Thread: OR-Illegal immigration: a reality check ( BS )

Illegal immigration: a reality check
By Guest Columnist
May 03, 2010, 7:00AMBy Constance Emerson Crooker

I fear the immigration debate, triggered by Arizona's new law, is taking place in a factual vacuum. Most of us are ignorant of the lives of undocumented Mexican workers, because they don't write books or appear on talk shows, so they have no voice.

I have visited labor camps in Oregon where migrant workers live on a shoestring in the most appalling conditions so they can send money home to relatives, and so they can pay the mayordomo (the supervisor of their workplace), the coyote (the person who helped smuggle them across the border), and others who grab a cut in the migrant worker food chain.

They dutifully pay their debts. I have had Mexican clients appear in person at my law office to pay $20 or $30 in cash weekly until their legal fees were paid.

They contribute to Social Security with no benefit to themselves. The owner of the farm or nursery where they work will withhold wages to comply with federal law. But if the workers' Social Security cards are fake, they can never collect these withheld earnings. Who knows how many billions have poured into U.S. coffers, never to be claimed. The same holds true for unemployment insurance paid in but never claimed.

Although they do have legal rights to a few needed services such as court-appointed lawyers or medical emergency rooms, contrary to popular opinion undocumented workers do not qualify for most public benefits, nor would they apply out of fear of being caught and deported. Far from being savvy scammers, they lack transportation and information. I have had to instruct unsophisticated clients on how to take the bus to my law office. They would arrive exhausted from long hours of work and would fall asleep in a chair, relishing a few rare moments to sit down. They lack the ability to navigate our complex welfare and food stamp systems, even if they could qualify. Plus, Mexico offers fewer social welfare systems than America does, so Mexicans are not accustomed to seeking government aid. Theirs is a culture of work today so you can eat today.

As for taking jobs from citizens, Oregon farm and nursery owners have told me that they wouldn't hire locals to do the same work because they lack the skills and the stamina. For centuries, under the yoke of the Spanish, the laboring class of Mexicans were forced to work long hours without rest, and whether it be culture or acclimation they are proud that they can still do it. And Mexicans have their own network for teaching each other proper tools and techniques. I once marveled as I watched Mexican workers prune Christmas trees into perfect cones in mere seconds per tree.

When I eat fruit from Hood River or vegetables from the Willamette Valley, I think of all the skilled and diligent Mexican hands my food has passed through to get to me at a reasonable price, subsidized by their non-union labor.

All these undocumented workers wouldn't be here if both we and they were not benefiting, so it is time to fashion a humane immigration policy that takes into account the social and economic realities that shape both cultures.

Constance Emerson Crooker is a retired attorney and former consulting lawyer to the Mexican Consul in Oregon and the author of "The Art of Legal Interpretation: A Guide for Court Interpreters" and other law-related works.


http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index ... ality.html


CAN YOU SPELL " CONFLICT OF INTEREST "?

I have visited labor camps in Oregon where migrant workers live on a shoestring in the most appalling conditions so they can send money home to relatives, and so they can pay the mayordomo (the supervisor of their workplace), the coyote (the person who helped smuggle them across the border), and others who grab a cut in the migrant worker food chain.

Yaaaawwwwnnnn, blah, blah, blaaaahh. They could have saved themselves the trouble by coming in as legal workers.

Don't care, they put themselves in this position, they can take themselves back home.

Most of us are ignorant of the lives of undocumented Mexican workers, because they don't write books or appear on talk shows, so they have no voice.

BWAAAAA HAAAAAAA. Thanks, I needed a good laugh. What do you call marching in the streets demanding full rights of citizens? What do you call Luis Guitierrez braying to any available camera? What do you call Shakira shaking her patoot and crying "unfair, racist"?

Oregon farm and nursery owners have told me that they wouldn't hire locals to do the same work because they lack the skills and the stamina

RAAACIM.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Most of us are ignorant of the lives of undocumented Mexican workers, because they don't write books or appear on talk shows, so they have no voice.

BWAAAAA HAAAAAAA. Thanks, I needed a good laugh. What do you call marching in the streets demanding full rights of citizens? What do you call Luis Guitierrez braying to any available camera? What do you call Shakira shaking her patoot and crying "unfair, racist"?

[quote:3jgsnw37]Oregon farm and nursery owners have told me that they wouldn't hire locals to do the same work because they lack the skills and the stamina

RAAACIM.[/quote:3jgsnw37]
You are so right. These people are no longer in the shadows. We see them in the public everyday, and they are trying to fight for rights they do not deserve.

"When I eat fruit from Hood River or vegetables from the Willamette Valley, I think of all the skilled and diligent Mexican hands my food has passed through to get to me at a reasonable price, subsidized by their non-union labor. "

And their high priced labor----compared to Third World agribusiness----will drive American farms under. It is only through replacing human labor with automation that American agriculture can survive.

"When I eat fruit from Hood River or vegetables from the Willamette Valley, I think of all the skilled and diligent Mexican hands my food has passed through to get to me at a reasonable price, subsidized by their non-union labor. "

Skilled and diligent????????? Why do they call it unskilled labor???

Studies show that replacing illegal, underpaid labor with fairly paid legal labor has a very small effect on the price of food.

Further, we should be willing to pay the slight increase to protect American labor.