The thing about "cheap" immigrant labor and "jobs Americans won't do" that most people forget is, if you're paying these illegal immigrants so poorly because they're illegal and you can get away with it - you're basically creating a slave worker class. That's part of the problem. We let illegals in, we go to extra trouble to have Spanish language government forms, signs, etc., and all that does is make sure they stay English illiterate and working illegal day jobs, construction, or farm work. What we should be doing is preventing illegal immigration, providing a much more streamlined path for legal immigration, cracking down on employers paying illegally low wages, and teaching our Spanish speaking legal immigrants how to speak English so they can assimilate into our society and get a job with a future beyond migrant farm work for below minimum wage.

Illegal immigration is bad for the immigrants as well as bad for the U.S. The only people who benefit are the businesses who hire the cheap labor - and they're breaking the law to do it, so they need to be held accountable.

[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 09-12-2009).]

quote Originally posted by Formula88: The thing about "cheap" immigrant labor and "jobs Americans won't do" that most people forget is, if you're paying these illegal immigrants so poorly because they're illegal and you can get away with it - you're basically creating a slave worker class. That's part of the problem. We let illegals in, we go to extra trouble to have Spanish language government forms, signs, etc., and all that does is make sure they stay English illiterate and working illegal day jobs, construction, or farm work. What we should be doing is preventing illegal immigration, providing a much more streamlined path for deportion of all illegal immigration, implementing a true and workable 'guest worker' program, cracking down on employers paying illegally low wages, and teaching our Spanish speaking legal immigrants how to speak English so they can assimilate into our society and get a job with a future beyond migrant farm work for below minimum wage. Illegal immigration is bad for the immigrants as well as bad for the U.S. The only people who benefit are the businesses who hire the cheap labor - and they're breaking the law to do it, so they need to be held accountable.

I fixed it for you

C'mon Don, it's early in the morning. At least embolden the corrected text.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: C'mon Don, it's early in the morning. At least embolden the corrected text.

Sorry.
It's early in the morning for me too--been up most of the night preparing for high water--it's been raining over 24 hrs staright.
Had to move cattle out of the lower pasture, make sure my drainage ditches aren't blocked with debris after months of drought, move some farm equipment to higher geround. Gonna be a wet cold winter it looks like.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: .... been up most of the night preparing for high water--it's been raining over 24 hrs staright.

Is that a good thing ? We finally have been getting rain here after a bad two year drought. Three or four days of rain, more coming and welcome. The rain also brought the high temps back down to double digits.

for the great state of Arizona!
Heh, though I do not like hearing of anybody having financial trouble and hardship, I did chuckle a bit when I read the article.

Interesting thing about temp farm workers is that they used to be mostly Americans. Not sure the average age here on PFF but when I was 16 (50 now) I started working the farms and orchards of eastern WA during the summer and when I was older would do fall harvest too. At that time they were mostly young kids (like me and my buddies) college kids and X cons working these jobs that nobody wants to do, and loving it!. It was all piece work, the faster you work, the more work you get done the more money you made. Was a good system.
There were also a few of these old guys (white Americans) that used to work the season then go live in Mexico like kings until next season.

I think companies (people) that knowingly hire illegal should be financially destroyed. I good way do get that done would be fining the companies and people along with asset forfeitures. We all know how greedy the government is, they NEED more money! let's let them have some of this money.

I wonder if anyone has tried to sue the federal government for not protecting our borders?

quote Originally posted by Red88FF: Interesting thing about temp farm workers is that they used to be mostly Americans. Not sure the average age here on PFF but when I was 16 (50 now) I started working the farms and orchards of eastern WA during the summer and when I was older would do fall harvest too. At that time they were mostly young kids (like me and my buddies) college kids and X cons working these jobs that nobody wants to do, and loving it!. It was all piece work, the faster you work, the more work you get done the more money you made. Was a good system. There were also a few of these old guys (white Americans) that used to work the season then go live in Mexico like kings until next season.

Well that just cannot be true, because those are jobs NOBODY WANTS! [/sarcasm]

I remember weeding Soy Beans, and Detasseling Corn when I was younger. We would spend the entire summer going from field to field. Started young pulling weeds, worked our way up to riding on the detassler, and then some of us lucky ones got to drive it instead of working until our hands bled, and were covered in callouses.

Good times those.

Brad

around here damm few americans do any farm work
crews are run in spanish ONLY if not hatian or mayan
the guys who hire are very unlikely to speak english

tractor drivers or irrigation guys maybe thats it
and those arenot day labor jobs

------------------
Question wonder and be wierd
are you kind?

quote Originally posted by ray b: crews are run in spanish ONLY if not hatian or mayan the guys who hire are very unlikely to speak english

What American would not want that job, ?

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: I believe the "Jobs Americans will not do" is a myth. A belief that has been proven to me again and again around here. Did you file taxes on these illegal immigrants you hired? Or did you manage to save a buck for yourself while giving Americans everywhere the middle finger? Brad

It's been along time since hiring any illegal aliens, back when I was Dairy Farmer in Texas, it was the norm to use them on the farm, I wasn't doing anything different than any other farmer was doing. Nowadays things are different and almost impossible to work them anymore. The ones that are working here now have the temporary green cards. When I think back on it, some of them had fake documents. When I had 5000 bales of hay on the ground, it needed to be hauled to the barn, the mexicans were there to do it cheap and I paid them cash out of my own pocket, they were hard workers. Sorry if that offends you. And technically, these workers still lived at poverty level and probaly didn't hardly make enough to pay taxes anyway, some had wives and dependants. The way the country is now, there really needed to be crack down on the illegal imigrants, they were taking advantage of everything that hard working Americans pay into.

I am a sole proprieter business and it would be impossible for me to employ illegals now and I wouldn't. I would much rather work an American. IRS watches me like a hawk, and believe me I think I pay way more than my fair share in income taxes, and have for many years.

[This message has been edited by Shananigans (edited 09-13-2009).]