So who exactly is stealing jobs?

I confess: I don't know a whole lot about the impact of illegal immigration, especially in border states. I tend to side with those who feel outrage at the law recently enacted in Arizona, mostly because it conjures up the specter of Nazis checking the papers of Jews or the Peri-Urban police scrutinizing the passbooks of blacks in South Africa. But I do sympathize with those who decry the tax revenues being spent on social services for illegals, and those whose jobs have been lost because illegals will work for much less. So, am I being hypocritical or spineless?

This got me thinking - I guess it was triggered also by an Arlen Specter political ad in which he refers to jobs lost because of illegal Chinese practices - what is the difference between a company hiring Mexicans or Salvadorans to pick lettuce (which, by the way, the farmers would have a LOT of trouble finding Americans to do) and one that outsources its customer service or billing functions (which, frankly, a lot of Americans would LOVE to do) to India or Singapore or China? If I own stock in a company that outsources high tech jobs to other countries and that means I earn higher dividends, am I contributing to this problem? Is my desire for my investment to do well a major cause of lost tech jobs? And when I buy an electronic item at a cheap price because it was built in a Third World country, how is that different from buying cheap lettuce or tomatoes picked by illegal Latin American farmworkers?

As I drive through different neighborhoods near me, I see many people having yard work done, and it seems to me that most of those workers are immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. I wonder how many of them are legal, but, more to the point, I wonder if they really have usurped jobs from native-born Americans. I teach around 115 high school seniors and I'm willing to bet that not more than five of them would deign to do such work. If, magically, all illegals disappeared from the United States tomorrow, most wealthy people's lawns would remain unmowed, a lot of hotel rooms would remain untended, and lettuce would rot in the field.

I wasn't a fan of President George Bush, but his "guest worker" plan was a good one. Decriminalize the process so that people can freely come into the country to work and return to their families when they aren't working without worrying that they won't be able to come back. Make employers keep good records and collect and pay taxes for these folks so that they are making some contribution to the U.S. economy as they use roads or schools or whatever. And allow those who demonstrate law-abiding behavior to become citizens without jumping through hoops.

I'd like to ask parents of newly minted college graduates, especially those who majored in technology fields, how they feel when they call customer service for their cable company or insurance carrier or credit card companies and realize that their calls are being handled by people who have essentially robbed their children of a job. Where is a hue and cry against Bank of America or Comcast or Verizon?

Let's just be consistent in our outrage.