not knowing if you will or not.
 
We have day laborers that stand on the sidewalk waiting for work in NY, mostly Brooklyn and Queens. My dad has hired a few of them to do some work on our roof and backyard. They've never asked for more money because the wages are always set up front before any work is done. My dad also pays them more than they ask because we're immigrants too and he knows how hard it was when we first came to the U.S.
 
I'm gonna go with you are interpreting it all wrong. I am in no way passing judgement and am very proud of my dad and children for helping those less fortunate - no matter what race they are. The majority I see standing on the corners for day labor are illegal immigrants and I don't care either way where their from because they are willing work and earn money for themselves and their families back in Mexico. I did say I am worried for my dad because as stated, there are two that seem to always want more from him and that is why they are not allowed to go to their house.

I am sorry you interpreted wrong. that was way off base on how I feel about the situation. I apologize.

I wonder why some people have "illegal radar" while some people cannot pick them out of a crowd. Just because they stand on a corner looking for work doesn't mean that they have questionable legal status in this country. Now I for one have only seen groups like these sporadically and they don't seen to bother anyone and are just trying to find work. If they do no look to harm anyone and can do the work that cannot find workers/ needs to be done then good for them, they are just like any other human beings.
 
As long as the sweet, innocent folk continue to hire "them" while paying "them" in cash and NOT paying taxes or providing benefits and OSHA approved working conditions, we'll always have this "problem" I reckon.

Just some articles I thought you should read to clarify your misconceptions ;) :

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ar..._immigrants_are_rushing_to_file_taxes/?page=2

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040415/news_1n15taxes.html

http://redblueamerica.com/truthorno...-more-government-benefits-they-pay-taxes-2300

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02wed3.html?ref=opinion
 
Do any of you have the illegals hanging out in a particular corner of a particular part of town where they wait for anyone to come pick them up for day labor?

We have several locations here, and also have seen them in different cities i visited.

My dad has used them quite often, and as a matter of fact, has about 5 that he picks up from their trailers, gives them jobs to do, takes them home and feeds them every day.

He of course trusts them completely, although there are a couple of them that are not allowed to come to my parents house without my dad being there.

He pays them very well; but it is hard labor.....rock work and building fences, etc. They don't seem to mind and my dad says they work hard. They work with him until its time to go back to Mexico for a few months and then return.

There has been a couple of times he has had to fire one or two because they try to take advantage of my dad's good nature. I am afraid sometimes because they could do harm to him if they were to get really pissed. He also carries quite a bit of cash in his pocket because he pays them daily in cash, and he never fails to pull the wad out in front of them. You just never know how desperate any one of them can get and attack my dad for the money.

He has been doing this for years, so I pray they appreciate his kindness and don't hurt him.

Why are you talking about them like they're animals? This is the second thread you've started where you simultaneously brag about how kind and generous your family is, while also implying that they are naive and misguided to be helping such "dangerous" people.
 
personally i think this thread should be closed. it's not really going anywhere and the argument is getting heated plus no one really understands where the OP's original story is headed or what she's trying to insinuate.

let's have peace!:smile:
 
I think this thread is going to go downhill quickly and this is probably too political for tPF, and I also question why the thread was started in the first place, since your last thread of this nature devolved into some pretty mean-spirited discussion and upset a lot of people, but I think you need to seriously examine the assumptions you're making about the people that your father employs.

1. Not all day laborers are illegal, and it's impossible to look at an immigrant and know their legal status. As far as I know, no one tattoos it on their foreheads, and it's elitist to assume that all people that do a certain type of work have a certain legal status. Particularly in this economy, new home building and remodeling are down, so it can be harder for laborers to find steady work even if they're legal and day laboring is a lucrative way to earn money while they don't have steady jobs.

2. Even if the men your dad hires are all illegal, it's very unlikely that any of them will ever do him any harm - I'd be more worried about his other workers. Illegal immigrants that seek work are generally VERY unlikely to commit crime because they have a very real fear of being deported if found by police. Its way more lucrative for them to try and stay here and keep working than it is to rob a man of the cash in his pocket and get deported. You admit you've had no problems with any of them so far, so I think it's a little odd that you worry enough about this to post it here. People generally come here out of desperation and to send money back to their families in Mexico, not to commit crime (I'm speaking, of course, of illegals that seek work).

My parents live in a very wealthy area that still has a lot of new home construction, and day laborers usually hang out in front of a Home Depot in the area waiting for work. In the years that this has been going on, they've never heard of a single crime, not even petty theft, committed in the area by any of the laborers, and it's the sort of area where they'd hear about it if it happened because crime is so very rare.

Just some things to think about. Let's try to keep this discussion civil, folks, or it'll get closed.
 
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