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Trump and his supporters insult them and demonstrate little understanding or appreciation for what this labor force means to Americans, but now we'll all begin to better understand I think...
“Every day, the food we eat, the dairy products, the wine, the berries and veggies — it all passes through the hands of undocumented immigrants,” said Gutiérrez. “Every American is complicit in the reality that we depend on agriculture, and agriculture depends on immigrants, but we have not allowed those workers to come here legally nor allowed them to work legally once they have been here.”
One in 10 agriculture workers in California are born outside of the U.S., and more than half are not in the country legally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
California produces more than 350 commodities; including one-third of the nation’s vegetables and nearly two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. California also produces 90 percent of the strawberries grown in the U.S.
Seems to me that all Trump is going to end up doing is force the issue of providing for more legalized immigration, more legitimate Hispanic Americans. Can't have it both ways in any case...
Liberals insult Americans and demonstrate little understanding or appreciation for the rule of law.
What you've written didn't add anything to anyone's "understanding". How exactly have we not allowed them to come here legally? We haven't even tried, since we've made it easy for workers to come here illegally.
I agree the issue is not a "make or break" for the entire U.S. economy, but there is an impact that deserves better measure and consideration.
I've been in the process of remodeling a home for a few years now, and it seems I cannot request a job done around here without someone of hispanic descent coming to offer me a quote. Plumbing, sheet rock work, electrical, roofing, gardening...
At a minimum, at least around here, I'm sure if the hispanic workforce were not around (I don't ask if they are legal or not, just as I don't non-hispanic workers), we'd be waiting a lot longer for work to get done, if done at all, and probably pay more too. When on occasion I do get a caucasian at the door wanting to quote a job, they more often than not seem wanting to charge more than any person would be willing to pay if they know anything about the current competitive cost of labor and materials.
In any case, I'm pretty sure these people quickly offering to work in the yard or in the house or on the roof is not the sort of UUGE problem that Trump wants to make it seem. Like others have also posted in this thread, the percentage of illegal workers involved is not that high. No doubt we've got bigger problems to worry about long before we go chasing after Jose for washing our dishes or digging a ditch for a bit of cash.
Just saying...
Per the bolded --- I hope that you are hiring Americans and legal immigrants who are licensed, bonded and insured. If not, check the laws in your state. In my state, if you hire someone to work on your property who isn't licensed and insured and that person gets injured on your property, your homeowners' insurance won't cover it. And don't think that illegals won't sue you. There are many pro-illegal alien groups that are more than happy to find them pro-bono lawyers.
Don't assume just because someone is Hispanic, that automatically means that they are good workers. That can be said of any group of people---there will be hard workers and lazy ones.
BTW, some Hispanics are also caucasians. Why do you think that those non-Hispanic people want to charge more? It's because they run legitimate companies. In other words, they pay their taxes, licensing fees, insurance, etc.
Sometimes that cheap labor you go after, ends up being not cheap at all. Ponder that.
Chavez was an American who worked in the fields. His family eventually became migrant farm workers and through that experience (that most Americans obviously never know), Chavez became a civil rights leader, using nonviolent tactics like MLK advocated. Anyone who looks at all that Chavez did in this regard and sees more bad than good -- all considered -- is someone who is simply out of touch with these sorts of social/labor problems in general.
Chavez also hated illegals, and supported a closed border.
Trump and his supporters insult them and demonstrate little understanding or appreciation for what this labor force means to Americans, but now we'll all begin to better understand I think...
“Every day, the food we eat, the dairy products, the wine, the berries and veggies — it all passes through the hands of undocumented immigrants,” said Gutiérrez. “Every American is complicit in the reality that we depend on agriculture, and agriculture depends on immigrants, but we have not allowed those workers to come here legally nor allowed them to work legally once they have been here.”
One in 10 agriculture workers in California are born outside of the U.S., and more than half are not in the country legally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
California produces more than 350 commodities; including one-third of the nation’s vegetables and nearly two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. California also produces 90 percent of the strawberries grown in the U.S.
