The American media is full of items related to illegal immigrants. Looks like a hot debate topic there what with the protests and all happening. David Friedman has a take on what the average American would actually do with an illegal immigrant:

Yesterday I was listening to a radio talk show host discuss immigration. He pointed out that a lot of illegal immigrants are hired by home owners to do casual labor. He then asked his listeners to imagine they had a grand piano to move, an illegal would do it for $40, and an American citizen, perhaps the kid next door, for $100. Would the listener save money by hiring the illegal or do the right thing by hiring the citizen?

My response, if I had been able to get through, would have been that I would have done the right thing—by hiring the illegal, who almost certainly has more need for the money than the kid next door.

I'm sure most Americans would do exactly that. Most people with common sense would do exactly that.

I have a question: Why does the average American charge more than an immigrant does for the same amount of work? Does he/she belong to a superior subspecies? Are his/her hands and mind of intergalactic quality?

In a situation in which there are abundant jobs, the employee rules as he is free to choose. If companies A, B, C are offering the same job at different wages, the employee would choose company B which pays the most. Companies A and C would compete with B and so on… finally, the employee will benefit as his wages get better.

When jobs are scarce however, the employer naturally has more control and the employee is forced to take whatever is offered. Otherwise, he wont get anything.

Let us apply this to the USA. If many Americans are upset with jobs leaving their country to places where they are done for lesser pay or with losing jobs to immigrants who demand lesser pay, it would make sense for the Americans to lower the pay they demand or accept whatever is offered. No? But that doesnt seem to be happening. Instead, they are busy drafting laws which are hostile to immigration, some of which even go to the extent of classifying present immigrants, who are already there, working hard and contributing to the world's largest economy from behind the scenes, as illegal (they'll be thrown out subsequently if found "illegal").

Fortunately, a lot of Americans think (everyone I guess, even the politicians who are making the laws) that all these so called "illegal immigrants" are important to them. But few native Americans (the white ones I mean) speak up on their behalf, except the minority that might have joined the protests. Why?

After all, all that the immigrants are saying is "We are America. We want to join you."