Methinks the writer's Freudian slip is showing. Vise - vice.
So when did the border get tight? How many illegal aliens does it take to pick a head of lettuce? 20 million or 50 million. Will we send those illegal aliens back that are not on a guest worker program?
Again Bush is sneaky.
Does anyone have a picture of those rotting fields????????
Big fat lie right from the get-go. The people who work in these fields ARE ALREADY HERE. Geez, LA Times, if you're going to lie to me, at least respect me enough to tell me something good that I'm not going to immediately see through.
What about the 4,000 or so white Zimbabwean farmers?
Do I really need to read beyond this point? I don't think so....
Bush is not serious about securing the borders. I’ll be glad when he’s gone.
Sell America for a buck patriotism.
I’m sure there are plenty of able-bodied folks on the unemployment line who could pick vegetables (instead of opening the flood gates for illegals).
And why not let those idle prisoners in the prison system work the fields? Fresh air and work would be good for them.
What happened to common sense in this country?
Why do we even need guest workers when we are paying unemployment to citizens and high school kids sit around all summer with little to do?
Non-violent prisoners could also be hired out if they pose no flight risk.
My guess is, especially in the case of unemployment compensation, many would have far shorter claims if they had to work a few days in the fields near their homes to qualify for unemployment.
“And farmers in areas such as California’s San Joaquin Valley, which is experiencing a 20 percent labor shortfall, worry the administration’s changes will not happen soon enough for the 2008 growing season.”
And precisely how has it been established that the SJV is experiencing a 20% shortfall in labor? And we’re worried about the 2008 harvest?
And, as has already been asked, when did we secure the border, and just what actions have supposedly caused a farm labor shortage?
Jorge and his administration has zero credibility on this issue with many Americans and Republican voters. I find it impossible to believe a single thing anyone in the Jorge executive branch says about immigration.
Don’t trust, but verify.
But I doubt we have in place the means to verify all these assertions, and I know we don’t have in place in the Jorge administration any desire to be truthful on this issue.
If the 30 million “illegals” already running around here can’t get the crops harvested,what makes the Bush Admin. sure letting in a few million more is going to get the job done ???
One person could do the work of one hundred.
This is crap. I live in a heavily Ag area and we are swamped with Mexicans.
Someone help me out here. I thought this stuff was governed by law. Can the admin just change laws on the fly like this?
FWIW, I'd be willing, and I bet you would too, to pay a lot more for lettuce, etc. if we could keep out the illegal aliens.
This criminal conduct has been going on for a long time. To the point where it's become very expected in the agricultural community. The time to stop this nonsense and pay the piper is now, IMHO. Allowing more sleazebag illegals into the country is just a temporary patch on a serious problem.
And, let's suppose 100,000 more immigrants were let in on a guest worker program. How is this managed? What guarantee do we have that when the program is over they will go home?
Hey Bush, there are a bunch of people sitting around collecting welfare because they can’t find work. Send them a bus ticket instead of trying to import cheap labor that your “farmer” pals pay next to nothing, which is a crime against humanity itself.
Quit making the rest of us pay for the increases in crime, rape, murder, drug dealing etc. that comes along with these underpaid SLAVES you keep tryingf to import.
If farmers can’t pay a decent wage to harvest their crops, then let it rot on the ground. It means they planted too much, more than they can pick themselves, which from the looks of their fat arses, isn’t very much.
Hey Bush, there are a bunch of people sitting around collecting welfare because they can’t find work. Send them a bus ticket instead of trying to import cheap labor that your “farmer” pals pay next to nothing, which is a crime against humanity itself.
Quit making the rest of us pay for the increases in crime, rape, murder, drug dealing etc. that comes along with these underpaid SLAVES you keep tryingf to import.
If farmers can’t pay a decent wage to harvest their crops, then let it rot on the ground. It means they planted too much, more than they can pick themselves, which from the looks of their fat arses, isn’t very much.
There is a shortage of workers at the low wage they pay. They should try to rectify the problem by increasing the wage.
If US companies truly NEED temporary workers to do some type of seasonal or temporary project, I’m all for a rigid no-nonsense Guest Worker program.
I’d even accept a good size boost in the allowable Guest workers from where its at now.
However, there must be NO connecting a guest worker with citizenship, amnesty, permanent green cards, or anything else that the open borders crowd wants.
Pay them fairly. Let them do the job and help a US company. Fine.
But for heaven’s sake, STOP this FLOOD of illegal immigration which is quickly changing American culture and society into a quasi Third World status.