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I think that primarily, we need to decrease the demand for illegals. A freeing up of the child labor laws, so our own youth can get a job, would be a start.

Here in Napa Valley the place is awash in illegals from Sept until Dec for the harvest. They usually go home for a month around Christmas,(most years, but this is not one of them), then come back for the pruning of the vines in Jan-March. From March until the end of May they help provide freeze protection for the vineyards in susceptible areas, mainly through independent contractors.

I befriended an illegal boy last year who I have not seen since he went "home" last year with his uncle. I really do hope he is Okay. He was a wealth of information regarding employment patterns among the illegals. He said that Las Vegas casinos and hotels are the primary target in the winter for illegal employment. If that did not work out then they would head up to the vineyards (which extend all the way up California now) for the pruning of the vines. When that petered out they would try to get day labor, work with vineyard development or maintenance companies that take care of all those vineyards owned by the many absentee "viticulturalists" (many are movie stars and Hollywood producers)or work for various businesses and Mexican restaurants as this boy was doing.

Since moving to Napa in the early seventies, I have seen it transform from pears, prunes, horses and cows, to an almost total fixation with wine grapes and wineries. As the vineyards grew, so did the numbers of illegals. This is an industry that is totally dependent on illegal immigrants and has a hugh lobby in Sacramento and Washington. Remember that when you drink wine.