Thread: With exemption, House tells illegals their place is in the..

With exemption, House tells illegals their place is in the field
Posted by Travis Fain on Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 10:44 AM

In passing House Bill 36 last week, the N.C. House of Representatives sent illegal immigrants a message.

If you want to come here and tend our fields, pick our crops or otherwise work outside in the sun, we'll look the other way. But if you try to put on a collared shirt and tie, we're coming for you.

Let me explain.

House Bill 36 broadens the state's E-Verify requirements. Already state agencies are supposed to submit the names of potential hires to a federal database to determine whether they can work legally in the United States. House 36 initially expanded this requirement to city and county governments, as well as private companies with government contracts.

Then legislators included any business with 25 or more employees, with a notable exception. From the bill:

Exemption. — The requirement to register and participate in E-Verify to verify the work authorization of new employees does not apply to an entity that employs solely seasonal temporary employees for 90 or fewer days during a 12-consecutive-month period.

Obviously that exempts crop pickers, the guys who stand outside of Home Depot looking for construction jobs and any number of short-term jobs undocumented immigrants may get.

Asked about this, Speaker of the House Thom Tillis noted that many crops have a short harvest window — you either pick them, or they rot. He said the best example is blueberries, and that farmers told the legislature they don't have time to verify the hundreds of people who show up to pick them.

Some of those people are children, but that's another column.

There's no intent, Tillis said, to tell undocumented immigrants they're welcome to field work but not a job with, say, air conditioning.

"No, I — it may send that message," Tillis said. "But I think that it's — they're drawing the wrong conclusions. This just has to do with the practical limitations of the job we're talking about and the employment base that would go to it. ... The vast majority of (crop pickers) are, I believe, valid workers."

Just to extend that logic - the "vast majority" of Latinos working in North Carolina fields are valid workers. And, yet, we've allegedly got this massive illegal immigration problem that costs all this taxpayer money and requires a number of GOP-driven legislative overhauls, including attempts to track illegal immigrants in schools and new identification requirements to vote or receive any number of government services.

I don't think both those things can be true.

I asked House Speaker Pro Tem Dale Folwell, one of H 36's sponsors, whether he thought the bill sent a conflicting message to immigrants. He said he hadn't thought about it that way. State Rep. Rick Glazier, a Cumberland Democrat who voted against the bill, agreed that it does.

"That's precisely what the bill does," Glazier said. "I think it absolutely creates that blatantly inconsistent position."

Farm interests lobby against immigration crackdowns for a reason. Our food chain depends, at least in part, on the prevalence of relatively cheap labor.

Take a look at this recent survey of Georgia farmers, taken after the Georgia legislature passed a much more restrictive crackdown:

- 46 percent said they have a labor shortage
- 24 percent said fewer people are applying for available jobs
- 37 percent said immigrant are concerned over Georgia's new immigration reforms
- 30 percent are worried they won't have the workers they need in the future


Georgia's slate of reforms take effect July 1, and similar rules were just signed into law in Alabama. It will be interesting to see what effect this has. But it's probably safe to expect North Carolina's illegal immigrant population will increase, and that harvest prices will go up in Alabama and Georgia.

Illegal immigration is against the law. But we have all but codified it in this country by allowing our food economy to be so intertwined with it. So, for those calling for a crackdown, that's fine. But think about whether you're willing to work a field for $12-$14 an hour (the average pay range in Georgia, per the above survey) and how much you're willing to pay for blueberries.

There is clearly significant government cost to illegal immigration. But there's also revenue, and if you account for the sales taxes illegal immigrants pay, the income taxes they pay on fake Social Security numbers, their contributions to the Social Security system and the effect a larger labor pool has on food prices ... well, who knows how the math works.

If you want to crack down on illegal immigration, that's fine. Just be careful what you ask for.

http://www.indyweek.com/triangulator/ar ... the-fields

"I sure am getting sick of these backstabbing farmers acting like they're working for the same crappy wages as most Americans are, Sorry Ol' McDonald I'm not feeling your pain!"

These farmers are so full of it. I remember a couple years ago it was on the news that a farmer lost half his orange crop to draught. He lost over a million dollars. These misers have been pulling this crap since the old days. Watch the Movie The Grapes Of Wrath. It is a true story of how they screwed over the guys working the feilds. And yes, they were mostly black and white guys, who used to work the fields, until these cheap-ass farmers discovered they could get help for practicly free from the mexicans. Farmers suck, always threathening to raise the prices if they cant have mexicans.

