October 14, 2006

Saturday Forum
A Border Patrol Agent Reveals More About How Corrupt Company Officials Profit From Illegal Immigration; etc.
From: Marlin Spike [e-mail him]

On 10/07/06 you published a letter I wrote [ read it here] on how poultry plant owners and operators reap the big bucks from the illegal labor market�not only by employing them but also by recruiting them.

Since your readers indicated interest in knowing more, here�s my follow up.

My first letter described the relationship between company officers, their illegal workers, and the �labor supply companies� the officers create on the side.

I wrote that the plant owners have a front man to run the labor supply company that provides their businesses with illegal alien workers.

Many large companies�not necessarily limited to poultry plants�have their own in-house smuggler. Smaller operations rely on freelance smugglers for their supply of illegal laborers.

But now, according to information from insiders, I�ve learned that some of the �good old boys� in the poultry business have expanded their alien recruiting by forming a labor supply company to fill the needs of small to medium sized shipyards along the Gulf Coast area.

The seaport-based labor supply company petition for a number of shipyard workers (welders, fitters, etc.) it claims are needed because their clients could not find sufficient local labor.

The company, which has opened an office in India, usually requests, under the H-2B visa program, twice the number of aliens actually needed.

The remainder is farmed out to other industries. The labor company has "sold" these excess "skilled" workers to other shipyards along the Gulf Coast and up the east coast to New Jersey and beyond.

Sometimes, those brought in on H-2B visas to work at shipyards end up at the poultry plants through previous arrangement with the labor supply company.

It will come as no surprise that one of the favored clients of this labor contractor recently announced that it is setting up a large trailer park and will import hundreds of Indian shipyard workers in the near future.

This comes on the heels of a recent announcement that a Chinese labor company plans to import thousands of Chinese workers to be "rented" to domestic labor companies to quench the thirst of the hopelessly greedy American employer.

Spike retired in January 2005 after 35 years of service as a Border Patrol Agent and immigration inspector in Texas and the southeastern U.S.

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A New York Reader Says Poultry Processors, Construction Barons And Just About Everyone Loves Cheap Labor
From: David Brown [e-mail him]

After reading Spike, now I understand how money is made in the poultry industry.

I live in Manhattan and our apartment (Waterside Plaza) is under renovation. According to what I�m told, the entire crew was imported from Guatemala specifically for this job.

They are young and have worked overtime for more than a year. But who knows if they are paid accordingly?

All the bosses however are white. I wonder if the complex owner, billionaire real estate mogul Richard Ravitch is in on the scam. I can�t help but think so.

Keep writing and exposing. Today is an ugly version of the 19th Century labor abuses all over again.