Seems to me that all Trump is going to end up doing is force the issue of providing for more legalized immigration, more legitimate Hispanic Americans. Can't have it both ways in any case...
Well perhaps if we send the illegal immigrants home until they can respect our laws enough to enter the country LEGALLY, we can get a few snowflakes off the couch in mom's basement. If we can get them to work, that is.
And do not give me crap about how tough it is to get in here legally. My ex-wife is Peruvian. She gained her citizenship BEFORE we were married. It did take a little time, but it wasn't that hard for her to do. And no, she is not a nuclear physicist or brain surgeon.
What is (in your opinion) a better immigration policy?
would you care to elaborate ?
The pro-illegal idea of a better immigration policy is to allow any foreigner to come here at will (especially if they are of the same ethnic group as they are) and amnesty for those already here. None of the above is a better immigration policy nor is it in the best interests of our own citizens who are law abiding.
If only 10 percent of ag workers are immigrants, and only half of those are here illegally, then it sounds like to me you and the author of this piece are greatly exaggerating the importance of illegal immigrants to agriculture production.
The big myth on undocumented workers picking our food is that if Farm Workers were paid double for a head of lettuce a head of lettuce in the store will go up from $1 to $2.
The big myth on undocumented workers picking our food is that if Farm Workers were paid double for a head of lettuce a head of lettuce in the store will go up from $1 to $2.
This is a complete myth.
So what happens do food prices if lettuce Pickers are paid more?
An average household currently spends about $370 per year on fruits and vegetables. If curtailing illegal alien agricultural labor caused tighter labor conditions and a 40 percent increase in wages, the increased cost to the American family would be $9 a year, or about 2.5 cents per day. Yet for the farm laborer, the change would mean an increase in earnings from $17,600 to $24,640 per 2000-hour work year. That increase would move the worker from beneath the federal poverty line to above it. In fact, the salary would be higher than the median salary paid by Walmart.
If a 40% increase and wages cost two and a half cents per day then I think it's safe to say a hundred percent increase or dubling would cost maybe somewhere around $0.06 per day i'm all for that I gladly pay an extra $0.06 and for an American to have a job where they can earn enough money to live on. In fact if you tripled it or little more than tripled to say $0.10 a day you could pay a farm worker $60,000 to $70,000 per year.
Even if it's part time work let's say is just four months out of the year if somebody can make 20 to 25 thousand for four months worth of work in my opinion that your meat working from Walmart all year long.
And then there's the part about Americans won't work that hard well I'll tell you I've been a picker I used to pick string beans in a bean field just off the San Jose Airport and the early 1960s and it was hard work but I was very young . I liked the money a lot because I can make more money doing that than working in a McDonald's at the time.
Americans won't do the work because it's too hard they say but if salaries are raised high enough I think they would find the workers. Would you go out and pick lettuce for $2 an hour and a hot field? No, of course you wouldn't I wouldn't either but then that question comes up would you pick lettuce in a hot field for $1,000? I think most members of this form he would do exactly that yes, would pick lettuce for $1,000 per hour.
So the real wage is somewhere between $2 an hour and $1,000, isn't it?
A simple question to you, would you pick lettuce at a hot field all day long for $1,000 per hour?
I agree the issue is not a "make or break" for the entire U.S. economy, but there is an impact that deserves better measure and consideration.
I've been in the process of remodeling a home for a few years now, and it seems I cannot request a job done around here without someone of hispanic descent coming to offer me a quote. Plumbing, sheet rock work, electrical, roofing, gardening...
At a minimum, at least around here, I'm sure if the hispanic workforce were not around (I don't ask if they are legal or not, just as I don't non-hispanic workers), we'd be waiting a lot longer for work to get done, if done at all, and probably pay more too. When on occasion I do get a caucasian at the door wanting to quote a job, they more often than not seem wanting to charge more than any person would be willing to pay if they know anything about the current competitive cost of labor and materials.
