generally because American workers have to compete with the lower salaries


and they are always pushing for more guest workers and it isn't just high tech corporations that are doing it.

there is no conflict there, Bernie had a legitimate concern.

Immigration should always take into account making sure everyone has access to the basics of life, like jobs and incomes.

If we do immigration without taking that into account then we are throwing workers into competition with each other and forcing them to compete for survival. And Bernie is right, that is what the capitalist class loves to see.

with the whole thing.

Why do you think I skipped reading it? That's an odd comment.

The fact that capital moves faster than people ever can means wages are depressed across the globe. This is the same argument I see from the neoliberal free traders..."don't you want to increase the standard of living for people across the globe?" Of course I do...but I can't live on what they can unless our prices drop to match our salaries. That ain't happening.

Immigrants very often get exploited. That exploitation not only directly harms those men and women, but also harms the men and women sharing their field by stifling wage increase; not only are there more workers, but thanks to exploitation, the work is actually cheaper now.

In a nation with a strong and secure labor force, high immigration isn't a problem - they just get added to what's already in place, and both immigrants and locals enjoy the benefits.

But that's not the nation we live in; we live in a nation where labor is on its last shaky leg.

The 2007 bill was flawed in many respects. And the role of immigrant labor in suppressing wages and undermining unionization efforts goes way back. Cesar Chavez, for example, was opposed to the bracero program which brought hundreds of thousands of temporary Mexican workers to the US because it made it difficult to fight for better wages and working conditions for farm workers who were permanent residents of the US. Still, I am not terribly impressed by what I have seen Sanders say about this issue. He speaks in broad generalizations when the reality is that there are many types of immigrant labor and the relationship between that and unionization and suppressed wages is complex. To be fair, I suspect he is well aware of the complexities but can't get into too much detail in an interview.