“I hope to God I’m wrong...and time *will* tell.Immigration is Trump’s signature issue and,apart from clearly stating his position (which I suspect he already has) it must be handled delicately because our population is becoming less and less a “melting pot” and more and more “I’m entitled to a government check”...and government checks are what immigration is *really* about.”
While I am definitely anti-illegal immigration, from what I have seen here in CA, the preponderance of Mexicans here are hard-working people. Maybe we should swap our Blacks for Mexicans. At least we’d get some honest work in the bargain. A couple of weeks ago, I had occasion to drive through Salinas, CA on my way to Laguna Seca Raceway at about 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I was caught in a “traffic jamb” with all the farmworkers heading out to the fields to pick crops. Didn’t see ANY BLACKs in the lot of them! And yet, back in the 1950’s we cancelled the Bracero Program which allowed Mexican farmworkers to legally come here on a temporary basis to pick our crops, because Blacks claimed that the Mexicans were taking “their jobs.”
I know nothing about farming,ranching and running orchards and vineyards.However,we often vacation on the west coast of Florida in January in a town (Bradenton) that contains one of Tropicana's huge plants.Seeing huge trucks full of oranges is a common sight as we drive from I-75 toward our hotel not far from the beach.There are also signs you see nearby in Spanish...presumably meant for those who pick the oranges.Do farmers,ranchers and orchard/vineyard growers in Florida,California,Nebraska and elsewhere need seasonal labor? Probably.Is it difficult work? Probably.But part of the problem with any kind of guest worker program...either an official one or a defacto one...is our immediate,automatic citizenship at birth law,a big draw for wetbacks who have no desire to actually work.
I'm willing to pay more for bread...oranges...apples...and grapes if it means getting every single wetback out.Pay *our* citizens enough (and make welfare less inviting) and they'll pick the oranges,apples and grapes and harvest the wheat and the oats.