I spent some time helping with an English as a Second Language classes here, hanging out with the students, and helping with job searches. (ESL classes here are

I spent some time helping with an English as a Second Language classes here, hanging out with the students, and helping with job searches. (ESL classes here are mostly 30-60 year old, new immigrants, 90% without a green card.) It's hard to understand at first how cheaply people can actually live. $700 a month for one person is enough for a car, phone, lodging, and food. And emergency rooms are "free" if you are sick. (The car has rust, the phone is prepaid, and the lodging is a spare room in someone's house. But it's way better than the previous life in another country.) McDonald's and Wal-Mart are both actually extremely desired jobs. Both pay much better than the other unskilled labor options, and unavailable unless you are legal. If you can get 20 hrs a week at McDonald's, that's all it takes for a much better life than you have now. In contrast, the baseline "undocumented" jobs here, outside of lawn care, is doing a 2-3 hours a night cleaning businesses through a middleman for below minimum wage. This will keep someone fed and alive, but no car, no phone. However, when I was helping, McDonald's job applications had to be done online. Try helping a 68 year old, who can barely speak English, go through a 500 question multiple choice online McDonald's personality quiz....