In denial: Local paper examines illegal immigration

[PLC1]

Here is the first part of an analysis of illegal immigration from the local level. The Fresno Bee is a major paper in the San Joaquin Valley, which is ground zero (or one of the ground zeros at any rate) for illegal immigration.

There are a lot of solutions to illegal immigration. Most of them are simplistic and unworkable. There are no easy answers.

Illegal immigrants flock to Valley despite risks


Highlights:

Yrene is a prime example of how the Valley's don't-ask, don't-tell policy allows farmers to keep their businesses humming. Yrene's employer knows she's here illegally, but he says his company depends on hard-working people like her to get the job done. Yrene, in turn, depends on her job to pay the medical bills for her eldest daughter, who was born with one kidney and has scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. She doesn't receive government aid.

The San Joaquin Valley is an especially popular destination because of its low cost of living and abundant agriculture jobs, experts say. One estimate by the Urban Institute found that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants were in the Valley in 2004 — although a large number of seasonal workers weren't counted. The vast majority were from Mexico.

Some agriculture industry leaders say up to 90% of farmworkers in the Valley are illegal immigrants.

So, are we going to deport 90% of our agricultural workers? Who will replace them? Agriculture is by far the biggest part of the economy in this area.

The worst part isn't the heat — it's the fuzz.

Peach hairs fill the air, coating faces and hands and irritating throats and lungs.

"Right now I can feel all the little hairs around my neck," farmworker Juan Zamora said as he thinned the latest of a dozen trees he's worked on this morning. "But the more you scratch, the more it itches."

I added that part because I can relate: I spent part of a summer picking peaches in 1960, back when American citizens actually went to the fields to work.

 

[GenSeneca]

Perhaps I missed something but what exactly was the paper in denial about?

And I disagree about the answers to illegal immigration not being simple, they are simple, but that doesn't make them easy or popular.

 

[BigRob]

The Immigration and Nationality Act is already in place for employers who want to use foreign temporary workers on H-2A visas. All that is required is they get a labor certificate from the Employment and Training Administration certifying that there are not sufficient, able, willing and qualified U.S. workers available to do the work.

If there are really no Americans who want to do the work, that should not be a problem, and legal workers on visas would be easily accessible.

 

[dogtowner]

The Immigration and Nationality Act is already in place for employers who want to use foreign temporary workers on H-2A visas. All that is required is they get a labor certificate from the Employment and Training Administration certifying that there are not sufficient, able, willing and qualified U.S. workers available to do the work.

If there are really no Americans who want to do the work, that should not be a problem, and legal workers on visas would be easily accessible.

One would think that this guest worker program would be sufficient for the AG community it was made for. But I think the illegals prefer being illegal.

 

[Rick]

Here is the first part of an analysis of illegal immigration from the local level. The Fresno Bee is a major paper in the San Joaquin Valley, which is ground zero (or one of the ground zeros at any rate) for illegal immigration.

There are a lot of solutions to illegal immigration. Most of them are simplistic and unworkable. There are no easy answers.

Illegal immigrants flock to Valley despite risks


Highlights:









So, are we going to deport 90% of our agricultural workers? Who will replace them? Agriculture is by far the biggest part of the economy in this area.



I added that part because I can relate: I spent part of a summer picking peaches in 1960, back when American citizens actually went to the fields to work.

Your analysis is what's simplistic. The invaders will be replaced by americans. Americans, it is pointed out, won't work for black market wages. It should be obvious to even the slow-witted that that doesn't mean that our food will rot in the fields. The price of agriculture labor will rise until it is sufficient to attract american workers - and there are lots of unemployed people. Higher wages are also an incentive to automation of formerly manual agriculture jobs.

 

[PLC1]

One would think that this guest worker program would be sufficient for the AG community it was made for. But I think the illegals prefer being illegal.

One would think so, but the big growers don't agree. It isn't the illegals who prefer being illegal, but the employers. Could be some exploitation involved, or maybe desperate people just make better workers, I'm not sure.

BTW, it isn't the paper that is in denial, but the employers who accept documents they know are fake, and the politicians who say they want to end illegal immigration.

On another note, that 40% unemployment in Mendota that was given as an example of how many people are out of work due to lack off water and a certain endangered fish (remember that?) is one of the places where 90% of agricultural workers are illegals, and almost all of the jobs are in agriculture.

 

[dogtowner]

One would think so, but the big growers don't agree. It isn't the illegals who prefer being illegal, but the employers. Could be some exploitation involved, or maybe desperate people just make better workers, I'm not sure.

BTW, it isn't the paper that is in denial, but the employers who accept documents they know are fake, and the politicians who say they want to end illegal immigration.

On another note, that 40% unemployment in Mendota that was given as an example of how many people are out of work due to lack off water and a certain endangered fish (remember that?) is one of the places where 90% of agricultural workers are illegals, and almost all of the jobs are in agriculture.

Govt is a very willing accomplice to be sure. There is no gain to business and some possibility of harm. But the illegals are suspicious og govt as theirs is evneore corrupt than ours. It's a curious mix of accomplices.

 

[PLC1]

Govt is a very willing accomplice to be sure.

To be sure.

There is no gain to business and some possibility of harm.

Unless it is a business that profits from cheap labor.

