• kava@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    In my experience Republicans with skin in the game who understand how the bread gets buttered aren’t as xenophobic as the poor ones.

    For example I work in construction and many projects would grind to a halt without illegal labor. Everyone implicitly understands this so we all agree to look the other way.

    Illegals are willing to work harder jobs, work with more enthusiasm, and with lower pay. Costs of construction would skyrocket without them.

    The most xenophobic ones are the ones that feel threatened by the presence of illegals. Ie low skill and low wage.

    • Pistcow@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Ehhh I have family in-laws that have giant farms and are pretty xenophobic and have to be reminded they wouldn’t exist without their labor.

      • kava@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Fair enough. I’ve only ever had experience with construction in the SE region (FL, GA, MO, etc). I’ve honestly never even met a farmer. Perhaps it’s different. Or we can’t generalize everyone by absolute statements.

        In Florida DeSantis passed a bill this year or last year that made it a crime to drive an illegal to and from work. What happened is a mini-exodus of illegal laborers as they were scared of FL.

        Immediately after stage legislature reps basically openly said “don’t worry this law is symbolic please don’t leave”

        The anti-immigrant this is mostly a way to rile up their base. Ultimately the GOP (and DNC) have to respect the monied interests. Very large companies who indirectly benefit from illegal labor stand to lose a lot from deporting illegals. Ie AT&T doesn’t hire illegals. But they have a contractor to build a fiber network in a city. That contractor doesn’t hire illegals. But they have a subcontractor who does. When you ripple your way down eventually you have illegals.

        Prices for many things will go up for every Americans as well, which is dangerous for politicians.

        If price of labor goes up, everything goes up with it. And while a small portion of workers will see increased wages (low skill, low wage laborers), the net effect would inevitably be higher prices for majority of Americans.

        GOP understands this. That’s why I think their strategy of using this as a rallying cry to drum up the xenophobia is such stupid short-term thinking.

        It will eventually get to the point you’ll be forced to shoot yourself in the foot. It’s madness.

        Right now majority of the people in this country support the mass deportation of all illegals. Not just GOP, majority of everyone.

        That would inevitably mean detention centers (aka concentration camps) in all major urban centers where tens of thousands of illegals would be held until they could be deported.

        Even if you used 10% of all airplanes in this country, it could take over a year to get rid of them all.

        Realistically, we’re talking about putting millions of people into camps for years.

        It’s madness we’ve all gone mad