Posted on 07/02/2011 12:52:33 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
WRAY, Ga., - One of the toughest laws yet to fight illegal immigration went into effect today in Georgia. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the most controversial provision - requiring police to check the immigration status of suspects who don't have proper identification.
But it is now a felony to use false documentation to apply for a job. CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann says Georgia farmers have been anticipating this day, and the law is already having a big effect.
In south Georgia, it's a banner year for blackberries - but a bad year for berry farmer Gary Paulk.
"There's a lot of what appear to be good berries," Paulk said. "If we had the workers."
On one corner of this family farm, twenty acres of blackberries rot away.
"This is a healthy field. And it should have been picked," Paulk said. "But there's nobody here."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Hahah, was it something I said?
I guess it's pointless to ask what I said that wasn't true.
There was just piece on the local news as to how they’re putting parolees to work in the fields but they’re not as good as the Mexicans.
The major complaint is no jobs for kids this summer. Well, there are jobs. Get the cities unemployment services to advertise the farm jobs for the unemployed youth and help set up housing and/or transportation.
Hard work never hurt anyone. Even if the kids only worked a couple weeks (considering the heat), it would teach them the work ethic and put some money in their pockets, money they and their families can use.
Nobody should be above working with their hands.
I am not advocating employing illegal labor. We don't and I don't know a single farmer who does in our area and we know a LOT of farmers. The one man (legal Mexican American) who works for us full time and has for many years is well paid and very well paid when he's operating the machinery.
What I'm saying, is that it's very difficult to hire "day labor "to work for a few weeks to a couple of months. Good, responsible agricultural workers have full time jobs.
Somewhere an ag engineer is working to invent machines for every crop grown commercially. I wish them God speed in their efforts.
Well I’ve got news for ya fella. I’ve worked on farms, cut timber, and every other back breaking, sweaty, dirty, dusty job, so I know what I talk about. I know there are lazy people out there and that is nothing new, but there are people that will work for you, if you give them a chance. I had the same problems when I has my own business. When I couldn’t find help, I did it myself. These people today have gotten used to hiring these people because its cheap and easy. That is just as much a problem as the people that won’t work, so it goes both ways. But there is just one problem with that, Its against the law. They knew this crop was coming on and instead of making an arrangement to get help to harvesting it, they most likely waited until the last minute thinking they would just drive down to the local corner or whatever and pick up some illegal cheap labor. They could have had green card workers had they arranged it, not that I agree with that either, but that route is available. Maybe if we took the time to stand up for the American worker for a change, attitudes might change.
We don't employ illegals and in our area, I don't know a single farmer who does. They grow only things that can be mechanically worked and harvested and hire full time legal Mexicans for the year round work.
I wish there was a simple answer. Many vegetable and fruit crops don't lend themselves to machine harvesting. I know that ag engineers (Texas A&M) are working on that but it takes time.
If the government could run a "good" (simple) guest worker program, where they'd know who they were, where they were and make them leave when finished then that would help. But I have no faith the government is capable of that. What Mexican worker would want to return to the Narco violence in their country? Maybe we need to look to China. :-)Just kidding.
Well, all I know is that any "kid" around during our harvest time is either in school or a school drop-out.
Can't count the number of times a young man we've just hired will leave for lunch and never come back. And it's not because of the pay or the way they're treated. It's because the work is hot and hard.
I don’t doubt your first hand experience. But we should also include the young adults whom are serving when assessing the overall laziness of the average America “young adult” (obviously, not “kids” in this case).
Is it your responsibility to rear the “kids” that fail to appreciate simple labor? No. It’s the parents that failed.
Take my post in its entirety. I think it would make sense to find a financial “pathway” for college-bound students that includes some time on the farm. I foresee numerous benefits. Do you have a farm? Would something like that work for you?
When harvesting a commercial crop, that's virtually impossible, even it you're almost completely mechanized.