But the illegals are suspicious og govt as theirs is evneore corrupt than ours.

As well they should be. Yes, their government is even more corrupt, and ours keeps saying that it wants to end illegal immigration.

It's a curious mix of accomplices.

Isn't it though?

 

[dogtowner]

To be sure.



Unless it is a business that profits from cheap labor.



As well they should be. Yes, their government is even more corrupt, and ours keeps saying that it wants to end illegal immigration.




Isn't it though?

''

Business already bebefits from cheap guest worker labor. Thats why they fought for and obtained the program in the first place.

 

[PLC1]

''

Business already bebefits from cheap guest worker labor. Thats why they fought for and obtained the program in the first place.

Then why don't they use the guest worker program instead of hiring illegal labor? That makes no sense to me.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Then why don't they use the guest worker program instead of hiring illegal labor? That makes no sense to me.

guest working gets you all those little...laws, and safety issues, and all that...illegals you can ignore them all, no threat of Union, and anyone who does not do illegal work for you ( that would be illegal for you to have a American do) you can just threaten with deportation...Its as close as you can get to slaves these days...

 

[PLC1]

Update: E-Verify

guest working gets you all those little...laws, and safety issues, and all that...illegals you can ignore them all, no threat of Union, and anyone who does not do illegal work for you ( that would be illegal for you to have a American do) you can just threaten with deportation...Its as close as you can get to slaves these days...

Well, maybe. The fact is, there is a huge attraction to hiring illegals.

There is a way to verify legal status online, called "E-Verify", but hardly anyone uses it.

Today's article about illegal immigration

Businesses have a free, simple way to check that their new hires are legal. Although far from perfect, it could reduce the lure of employment that draws illegal immigrants, experts say.

But most employers who depend on illegal workers -- including the vast majority of agriculture businesses in the Central Valley -- won't use it.

And Congress, under pressure from business leaders, refuses to make them -- despite a clear voter mandate to stop illegal immigration.

Nationally, about 3.3% of the nation's 7 million employers use E-Verify -- and some 1,100 employers enroll every week. Among agriculture companies, 2.2% use E-Verify, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the program.

E-Verify isn't perfect. Perhaps the biggest problem is that it is better at detecting made-up Social Security numbers than at recognizing those stolen from legal residents.

A report released late last year by an independent research firm estimated that 54% of illegal immigrants who were screened by E-Verify were misidentified as legal workers.

Obviously, E-Verify is not a perfect solution, but it could be a start. The problem is, Congress won't enact a law requiring it, so a business that uses it is at a disadvantage compared to the competition due to higher labor costs.

 

[PLC1]

Parte tres- tread lightly with employers

*
Cracking down on illegal immigration can backfire

Aggressive crackdowns can backfire if they hurt business. A sweep of Midwestern meatpacking plants in the late 1990s, for example, prompted outrage from business and civic leaders. Immigration officials have learned to tread lightly.

Many experts say aggressively cracking down on employers will rid the nation of illegal immigrants. Because the vast majority of them come here to work, America would be a much less appealing destination without job opportunities.

But advocates for stricter enforcement say there is little political appetite to sever the co-dependent relationship between businesses and illegal immigrants.

Which has been said on this forum many times in our threads about illegal immigration.

And aggressive enforcement, agents have learned, can backfire.

Really? How so? Well, as a result of aggressive crackdown on the meat packing industry....

"All hell broke loose," said Mark Reed, a former top INS official who was in charge of the crackdown, dubbed Operation Vanguard. "All of a sudden, these communities that wanted these people out of there realized that they needed them. They didn't realize that the kids who played on their soccer teams and the people they went to church with were going to go. They didn't realize that they were the center of their economy."

There is a "co dependent relationship" between business and illegal immigration. Since business supports political campaigns, there is a co dependent relationship there, too. No wonder illegal immigration has been going on for decades with no effective government action.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Re: Update: E-Verify

Well, maybe. The fact is, there is a huge attraction to hiring illegals.

There is a way to verify legal status online, called "E-Verify", but hardly anyone uses it.

Today's article about illegal immigration



Obviously, E-Verify is not a perfect solution, but it could be a start. The problem is, Congress won't enact a law requiring it, so a business that uses it is at a disadvantage compared to the competition due to higher labor costs.

I agree its to easy of a good start, but of republicans will cry it will hurt small buisness ( when they say small they mean big of course)

They want to stop illegals, but not with any sensical way to do it, must be a big giant machine gun lined wall or something. Or the High on LSD idea of round them all up and deport them all)

 

[PLC1]

Re: Update: E-Verify

I agree its to easy of a good start, but of republicans will cry it will hurt small buisness ( when they say small they mean big of course)

They want to stop illegals, but not with any sensical way to do it, must be a big giant machine gun lined wall or something. Or the High on LSD idea of round them all up and deport them all)

Yes, the right wing will continue to rant and rail about illegal immigration, while supporting the idea of a wall, and all the while decrying expensive government boondoggles. They won't want to target employers, because they want to appear to be pro business. The left wing, on the other hand, will feel the pain of the illegals and want to give them amnesty, ignoring the effect amnesty had on illegal immigration back in the '80s.

Meanwhile, where are the voices for practical solutions to this problem? (silence)