Thread: Farmers say immigrants vital =South Carolina

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/ne ... 301711.htm










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Posted on Fri, Aug. 18, 2006



Farmers say immigrants vital to state agriculture industry
Without them, farms would shut down, owner says
By NOELLE PHILLIPS
nophillips@thestate.com

If illegal immigrants in South Carolina were deported, the state’s agriculture industry would move overseas with them, S.C. farmers said Thursday.

“Farms that are growing perishable crops would go out of business overnight,” said Chalmers Carr, owner of Titan Peach Farms in Ridge Spring. “Ag production would move off shore.”

Carr and three others spoke Thursday to the South Carolina Ag Council during a panel discussion about immigration in the United States. The council wanted its members to understand the consequences of any action that might be taken on the issue, said Miriam Pflug, the ag council president.

Immigration has been heavily debated since the U.S. House passed a bill this spring that would make it a felony to illegally cross the nation’s borders and would punish those who help or employ illegal immigrants. The Senate passed a more moderate version and now the two chambers must find middle ground.

In South Carolina, agriculture has a $7 billion impact on the state’s economy, according to the S.C. Department of Agriculture.

Carr said he supports border security, but the current House bill would hurt farmers because they rely on immigrant workers because Americans no longer take the manual labor jobs.

“In what community in this country are we raising unskilled workers?” Carr asked.

The federal government must figure out a method of identifying illegal immigrants already in the country, and then find a fair way to phase them into the legal work force, Carr said.

Carr already participates in a federal agricultural visa program that allows him to bring 300 Mexican workers to the United States each year for 10 months of work.

However, the program allows just 50,000 workers in the country annually and there are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Thomas Legare Jr., whose family owns a sod and nursery farm on Johns Island, employs four full-time Hispanic workers and 10 to 12 immigrants in the spring. He said a federal solution is needed, especially since states and some cities have created separate immigration laws.

“We don’t need every Tom, Dick or Harry with a badge that sees a Mexican driving down the road to pull him over and seize his car and the $2,000 he has in his pocket,” Legare said. “We need a viable federal government program.”

Legare said if food production moved overseas more problems would be created.

Plus, food would not be as fresh, and many foreign companies do not regulate pesticides and other chemicals, he said.

“The security of this country is at stake when you rely on a foreign source for food,” Legare said.

Reach Phillips at (803) 771-8307.






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© 2006 The State and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.thestate.com

“We need a viable federal government program.”

That's going to be a problem. Everything the fed does requires that citizens subsidize your workforce. I think we'll be better off paying more for vegetables while you take care of worker needs. Adding a beaurocracy to deliver services to your workers is a bad deal.

“The security of this country is at stake when you rely on a foreign source for food,” Legare said.

And so it is when we depend on foreign workers.

If illegal immigrants in South Carolina were deported, the state’s agriculture industry would move overseas with them, S.C. farmers said Thursday.

I'm wodering how they got along all those years without illegal alien workers? Maybe the real issue is that they've become addicted to cheap labor.

Mornin' y'all,

Do illegals do some stoop labor...yes.

However, the program allows just 50,000 workers in the country annually and there are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Not all illegals work farms. They are a small percentage of the total work force in the USA. Americans and LEGAL immigrants do MOST of the work, in spite of the pro-illegal mantra.

I highly suggest reading this article:


http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... o+educated