"Dave Bugg" wrote in message
...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"Dave Bugg" wrote in message
news
Dan S. wrote:
shiite explained on 12/9/2007 :
Dear Captain Billy Non Sequitor,
1. Your assumptions about my attitude toward illegals, Mexican or
otherwise, are dead wrong. I have compassion for anyone from
anywhere doing what he can to survive.
My contempt is reserved for the politicians and employers who
enable.

Not to dumb down the argument too much, but aren't employers doing
what they can to survive and don't you believe a number of them
would fold without their immigrant help? Why don't they deserve
compassion rather than contempt?

That argument might apply to anything that a business chooses to do
illegally.


Is there any way you can find yourself among a small group of 16-18
year old kids, and ask them if they'd be interested in working in 90
degree heat, harvesting broccoli, swinging a sharp knife around near
their ankles? Try it. I did. It was enlightening.

My dad owned an apple and cherry orchard in central washington state. Hot,
dry climate. I worked cherry, apricot, pear and apple harvests in junior
high and high school, and while attending college. I dare say I'm far more
enlightened regarding agricultural labor and business than you are.

The fact that you did that kind of work is not logically connected in any
known way to what other teenagers are willing to do. I once asked several of
my son's friends this question and received less than enthusiastic
responses. These weren't especially priveleged kids, either. They just
didn't see farm work as something they would do. That's not to say that a
trend couldn't be created, but as of a year ago, the response was "Nah...".


If you're going to respond with something about how machines could do
the work,...

Not an issue. The H-2B temporary visa program allows ag employers to bring
in as many laborers as are needed. The orchadists and farmers don't like
the program because it forces them to comply with the federal Migrant and
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). It requires proper
paperwork, bookeeping and recordkeeping, and costs much more money than
illegally hiring non-resident workers.
Dave


Many people in this country attach a stigma to legal migrants, too.