They knew this crop was coming on and instead of making an arrangement to get help to harvesting it, they most likely waited until the last minute thinking they would just drive down to the local corner or whatever and pick up some illegal cheap labor
There's a problem with that. There's no "corner" to go to as farmers live in the country. Neither we nor any farmer I know hires illegals (like you'd find on a city street corner in the barrio). The way it works for us is you try to hire one local "day laborer" and then ask him if he has any relatives or knows anybody who wants to work. Sometimes successful, sometimes not. And it's not because of the pay. Good responsible, honest agricultural workers around here have full time jobs.
Try cattle
Yes, we're farmers. I don't know if it'd work. Young people today just aren't used to hot, hard, dirty, physical labor and that's what much of farm work is. They've never HAD to do it and when exposed, don't like it. :-) I don't think there's a way to compel them. The incentives would have to be really, really good and even I have my doubts.
“Responsibility” gonna be about your neck one day, sorry about that.
Thanks for the reply. You're lucky to have the willing local labor. The going "day labor" wage around here is in that range. Good, responsible agricultural full time, year round workers here are paid quite a bit more than that.
Stacking hay builds good muscles for football. :-)
>> I don’t think there’s a way to compel them.
Given the cost of illegal immigration, it would make sense to at least try a cost sensitive, pilot program.
I image there are families that would appreciate some grounded labor experience with the benefit of education rewards. Seems like a no-brainer for a struggling economy.
Well, I know it worked for our children who grew up on this farm and learned the value of hard work and a love for the land. Not a lazy bone in their bodies. One is an engineer and the other is an accountant turned teacher. When my grandsons are old enough, they'll be sent to "work on the farm" too. :-)At this age, they can't wait. We'll see how it is when they turn teenagers.
At one time Texas had a completely self sufficient prison system. Didn't cost the tax payers a dime. They made liscense plates, furniture, leather goods etc and grew almost all their food. Then there was a prisoner lawsuit and the judicial system took it from there.
Texas has a lot of prisons and now it costs the tax payer big bucks. Incidently, Texas will close one of the prisons this year to save money in this budget crunch.
Just where in my post did I tell you that "you had to like illegals". Just where in my post did I excuse or advocate any farmer or anybody else hire illegals. Point it out to me please.
We don't hire illegals and I don't know a single farmer who does. And we know hundreds of farmers in Texas (have been on their farms) and some in other states as well.
I was trying to explain (and inform people) about the difficulty of finding temporary farm labor. And trying to make the point that it wasn't because they were underpaid but because it's hard, hot, dirty manual work.
Long ago, the illegals discovered they could get easier, more permanent and usually better paying jobs in construction or landscaping in the cities and they began to by-pass the farms. Although construction is also hard work, it beats the "stoop" labor some crops require.
I've spent the evening responding to over a dozen people and have enjoyed the interaction with everybody but you, a person who wants "our crops to die and for us to go bankrupt".
We've been in agribusiness for 50 years. A business which supplies America with cheap and plentiful food. A business which feeds much of the world. Just think what our nation's balance of payments would be if not for our exports from American agriculture. I'm sorry you hold the industry and the people who spend their lives in it in such contempt.
From many of the posts on this thread, it was clear that many people (non-farmers) were ill-informed or had misconceptions about our industry. My many, many replies were an effort to increase understanding. No doubt other farmers could have done a better job. But so be it. I was the one here. Good night.
If I'm laid off from a $25/hr factory job, then I'm collecting $16/hr in unemployment. You're suggesting giving that up for a job that requires 12-hour days of back-breaking labor standing in a sweltering field, and pays me only a third of what I collect on unemployment, when I have a family to feed, all in the name of patriotism. Not gonna happen.
Like it or not, illegal immigrants fill an economic void, doing necessary jobs that no American is willing to do. And if I'm a blackberry grower that has to choose between hiring undocumented workers and going out of business (because no one's going to buy my produce if I'm charging twice what my neighbor does), the economic realities are hard to argue with.
These are factors that any solution to illegal immigration has to account for. Telling Georgian berry producers to "suck it up", or college grads to go work in the fields for minimum wage, in the name of patriotism, isn't going to accomplish anything. No one's going to fold up shop just on patriotic principle. You need to give him a realistic economic alternative.
My thoughts exactly!
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