Dear Editor:
For the last twenty-five years, I have witnessed many African-Americans come to City Hall and complain they are not receiving the jobs at various work sites in Jersey City. In reality, many people at these work sites are immigrants who work below the prevailing wage.
Developers who receive generous tax abatements promise to hire local workers and the corporations that move in hire immigrants from the H1B visa program.
The American work force is being ignored. This is not just a local problem it is happening all over the USA, even Disney workers in Orlando had to train their replacements with foreign nationals. I do not buy the argument City Hall is making that there is “hate” against illegal immigrants.
American citizens are fighting to protect their jobs; it is as simple as that. They are also concerned about the drugs that come through our southern borders that cause problems in urban areas. I and other families in this country had family members fight in both World Wars plus the Korean and Vietnam. I have heard the stories of how American citizens had to sacrifice and have rationed food and gasoline during the war time.
One would think with these sacrifices, the American citizen would be first for jobs in our own country. Jobs are being disappearing through technology and the disaster result of the NAFTA program. So, is it too much to ask our politicians to put American workers first?
As a mother, I would not want my sons to behave and act like the President-Elect but if he puts American workers first, then I say God bless the President-Elect.
Yvonne Balcer