Refugees find the American dream down on the farm

Los Angeles Times / latimes.com ^ | August 26, 2010 | By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times

[thecodont]

A dingy floral print peels from the walls, and sheets of plastic are taped over some of the windows. But for Harka Rai, the sagging trailer home he bought in rural Oregon is his piece of the American dream.

Rai, who is married with a 4-year-old son and another child on the way, was just a boy when new citizenship laws forced his ethnic Nepalese family out of Bhutan. For 18 years, they waited in a refugee camp in Nepal, hoping to return home.

"We built a bamboo house," he said. "The dust comes inside. The rain comes inside. And when the wind comes, we hang onto the roof to keep it from blowing away."

Desperate to escape the camp, Rai accepted an offer from the U.S. government last year to be resettled in Boise, Idaho. But by then, the country was in the throes of recession.

Rai applied for jobs as a waiter, janitor and cashier. But when his federal cash assistance ran out after four months, he had no job offers. For the first time, the 30-year-old Rai wondered if he had made a terrible mistake. How would he support his family?

That's when a career advisor told him about a dairy near Boardman, Ore., that hires refugees.

[thecodont]

Ahmed Omar tours his new workplace at Threemile Canyon Farms near Boardman, Ore. (Jessie L. Bonner / Associated Press)

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A heartwarming story.

From the article:

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Walt Guterbock, the 65-year-old livestock manager at Threemile Canyon Farms, was listening to NPR on his truck radio one day in late 2008 when a report caught his attention. It featured refugees who had escaped wars and ethnic strife only to struggle to find work in Boise.

Their plight resonated with Guterbock, whose parents fled Nazi Germany, eventually settling in Chicago. The farm where he works was struggling to fill vacancies in two milking parlors.

"Almost no native-born Americans … apply for these jobs," Guterbock said. "It's a tough, dirty, demanding job."

Most applicants were originally from Mexico, and the Social Security numbers they provided weren't checking out. The farm won't hire illegal immigrants.

Because of more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, many large agricultural businesses like Threemile Canyon Farms are in a quandary.

More than 40% of dairy workers and nearly 80% of hired crop growers were born outside the United States, according to studies by the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Department of Labor. But attempts to legalize the many undocumented workers have met with fierce resistance from those who argue that it would encourage illegal immigration.

High-profile raids, such as one that netted 389 illegal workers at a Kosher meat-processing plant in Postville, Iowa, in 2008, have sent a chill through rural communities that rely on immigrant labor.

Guterbock, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, approached his farm's human resources director with the idea of hiring refugees.

"It just seemed like a good thing to do, besides being good for business," Guterbock said.

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Refugees' countries of origin mentioned in the story, by Muslim percentage of total population:
Bhutan - 1.0
Myanmar - 3.8
Nepal - 4.2
Sudan - 71.3
Somalia - 98.5

Two salient points:

1. AZSB1070 creates labor shortage.
2. Solution: bring in Muslim refugees for cheap.

[thecodont]

Hey.

[La Lydia]

A couple of points: If these people are here legally, I am glad they are working and are self-sufficient.
Also, it is too late for me to write out my “I don’t want to subsidize other people’s cheap labor” rant with all of its flourishes. So I’ll leave it at that. Oh, I do have to mention that real wages in the ag sector haven’t risen in 20 years. Could it have something to do with supply?

[blueplum]

are these muslims, tho? in the countries mentioned, the largest persecuted groups are christians and native ethnics that are being genocided into oblivion by invading muslims

[Nooseman]

peace corps boss+NPR+ahmed+human resource director = some unthruths.Thats just my opinion.

[Nooseman]

Anyone remember the “bagwan rajneshi” antelope scandal in the early 80s?

[SatinDoll]

My nephew is an experienced ranch/farm hand who can also do engine and machine repair, such as trucks and tractors.

He has been unemployed for 2-1/2months.

I can’t begin to tell you how much this article ticks me off. Last job offering he went to, there were twenty experienced ranch/farm hands looking for work. Only one was Hispanic, a citizen and born in Hermiston, Oregon.

[SueRae]

THis is a good story. These are refugees here legally, trying to make a new start. I wish them well in their new home and am proud and grateful to the dairy farmers and folks working to place them in productive employment.This IS what our country is supposed to be about.

While the same work ethic applies to much of the Latino community, too many of them are here illegally. Not properly screened for criminal records and medical records/attention.

However, with the drug wars and violence heating up south of the border, will the U.S. declare refugee status for them at some point?