Posted on 05/29/2006 3:34:54 PM PDT by SJackson
OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Tomato grower Luawanna Hallstrom understands how paths cross in the shadowy world of illegal immigrant and employer.
Her three-generation family farm needed workers to harvest a crop in 2001, so it hired 300 farmhands. All their documents appeared in order, she said.
Then federal authorities found that three-fourths of the workers were illegal immigrants, and that left the peak harvest in ruins.
"People say, `You should get those employers that hire the undocumented!' Well, wait a minute. They have documents, but they're fraudulent. We are supposed to take them at face value - otherwise you get into these discrimination issues," Hallstrom said.
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotte.com ...
I think automation, sooner or later, is gonna come back to haunt China. Imagine super-automated mini-factories producing all of those things here, cheaper.
I think automation, sooner or later, is gonna come back to haunt China. Imagine super-automated mini-factories producing all of those things here, cheaper.
In a sense it will. Their productivity is but a fractions of ours. Whether they develop beyond a low labor cost economy we'll have to see.
>>>>>"When I was a kid, they worked at McDonalds, mowed lawns, painted houses and bagged groceries. Still do in rural areas"<<<<<
I'm talking about Gradeschool Kids, not Highscool and College Kids
TT
If migrant work were to dry up there would be a rather drastic up tick in migrant sensitive crop prices. However, as prices rise and demand starts to drop due to out of equilibrium pricing, producers will demand more efficient, innovative equipment to do the jobs the former migrants did.
True, however migrant labor isn't going to dry up. You'll note the complaints in this article relate to "regulation", as in I'll have to check the social security of an employee electronically, and the cost of legal labor, which the grower acknowledges she turned to. The arguement being made is that we should tolerate illegals, rather than regulating migrants, whatever the level is.
I'm sure they tried "real hard" to verify those "documents".
Exactly right. This is already starting and it's really going to take off in the next decade. Congress should vote a few billion in research dollars to "decrease our dependence on unskilled foreign labor". But they never will because robots don't vote Democrat.
Less than 1% of the 11 million illegals are farm workers. Let them come in as guest workers and have them leave after the harvest. That is what guest workers are supposed to be, and that would be fine. Whoever hires them is responsible for getting them fromt the border to their farm, responsible for housing them during picking season, and then responsible for getting them back to the border after harvest.
The reason they aren't ....is cuz...
why bother, there's an over abundance of illegals & no enforcement.
MAKE the RIGHT decision.
What I want to know is how are some of these Illegals paying into Social Security? If they have a SSN, it has to be fraudulent or stolen. So, why are they not traced?
Produce is minor. We can pay real workers real wages, or start learning to do some gardening. The so-called benefits of illegal workers are costing us millions if not more. From hospital ER rooms (used as primary care, and paid for by tax payers because the illegals don't have insurance) to education to the increased crime rates to the utter and complete contempt with which they view our laws and society--they're costing us more than they're worth.
1. Secure the Borders
2. Stop "Anchor Babies"
3. Enforce the Penalties to Employers
4. Automate EVERYthing cheap labor can do.
I wouldn't bet on that! 'Rats can be very inventive when it comes to cheating! ;)
We could revitalize the old Victory Gardens of WWII, if we weren't so lazy. No need to go to the spa if you're bending and planting, weeding, and picking your own veggies. And you can grow amazing amounts in tubs on the patio, if you have no garden space. You probably wouldn't have to take Ambien to make you sleep after a couple of hours out in the sunshine, either. It always works for me. And they do taste so much better you wouldn't believe it.
You're so right! We have plenty of garden space here, but we've also lived in apartments--you can use all manner of things for planters, including the expensive cement planters--but really, plastic buckets, etc., do just fine. I really hate store-bought veggies, especially the tomatoes and peppers.
The season for things like tomatoes varies from North to South, so that eliminating production here would not be taken up by Mexican produce.
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