Farmers Oppose Immigration Legislation

[The Straight Story]

Farmers Oppose Immigration Legislation

As the Indiana General Assembly tackles the issue of immigration, Indiana farmers call for a dependable migrant labor force. Senate Bill 590. which passed out of committee after a 4 hour hearing this week, would make it harder and more time consuming to hire migrant farm workers. Several Indiana farmers who use migrant labor testified against the legislation. Bob Kraft, with Indiana Farm Bureau, says IFB also opposes the legislation, “Agriculture, more than anyone in the hiring arena, needs to be able to hire a workforce when the crops are ready without going through a bureaucratic process.” Kraft said the legislation would require farmers to determine if there was anyone receiving unemployment compensation who wanted the job before they could hire a migrant worker, “When you need the work to be done, you need the work to be done, and by someone who knows how to do the job. Migrant workers fill that role.” He added if those migrant workers happen to be Hispanic, so be it.

Farm Bureau President Don Villwock joined a group of state and religious leaders this week in unveiling the Indiana Compact, ““We support the Indiana Compact as proposed. Congress needs to address comprehensive immigration reform so that the United States’ borders and its food production system are secure.” The compact is a series of 5 statements that deal with the issue of immigration, the first of which states that immigration is a issue for Washington to deal with, “Immigration is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries - not Indiana and other countries. We urge Indiana’s Congressional delegation, and others, to lead efforts to strengthen and reform federal laws. We recognize that border security is a critical element of national security, and further urge our Congressional representatives to work to protect the borders as part of a comprehensive immigration policy.”

http://www.hoosieragtoday.com/wire/news/00087_imigration_182905.php

[notesdev]

1. How about hiring Americans?

I know it's a radical idea these days to actually hire an American to do a job, but with unemployment where it is there is no excuse for hiring a foreign worker over a US worker.

[datasuspect]

2. so you want to pay $5 for a tomato?

?

Most Americans won't accept slave wages for back breaking agricultural labor.

You have to pay Americans more than you would an undocumented migrant worker.

Plus, there's tons of paperwork, legal compliance, workers comp, IRS compliance, state labor law compliance, liability.

If you employ legal workers to do this work, all the administrative costs come right off the bottom line.

From a business standpoint, it's easier to pay illegal migrant workers below minimum wage to work fields.

Your only outlay is that negligible cash payment. If they get hurt on the job, oh well, they don't have papers, they won't create a problem.

Your average fat American knows the power of litigation and will sue to get their fucked up back fixed on the farmer's dime.

[notesdev]

5. Well, if you want to go that route, there's an even better solution

Which would be to bring back slavery. Since worker protections don't matter and people are disposable, and all that is OK if it brings the price of a tomato down... the economic model is essentially a feudal society.

Now I'm a lot more on the libertarian side of things than the average folk around here, but I wouldn't dream of going that far. Those kind of working conditions, if made standard, would virtually guarantee a revolution. The only reason I can think of to pursue that as a goal would be if you were eager to see what comes afterward.

If the only way that a US worker is competitive is to make him work in third-world conditions, we have a serious problem here.

[datasuspect]

6. yes, we have a serious problem here

globalism ensures that we must compete with the 3rd world.

you know who loses? your neighbors, your friends, maybe even you and your family.

the rich get richer, the 3rd world poor get a little bump, but the average American gets fucked.

[OhioChick]

4. +1000 n/t

[dkf]

3. Migrant workers should only be acceptable when we are at full employment.

And these are the exact guys who need to be aware of bureaucracy so they don't hire people who don't qualify for legal employment. If they want a fast track verification, that needs to be the law. Expedience is no excuse for illegality.

[white_wolf]

7. I'm sorry but

with unemployment what it is, hiring migrant workers should not be happening. We have plenty of people here who need a job. If we have to pay a little more to give them a decent wage then that's fine. We never should have been happy exploiting others at slave level wages in the first place, we will have to pay the price eventually.