I told a friend of mine about this thread exchange last night who is a leftie and she asked where are their brains. Can't they see what is happening here? They are crazy if they don't see the overcrowding and the numbers of illegals who rely upon social services in Southern CA she said.</blockquote>
While immigration has a slightly beneficial impact on national economy and the federal budget, California does get shortchanged on the costs-and-benefits distribution of immigration. "The California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative calculates California's immigrants paid $30 billion in federal taxes in 2005, versus $4.5 billion to the state" (Juliane Baron and Paula Fomby, "The Immigration Debate: Federal Debate, State Issue," <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/02/EDGIFI0RDJ1.DTL>).
The problem, however, isn't immigrant workers -- but the stupid system of US federalism (cue to Michael Hoover), which gives short shrift to the populous states where most immigrant workers live.
If anything, Marta, cracking down on Latino immigrants and making California whiter will make it easier for the state and federal governments to cut health care and other services. Many of them English-speaking Anglos don't vote with you and they sure don't demonstrate with you for the Big Welfare State. But many of the Latinos -- and occasional disaffected Japanese who come here for a lark :-> -- do and will (if you can't communicate with them verbally, just smile a big smile and cheer when they march).
¡Hoy marchamos, mañana votamos!
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>