In any case, I'm pretty sure these people quickly offering to work in the yard or in the house or on the roof is not the sort of UUGE problem that Trump wants to make it seem. Like others have also posted in this thread, the percentage of illegal workers involved is not that high. No doubt we've got bigger problems to worry about long before we go chasing after Jose for washing our dishes or digging a ditch for a bit of cash.
Just saying...
So you don't do your homework? You don't look at yelp or Angie's List to see if people are praising the work of Paul or Pedro?
You don't look at Yellow Page ads or at company websites to look at 'About Us' or to seek out companies that brag about serving the community for forty years?
When you call places to ask that someone come out to do an estimate - you can't tell if they sound like they've been here for thirty years or thirty months?
You just call Acme and a Hispanic shows up - and you don't have the cajones to say, 'I don't want to do anything illegal, and I mean no offense, but I just have to ask. Are you here legally? Are you able to show me something to prove that?'
I'm assuming you also don't care if they're licensed, bonded, insured?
The big myth on undocumented workers picking our food is that if Farm Workers were paid double for a head of lettuce a head of lettuce in the store will go up from $1 to $2.
The big myth on undocumented workers picking our food is that if Farm Workers were paid double for a head of lettuce a head of lettuce in the store will go up from $1 to $2.
This is a complete myth.
So what happens do food prices if lettuce Pickers are paid more?
If a 40% increase and wages cost two and a half cents per day then I think it's safe to say a hundred percent increase or dubling would cost maybe somewhere around $0.06 per day i'm all for that I gladly pay an extra $0.06 and for an American to have a job where they can earn enough money to live on. In fact if you tripled it or little more than tripled to say $0.10 a day you could pay a farm worker $60,000 to $70,000 per year.
Even if it's part time work let's say is just four months out of the year if somebody can make 20 to 25 thousand for four months worth of work in my opinion that your meat working from Walmart all year long.
And then there's the part about Americans won't work that hard well I'll tell you I've been a picker I used to pick string beans in a bean field just off the San Jose Airport and the early 1960s and it was hard work but I was very young . I liked the money a lot because I can make more money doing that than working in a McDonald's at the time.
Americans won't do the work because it's too hard they say but if salaries are raised high enough I think they would find the workers. Would you go out and pick lettuce for $2 an hour and a hot field? No, of course you wouldn't I wouldn't either but then that question comes up would you pick lettuce in a hot field for $1,000? I think most members of this form he would do exactly that yes, would pick lettuce for $1,000 per hour.
So the real wage is somewhere between $2 an hour and $1,000, isn't it?
A simple question to you, would you pick lettuce at a hot field all day long for $1,000 per hour?
I've asked our illegal alien fans that same question, about how food prices would jump with no illegals working the farms. Those fans DON'T say a word.
Trump and his supporters insult them and demonstrate little understanding or appreciation for what this labor force means to Americans, but now we'll all begin to better understand I think...
“Every day, the food we eat, the dairy products, the wine, the berries and veggies — it all passes through the hands of undocumented immigrants,” said Gutiérrez. “Every American is complicit in the reality that we depend on agriculture, and agriculture depends on immigrants, but we have not allowed those workers to come here legally nor allowed them to work legally once they have been here.”
One in 10 agriculture workers in California are born outside of the U.S., and more than half are not in the country legally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
California produces more than 350 commodities; including one-third of the nation’s vegetables and nearly two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. California also produces 90 percent of the strawberries grown in the U.S.
Seems to me that all Trump is going to end up doing is force the issue of providing for more legalized immigration, more legitimate Hispanic Americans. Can't have it both ways in any case...
Maybe if farms in CA had to pay living wages which in turn caused their prices to rise farmers elsewhere who do not rely in illegals would be more competitive. Regardless, those low wage workers some employers like are costing the rest of us a whole lot of money to support them.
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