( – promoted by odum)
There are an estimated 2,000 immigrants working illegally on Vermont’s farms. Farmers claim they cannot find American workers to meet their staffing needs.
Sen. Leahy again sponsored legislation that would put undocumented agricultural workers on the pathway to becoming U.S. citizens. See Saturday’s Times Argus:
http://www.timesargus.com/arti…
Today’s Burlington Free Press included a feature on Nancy Sabin. Sabin, also known as “Mama Nancy,” is apparently a one-woman referral agency for Vermont’s farming community. See the article at:
http://burlingtonfreepress.com…
This is such a tough issue. On one hand, the undocumented workers are simply doing what human beings do – provide for themselves and the family. It’s awfully difficult to harbor ill will towards them for that. On the other hand, the practice seems blatantly exploitative.
It is especially upsetting to hear Sabin and other advocates say “No American in their right mind would want to work the hours that they work, 60 to 70 hours a week.” Americans are, in fact, working longer hours and taking less time off than folks in other advanced economies. We all know people who regularly clock 60-plus-hour work weeks for crappy wages (some of us are probably those people!). The argument we’re unwilling to work is wrong and frankly offensive to those who bust their asses at work, as well as the thousands of Vermonters currently unemployed.
But, I am very sensitive to what it takes to run a farm. No doubt, it is a very tough gig that not everyone is cut out for. And if farmers truly cannot find domestic workers at the wages they’re willing to pay, then why shouldn’t they import labor from elsewhere?
What is the answer to this tricky issue? Are Mama Nancy and Sen. Leahy simply helping our tough-luck farmers stay afloat? Or are they allowing them to continually play the victim role by importing cheap labor that may depress wages in the long run? Is anyone who speaks out in opposition an all-out bigot?
Let’s talk, GMD’ers. I can’t be the only one ’round here who is conflicted on this.
that crazy email I got from the nut in California who said he was putting up fluorescent signs directing all of “their” illegal aliens to go to Vermont. He was keen to inform me that “border states,” like California, are concerned about what we (Vermont) are doing
I wrote a short reply: “Thanks. Vermont is actually a border state, too.”
Some interesting and good points made. I’d like to address the issue of illegal immigration.
These folks who cross borders without official sanction generally do so at risk and peril (sometimes, maybe often times, great peril). They are in danger from smugglers, desert crossings, being taken advantage of due to their legal status, constant arrest and more; and they put themselves in this danger for simple family economics.
No, it’s not about plasma televisions, new hybrid automobiles, vacations, or even trying to keep an overpriced home. They simply want to feed their families.
Under our name (yes, you and me) our government has exported corporations and corporate power and rights; but our government has not even pretended to export personal, labor or environmental rights that would give these immigrants a greater chance at a decent home life.
When the Haitian slaves threw off the yoke of France and made Haiti the second nation in the western hemisphere to gain independence, the United States acted to protect the corporate style but literal slave owners … and we’ve continued to make sure Haiti remains under the thumb of oppressive US serving businesses since.
NAFTA is and always was about extending the reach and influence and power of corporations … especially big corps. Why else can a business now sue a town or city or state or nation when that political entity decides to protect it’s only source of food, water, air and shelter (aka the physical environment)? Why else can factories flow to cheap and easily exploited labor centers without a parallel flow of labor rights and good wages?
We can build walls. Building walls is really easy … but they don’t work.
Ask any city-state of Mesopotamia or Greece or Palestine. Ask the Chinese about their “great” wall or the Romans and then Brits about Hadrian’s Wall. Ask the French about the line of fortresses along the Alsace-Lorraine border that once having been gone around by the Germans in 1914 was rebuilt as the Maginot Line only to have the Germans go around it again in 1940.
Walls are easy to build, look to be of substance, but simply don’t work to stop people.
The solution is to export that which folks are coming here for … the labor rights and environmental protections that make feeding one’s family possible.