Thread: Congressman says sealed border would hurt cotton industry

http://news.bostonherald.com/national/v ... eid=120186

Congressman says sealed border would hurt cotton industry
By Associated Press
Friday, January 6, 2006 - Updated: 07:15 AM EST

SAN ANTONIO - West Texas cotton ginner Larry Nelson foresees a struggle to find enough workers to process the fluffy fiber if immigration reform leads to shutting the border with Mexico.
“We couldn’t survive without them,� Nelson said.
His sentiment echoed comments made this week at a cotton conference by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-San Antonio, who said sealing the border and charging the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. with felonies would be “very dangerous� for agriculture.
“For agriculture industry, having workers is very, very important,� Cuellar said after speaking to hundreds of cotton producers at the 2006 Beltwide Cotton Conferences. “If you make them felons, you have no workers.�
The House in mid-December passed legislation that includes measures such as enlisting military and local law enforcement help in stopping illegal entrants and requiring employers to verify the legal status of workers. It authorizes the building of a fence along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill also upgrades the civil offense of unlawful presence in the United States to a felony.
Workers typically come to Texas’ South Plains, the world’s largest contiguous cotton patch, after helping process cotton in the southern part of the state, which harvests the crop earlier, Plains Cotton Growers spokesman Shawn Wade said.
“There’s a certain segment that are doing it without documentation,� he said. “It’s the nature of the beast. From an industry standpoint, there’s a need to have that pool of employees available.�
Texas, the nation’s largest cotton-producing state, is on track to harvest 8.1 million bales for 2005, breaking the record set in 2004. Ginning of the 2005 crop continues.
While large machinery has reduced the amount of hand labor needed to harvest cotton, the same is not true of other crops, which would be more severely affected by immigration laws that would exclude undocumented workers, Wade said
“It’s not going to be near the issue as in (harvesting) fruits and vegetables,� he said.
The House legislation put off consideration of a guest worker program, which President Bush and many in Congress say must be part of a lasting solution to illegal immigration. Other legislators, Cuellar said, are eyeing a formula that would be a “pathway to earn citizenship.�
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has said he will bring up immigration legislation in February and that it will provide a framework for guest worker ideas.
Nelson said the Bracero Program, a U.S. guest worker system negotiated between Mexico and America that last ed from 1942 to 1964, was “the very best.� The plan began as a way for farm laborers from Mexico to help ease a worker shortage when young Americans entered the military.
“We’re in trouble and, unfortunately, we’re a very labor intensive industry,� Nelson said. “We need good workers.�

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Has to be the most idiotic statement that comes from the OBL. Oh if we deport the illegals are economy will grind to a halt. Wait a minute, losing a few million illegal unskilled/uneducated workers is going to grind our economy to a halt? That's so ridiculous, especially when there are millions of Americans who are unemployed and were displaced by these illegals. There are many industries and jobs that hire legal workers to do menial jobs and they still make a good sized profit. Anybody can do these jobs and alot of them can be done by yourselves.

It's pathetic that the media won't expose the truth behind this sham that employers want to hire these illegals to exploit them and dumb down the wages and get away with not paying taxes and benefits leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill for their health, education and other benefits. Heck these employers don't even pay a prevailing wage when they hire legal foreigners.

This scam violates several federal laws. This scam is ripping off the taxpayers left and right. Why do we continue to allow this scam to continue just so the ruling corporate elite can pad their purses? It's just pathetic. I don't care if the price for produce goes up. I'm more than willing to pay a few cents extra for a head of lettuce or whatever. Stop giving these illegals and the employers a free ride.

These corrupt employers are like whiney pro athletes, they cry when they are only making 50 mil instead of 100 mil. I'm sick of it and I want them all in jail and their businesses shut down. I don't care anymore. If a few businesses have to get shut down in order to save our country then so be it. Someone else will come along and replace them anyway. That's how capitalism works.

To the sellout congressman, I just wonder how much did the cotton industry pay you to spew that load of bull. I hope you and politicans like you receive your pink slips en masse this year and afterwards get fitted for an orange jump suit.

The cotton industry has been mechanized for many many years...someone needs to drive the machinery...but it doesn't depend on an illegal to do it...

This is a buncha fright stuff...O!...Our economy will falter...we don't have enough skilled workers in the US...so we have to call for totally uneducated people from another country...OMG..and the stuff goes on...we're about to drown in BS...

RR

"Without slaves, who will pick the cotton?"

They have been saying the same damn thing for 300 years.

When the supply of labor becomes tight, the wages go up. When the wages go up, the supply of labor increases. This is basic fundamental economics. There might be short term pain, but the long term gain will be well worth it. It's about time illegals wore the label they deserve...criminals.

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

When the supply of labor becomes tight, the wages go up. When the wages go up, the supply of labor increases. This is basic fundamental economics. There might be short term pain, but the long term gain will be well worth it. It's about time illegals wore the label they deserve...criminals.

Truer words were never spoken, Scarecrow.