Bad News: Department of Agriculture Hires Immigration Expert from the Farm Bureau

Bad News: Department of Agriculture Hires Immigration Expert from the Farm Bureau



April 21, 2017

David North


In another indication of the differing level of commitment to U.S. workers by the Trump administration, it has been announced that a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation has been hired by the new Secretary of Agriculture to work on immigration and labor matters.


She is Kristi Boswell, and it is highly likely that she will push to get agribusiness the workers it wants, including foreign workers at the minimal wages it wants to pay. That certainly is the posture of the Farm Bureau, the largest of the agricultural lobbying organizations.


Her appointment is bad news for anyone wanting to contain the growth of the H-2A (foreign farm worker) program, which was loosely enough administered by Obama's Department of Labor. There were 283,500 admissions (though there is some double counting) of H-2A workers in 2015, the last year for which we have data.


Boswell will work for Secretary of Agriculture-designee, Sonny Perdue, the former GOP governor of Georgia, who is a first cousin of one of that state's senators, David Perdue (R-Ga.).


Speaking of last names, Boswell may well be related to Stewart Boswell, the all-too-skilled agri-business lobbyist I tangled with 50 years ago when I worked on farm labor issues for the then Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz. Biographical material on the internet does not touch on this point.


http://cis.org/north/bad-news-depart...rt-farm-bureau

Trump's Immigration Adviser, Kristi Boswell, has some messages from Americans on her Twitter about her push for foreign workers.

Example:

"Replying to @KristiBoswell @cathymcmorrisBring in the cheap labor! So what if it means our grandchildren r outnumbered by violent third-world peasants."


https://mobile.twitter.com/KristiBos...56414893654017

Related:

https://www.alipac.us/f9/reform-agri...ptions-346300/

Most farmers are all Democrats. The Farm Bureau is all Democrats. Why are Republicans sucking up to Democrats on illegal immigration? SNAP OUT OF IT.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

Most farmers are all Democrats. The Farm Bureau is all Democrats. Why are Republicans sucking up to Democrats on illegal immigration? SNAP OUT OF IT.

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Why do you believe most farmers are Democrats? Well, you may want to reconsider your information source because it's wrong. The majority of farmers in the United States vote Republican. Additionally, regardless of state, Farm Bureaus tend to be more conservative and endorse far more Republicans than Democrats.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MW

Why do you believe most farmers are Democrats? Well, you may want to reconsider your information source because it's wrong. The majority of farmers in the United States vote Republican. Additionally, regardless of state, Farm Bureaus tend to be more conservative and endorse far more Republicans than Democrats.

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Really? Then why do they hire illegal aliens and want amnesty for their workers?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

Really? Then why do they hire illegal aliens and want amnesty for their workers?

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It's not because they're Democrats. Remember, the farming community likes their 'cheap' labor and farm subsidies. ;-)

Sounds very Democrat to me. I said they were all Democrats because when I was growing up almost all the farmers were Democrats because the Democrats pushed and passed all the farm bills. And here where I am now, they're all Democrats for the same reason. But I guess out there in the great somewhere, they're Republicans. Well, then that puts a wrinkle into things, now doesn't it? Republicans fighting Republicans.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judy

Sounds very Democrat to me. I said they were all Democrats because when I was growing up almost all the farmers were Democrats because the Democrats pushed and passed all the farm bills. And here where I am now, they're all Democrats for the same reason. But I guess out there in the great somewhere, they're Republicans. Well, then that puts a wrinkle into things, now doesn't it? Republicans fighting Republicans.

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You may find this interesting:

http://verdantlabs.com/politics_of_professions/

Judy, here in California once you get away from the Coast it is all primarily farming communities and primarily Republican. My small acreage is smack dab in the middle of a very Republican Farming Community. In the past most farmers in California relied on the Bracero Program now most are becoming mechanized. I have watched amazed at how it works. You want to plant a new field of alfalfa, corn or even almond trees, etc. You hire a mechanized farming company to come in with their machines to work the fields and plant your crops. I have even seen them plant crops by airplanes. You want your crops harvested. You hire a company to come in with their machines and trucks and they come in and harvest everything in a short time. The farmers still tend their fields on a day to day basis, but the heavy work is now done by machines.

The work in all the dairies around here is also mechanized. Most of the work is done by American males and females. Every morning I wake up to the young lady that's family owns the almond farm next to me heading off to work in a dairy. The kids go off to college to study Ag and them come back to this community to work on their families Dairies and Farms.

The issue of needing illegal immigrants to work in the fields is not a Democrat vs Republican issue. It is not even the main threat to Agriculture in Northern California. The Agriculture Industry is fighting over the regulations our liberal government is implementing. They are fighting over their water rights. The theft of their water being sent south to corporate farms.

Related:

Donald Trump’s Ag Secretary Pushes for Illegal Immigrants, Not Robots

https://www.alipac.us/f12/donald-tru...robots-346565/

Related:

VIDEO: Kristi Boswell included.

https://www.alipac.us/f13/agday-howa...curity-346568/

FIRE THE LOBBYIST!!

TELL REPUBLICAN FARMERS: NO AMNESTY FOR FARM WORKERS AND STOP ASKING!!

American Farmers, Monday is LOYALTY DAY. No country on earth has been as appreciative or helpful to the farming community as the United States. We bail you out of droughts, infestations, overproduction, we guarantee many of your prices through parity, we pay you not to grow or produce to protect the land and markets, we sacrificed our industrial base to open up new foreign markets for your products, we provide you with low interest government guaranteed loans, and a zillion other forms of assistance.

It's time now, for you to do something for US. It's time for you to remove yourselves from the immigration problem and the debates about it so we can solve this illegal immigration problem once and for all. You need to go to your farm offices and "bureaus" and associations and come up with new ideas to hire American Workers or satisfy your needs with existing temporary farm worker visas.

It's your turn now to show the American People who have enriched you and your families beyond your wildest imaginations to the LOYALTY we deserve as your fellow citizens, as taxpayers and as consumers. We want Americans put back to work, we want illegal aliens deported, we want welfare spending reduced because of it, and we want you to go about your important business in a legal fashion in full compliance with all of our food safety, environmental and immigration laws.

It's not too much to ask, because it's the same as we ask and expect of everyone else.

In other words, hire American Workers, whatever it takes, and stop whining.