Thread: Deadline Day for Farmers

Deadline Day for Farmers

WCAX.com (Montpelier, Vermont)
November 24, 2009

Today was the deadline for several Vermont farms to turn over paperwork on their employees to Homeland Security.

Last week, as part of a nationwide federal crackdown, authorities handed out subpoenas to five Vermont businesses, at least four of them were dairy farms. The goal is to catch workers who have provided illegal documents.

The crackdown surprised the Governor. He says the solution is not to target farms, but a new visa program, so farmers can legally hire the help they need year round since not enough Vermonters will do the work.

"I've certainly been outspoken about the concern I have during the last few years about the scrutiny of migrant workers when the answer to this problem is really at the federal level, the Congress need to pass some immigration reform," said the Governor.

Senator Leahy is holding a hearing December 9th with the Department of Homeland Security Secretary.

Leahy is pushing for an immediate rule change to allow farmers to keep their help.

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?S=11566969

Leahy is pushing for an immediate rule change to allow farmers to keep their help.

What??????????

Why not hire hard-working American workers instead?

Originally Posted by ELE

Leahy is pushing for an immediate rule change to allow farmers to keep their help.

What??????????

Why not hire hard-working American workers instead?

Because you cannot find "hard-working American workers" to work the fields.

They all want to drive the tractor and nothing else. Well documented.

I sure as hell wouldn't!

ccsingleton, welcome to Alipac.

Perhaps it depends where you live, in my area the unemployment rate is so high ( we live in a Sanctuary City) and most Americans would do just about anything to feed their familes.

The real reason that farmers and other employers don't want to hire Americans is that by law employers have to pay American workers minimum wage and benefits, with Illegals it's all cash and carry.

Also if the H. Care bill passes employers will be required by law to pay for H. Insurance for even part-timers. This of course will especially devastate employers of small/medium businesses that want to hire American workers. And illegals will of course be able to sponge "free "health care from the American tax payers.

PS
In my area and across the country, I know that Ph D's are in line with other highly skilled people applying for postions like Janitor. Very sad and frightening.

Originally Posted by ccsingleton

Originally Posted by ELE

Leahy is pushing for an immediate rule change to allow farmers to keep their help.

What??????????

Why not hire hard-working American workers instead?

Because you cannot find "hard-working American workers" to work the fields.

They all want to drive the tractor and nothing else. Well documented.

I sure as hell wouldn't!

Where's your documentation? Are you sure about not finding hard working American workers? I've picked grapes, irrigated corn and have done tons of other farm chores. Being a farmer is not an easy job. I can speak from experience as I grew up on a farm and many of my relatives are farmers. Also just for the record I've never driven a tractor. In the fields here I do not see any illegals working them except for stealing sweet corn when it's ready.

I do believe that this newbie is a troll!

What may happen eventually, is that Americans will start to work for the pay that illegals work for out of desparation. They will work cash under the table to put food on the table. I had to a few times when I first left home. I couldn't exactly call Mom, amd Dad for money when they were 1500 miles away. Plus the people in the apple orchard would pay me a couple bucks cash to pick apples when I was a youngster after school in the fall. In the summer I would catch nightcrawlers after sunset, and in the morning net minnows, and sell bait off the end of grampa's dock in the warmer months. Winter time, get the snow shovel out, and go around the neighborhood.

It's not that Americans won't do the work, but you need to pay people a wage that makes it worth them coming to work. If they can't put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, then the question comes up, "what's the point"?

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

What may happen eventually, is that Americans will start to work for the pay that illegals work for out of desparation.

I believe that "that" was always the purpose of allowing this flood of IAs from the very beginning.

Originally Posted by Mayday

Originally Posted by ccsingleton

Originally Posted by ELE

Leahy is pushing for an immediate rule change to allow farmers to keep their help.

What??????????

Why not hire hard-working American workers instead?

Because you cannot find "hard-working American workers" to work the fields.

They all want to drive the tractor and nothing else. Well documented.

I sure as hell wouldn't!

Where's your documentation? Are you sure about not finding hard working American workers? I've picked grapes, irrigated corn and have done tons of other farm chores. Being a farmer is not an easy job. I can speak from experience as I grew up on a farm and many of my relatives are farmers. Also just for the record I've never driven a tractor. In the fields here I do not see any illegals working them except for stealing sweet corn when it's ready.

I do believe that this newbie is a troll!

I agree. There are several trolls here. It is a "soft attack."

ELE wrote:

"PS
In my area and across the country, I know that Ph D's are in line with other highly skilled people applying for postions like Janitor. Very sad and frightening."

I remember when I was in college and right after (in the early 1960's!!), we were told that this was the situation in India - people with Ph.D.s who, despite all their education, could not find any form of employment. Now (with, I might add, the importation of a great many H1-B Visa workers and other immigrants from that very country), that situation has come here. Unless we are able to turn this around, we, too, will soon become just another overcrowded, class-ridden society with a strong divide between our urban and agricultual populations, just like the Europe many of our ancestors (and now those from Asia and Latin America) came here to escape and build a new society.