Posted on 10/30/2017 9:29:55 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
By 11 o’clock in the morning, as smoke billowed down a nearby hillside, Tesorito began to wonder if he ought to be in the vineyards. It was Monday, October 9, and he was harvesting wine grapes near the town of Sonoma.
“My rent’s due soon and I don’t have it,” Tesorito told me. The 37-year-old is short and stocky, with broad shoulders and callused hands. Lalo is 58, though he looks at least 10 years younger. Collectively, the friends have spent more than two decades in California’s famed Wine Country, part of an immigrant workforce that props up the state’s $57 billion a year industry.
Both men are undocumented Mexican immigrants, but tell me that until recently their status hasn’t been much of a concern. (“I don’t cause problems, and I do good work,” said Lalo.) The fires changed that. Neither man is eligible for the various forms of federal disaster aid, which ranges from unemployment benefits to housing assistance. This was their fourth meeting in eight days of searching for anyone who might be able to help.
After sitting through the 90-minute forum, the men approached a table staffed by a representative of a local Legal Aid office and explained their predicament, but while the woman listened politely, she had no advice for them. “Everywhere we go, people have told us, ‘If you don’t have papers, we can’t help you,’” Tesorito said as he walked out. “There is nothing for us.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Scores of houses burned down and this a-hole is worried about law breakers.
GTFO and ask your own f***ing government for aid and hope.
2 years ago, we would have bent over backwards to be accommodating. Now, it's, "No papers, no help."
The fact that this is newsworthy, while disheartening, is probably a good sign.
Exactly!
How much more could aid could they possibly give people who are in our country illegally? This is insanity.
Cesar Chavez did not strike for the United Farm Workers so that illegals could work here. But I don’t think liberal illegal immigration fans remember that.
Perhaps the kindest thing i can say is if you decide to work in an underground economy then be prepared for the safety net shared by all undocumented workers. None.
The wineries build housing for temporary workers, hospitals are required to provide life saving treatment and many school districts provide education to their offspring. They are far from having “nothing” but with no kids they probably don’t get as much government support as others.
To me, the wineries should help out their workers if they valued them, especially if they knew they were migrant agricultural workers. No other options.
Not perfect but the rich white winery masters should help out if they benefit from their illegal labor.
********
Just re-read my post, and it sure sounds socialist to me. OTOH if the purpose if to help the downtrodden then this paper should of nominate the general public to pay out to non-citizens.
I must need a nap.
Seize the assets of these illegal alien invaders. Deport them. Give major fines to the criminals who employed them.
And the have vineyards in Nova Scotia now! Win win!
“They should take a bag of premium grape roots”
take?
where or whom would they take them from without stealing?
maybe you meant they should buy them or ask for legit donation of plant?
just as many people take/use supplies etc from their work place. It’s not ok.
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