Farmers suck, always threathening to raise the prices if they cant have mexicans.

I have to take offense to what you just said. I come from a farming background and know a lot of farmers who want nothing to do with illegals. In fact almost all of the farmers in my area are that way and I don't know of any that do hire illegals.

That said most of the farmers in my area are into corn, soybeans, grapes or cows. The grape farmers in my area have a system where they hire churches, school groups, clubs and groups that need money for a fund raiser. They pay well and feed their helpers well. When the work's done they write a check to the club, church or charity. It's a win win situation. Illegals aren't needed plus the farmers get plenty of help.

Example-say you have a group of high school kids in band who want to go to another state to play the kids will go work the grape fields and make the money to do this. Or if your church needs a new organ or roof your group can go pick grapes to make the money for one.

Originally Posted by Mayday

That said most of the farmers in my area are into corn, soybeans, grapes or cows. The grape farmers in my area have a system where they hire churches, school groups, clubs and groups that need money for a fund raiser. They pay well and feed their helpers well. When the work's done they write a check to the club, church or charity. It's a win win situation. Illegals aren't needed plus the farmers get plenty of help.

Example-say you have a group of high school kids in band who want to go to another state to play the kids will go work the grape fields and make the money to do this. Or if your church needs a new organ or roof your group can go pick grapes to make the money for one.

genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Lone_Patriot

Originally Posted by Mayday

That said most of the farmers in my area are into corn, soybeans, grapes or cows. The grape farmers in my area have a system where they hire churches, school groups, clubs and groups that need money for a fund raiser. They pay well and feed their helpers well. When the work's done they write a check to the club, church or charity. It's a win win situation. Illegals aren't needed plus the farmers get plenty of help.

Example-say you have a group of high school kids in band who want to go to another state to play the kids will go work the grape fields and make the money to do this. Or if your church needs a new organ or roof your group can go pick grapes to make the money for one.

genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it is. Unfortunately it must be in the minority. In my 40+ years of life in this country, I have not heard anything this smart or logical in ages.

..........but then again, Im in California.

I have to take offense to what you just said. I come from a farming background and know a lot of farmers who want nothing to do with illegals. In fact almost all of the

What are you offended about!!! If the farms in your area dont hire illegals, that is great. Are you saying that the majority of farms operate that way? Cause I dont think so.

Originally Posted by pattyk

These farmers are so full of it. I remember a couple years ago it was on the news that a farmer lost half his orange crop to draught. He lost over a million dollars. These misers have been pulling this crap since the old days. Watch the Movie The Grapes Of Wrath. It is a true story of how they screwed over the guys working the feilds. And yes, they were mostly black and white guys, who used to work the fields, until these cheap-ass farmers discovered they could get help for practicly free from the mexicans. Farmers suck, always threathening to raise the prices if they cant have mexicans.

Chill out, Miss Patty....Ya really think the guy makes a million dollars profit off his crop??? If so, then all his equipment must be free....Checked out the cost of a new tractor or combine lately? How about fencing? How about equipment repair and maintenance? Ever have to buy a tractor tire?

I must have missed something growing up on a farm. You mean my dad held out on me, made me get student loans, hoarded all his riches so he could die bankrupt, made my mom wait 20 years for a new kitchen stove (because everything went into the barn until a bolt of lightening blew it all over the kitchen)....yeah, he must have been a miser.....

BTW: Got your little home garden growing yet? You may need it one of these days....Odds on how long you'd make on a real farm???

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

"I sure am getting sick of these backstabbing farmers acting like they're working for the same crappy wages as most Americans are, Sorry Ol' McDonald I'm not feeling your pain!"

And Mr. Rooferman...Is roofing really that much above farming??? Farming is a 24/7 job. I know, I've done both farming and roofing (Roofing pays A LOT more...).

But. in all seriousness....Wouldn't this problem be better addressed if seasonal workers came legally into this country, had their green cards or TWP's in order so that their records could move from farm to farm with them, thus no delay in e-verify? Those without DOCUMENTS wouldn't work???? If "The vast majority of (crop pickers) are valid workers," the crops will get picked.

Just imagine no more farms in this country...See what prices you'll then pay to put food on your table.

I'd like to know why these farmers are bemoaning a labor shortage when there are unlimited H-2A visas for legal foreign agricultural workers where American workers can't be found.