Michigan farmers say U.S. crackdown threatens labor shortage (Immigration)

ap ^ | 7-28-05

[Dan from Michigan]

If they are legal, I have no problem. If they are illegal, fine the business and deport the illegal.

[U.H. Conservative]

Poor babies might have to pay some decent wages or maybe automate like the Australians.

[Plutarch]

Each illegal alien costs the taxpayer a net $89,000 lifetime. Mr. Blueberry farmer doesn't volunteer to pay that does he? Nooooooo, we have that sucker the taxpayer who will pay up, because if he objects to paying he can be called a racist, xenophobe, nativist etc.

[cabojoe]

The former cherry pickers are probably too busy hanging drywall. Once they get a foot in the country why would they want to pick cherries?

[kingu]

Strikes me as an admission of guilt, right there in the newspaper. Seems like a visit from the ICE is in order.

[seastay]

Sort of reminds one of the several reasons the Civil War began:

The areas of the United States had different economies. In the North, the economy was based on factories and wages . Everyday people worked in the factories. The South had large plantations, which grew cotton. The plantation owners needed the slaves to pick the cotton. They didn’t receive wages, but they were provided food and shelter. In the Midwest, wheat was the number one cash crop. It was harvested by a machine, so they didn’t need as many workers or slaves. These different economies caused divisions in the United States.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

There are millions of freeloaders sitting on their arses, all over the place, Detroit comes to mind, put them to work!

[international american]

I hope they all go bankrupt.

[Spktyr]

Time to bring back the WPA and make it mandatory for all welfare recipients.

[Clemenza]

A dirty secret about our illegal immigration problem is that its not so much "big business" strong arming our government into looking the other way (can't remember seeing too many illegals on the Boeing assembly line), its the agricultural and restaurant industries.

[U.H. Conservative]

Agribusiness is not big business? Folks in Arkansas would be surprised if someone told them that about Tyson.

[Oldexpat]

Hey..most business's don't hire illegals.
You will just have to raise the wages to attract legal employees. Seems to me a lot of kids used to do that kind of stuff,because it was enough pay to really amount to something. From grade 8 to 12 I worked every summer at the same kind of manual labor jobs and always got paid more than minimum wage, plus overtime due to labor shortage.
Equivalent wage today would be about $10-12 per hour.

[Clemenza]

ADM and Tyson are also the recepients of a considerable amount of federal largesse. The fact of the matter is that both BigAg and the family farmer are united in bringing "mas mojados" to the US.

[umgud]

Farmers in northwestern Michigan's fruit belt say that fears of a federal crackdown on illegal immigrants are leaving them desperately short of labor this harvest season.

Tell them not to worry. Nobody's gonna take away their illegal workers.

[U.H. Conservative]

Victor Davis Hanson has interesting insights on the issue as a family farmer.

[international american]

"Hey..most business's don't hire illegals. "



With all due respect, most businesses where I live do hire illegals.

[clee1]

...a federal crackdown on illegal immigrants are leaving them desperately short of labor this harvest season.

Cry me a river!

Pay better wages and you will find LEGAL employees. If you have to raise prices to do so, so be it.

[26lemoncharlie]

We put a man on the friggin moon, we can invent machines to pick a friggin fruit!! OR

Hire some unemployed people and pay some decent wages

[gubamyster]

ping

[Walkenfree]

Great idea, except the disabled.