Yesterday the Mexican who runs the neighbor's seed cleaning plant brought his friend by looking for a job. Actually, his friend drove him by as I think E. no longer has a license.
I have been reading the VDARE.com website as my daughter asked me about Roanoke Island last night.
I get continual updates in my email from NumbersUSA.com talking about the need for e-verify and how those illegals, They Took Our Jobs!
Here is the deal...
I've had a few people come by looking for work lately.
The one white guy needed more than $15 or it would mess up his unemployment. The other white guy was rather twitchy and I didn't trust him. The third white guy kept telling me how he could run stacker and weld and all his incredible abilities but I already knew he was a moron. The 19 year-old girl who wants a job would be a hard worker and offered to wash farm equipment in the rain in exchange for hay and I actually may get her to help. But she swears, A LOT!
So E. comes by with his Mexican friend who has been spot spraying and doing general labor type work for a neighbor. His English is passable, he has a family, he is polite and seems interested in our farm and what we do. He has a grasp of the concept of farming. He said he does not mind working in adverse conditions and said he does not need a lot of money to start out.
I ask you, which one would I hire?
And, where is my large helper this time of year?
Frankly I don't give a rip if he is illegal. I really object to doing e-verify and double checking his social-security number. I am not the one who left the door open at the US border and I am not the one who makes people wait in line for a week to get a US Visa. E-verify is just an excuse to track every person in the USA. Just like the question of why should I have to prove MY citizenship to get my driver's license renewed. Do I have an accent?
Why does it have to be this difficult?
If I were president I would issue an executive order. All illegals have six months to return to the country of origin. I would set up a fast track visa application where potential guest workers could move to the front of the line if they had a sponsor or proof of employment in the US. The idea would be to make it so they could go back across the border and show their info to the visa office and come back in a matter of days or hours.
Then, if you were arrested for a crime or found here illegally you would be promptly sent back.
I think there should also be a path to citizenship but the applicants would have to take classes in US history and do perhaps, volunteer work, or something.
Just some ideas which I think are quite sensible but nobody on either side of the immigration debate will come anywhere close to anything sensible.
OF COURSE, you know THEY would screw it up....
(THEY-meaning the clever educated folks who know more than you or I)
In the mean time I ain't hirin' no crack heads!
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You have a lot of great ideas there! How about requiring illegals arrested for a crime to work to pay for their passage home. And while we're at it, bring back the chain gang for white collar criminals too. They could probably use the exercise and I know I'd feel better seeing them out there doing something useful for their food and lodging.
ReplyDeleteI understand how you feel, but I'd be careful talking about it online. Remember "Loose lips sink ships?"
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, I don't think the crack heads are looking for work anyway.
ReplyDeleteHire them both! Ask the girl not to swear around you and the Mexican if he has a green card. If he doesn't, & you feel uncomfortable about it, send him over here with a tractor & I'll hire him. I know where to get a pretty big bush hog that's laying around, but it's bigger than my ancient tractor can work.
Muddy, I think I'll send Ms. F-bomb to help you build fence.
ReplyDeleteGorges, I'm not going to hire anyone illegal or anyone "under the table." If anyone gets hurt and requires workman's comp you are really screwed and if they are not hired properly you are really, really, really screwed.
I agree with The Lazy Farmer. It's very difficult to find legal, clean, sober people that actually want to do manual labor, and just put in a honest day's hard work. They don't want to work for their wage AND they have an entitlement attitude.
ReplyDeleteI personally helped a Hispanic who was working in the US legally obtain the paperwork and work through the legal process of getting permission to bring his family over. It took TEN YEARS from the time we first submitted his paperwork to get approval. Meanwhile, he would generally work 11 months or so a year, and then go home to be with his family for a month. Come on, ten years for a wife/mother and children to come live here legally with their husband/father who has had a full time, good paying job all that time? The immigration system is broken. If it were feasible to do so, many more would actually go through the proper channels and come legally.