The Jan. 27 letter by Susan Collins (“Putting people back to work is No. 1 goal”) touting her support of putting people back to work belies the way she has voted in the past.

With 35-year low labor participation rates, and an unemployment rate that drops only because people have given up looking for work, one would think that we would have no need to look abroad for employees to fill our jobs.

Nonetheless, last year Collins voted for the Senate immigration bill that not only legalizes those who are here illegally (opening up many more jobs to them and forcing American citizens to compete with them) but also vastly increases legal immigration, making it much easier for companies to ignore Americans and to hire foreigners who are willing to take lower wages.

When questioned, Collins touted the various pieces of pork she was able to get added to the bill and to remind us that she supported an enforcement amendment that failed (although she voted for the bill without it).

Her advocacy of job training programs is nice, but we need to make sure the jobs exist and that companies will hire Americans who apply. Employers who bemoan a lack of trained employees might in many cases think about training them on the job rather than demanding the government do it for them.

Employers who insist they cannot find Americans to do the jobs should look at the pay and benefits they are offering — and some deliberately discourage Americans from applying.

Let’s get serious. The immigration bill was about giving corporations cheap labor, and Collins did the will of the donors, not the voters.

We will not forget come November.

Michael J. JoseAugusta


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.