"Some pro-immigration folks
would consider this taking advantage of the Mexicans, while some anti-immigration folks
will yell foul that more Mexicans may be working here...." JNLWRITER
• Poll: Do
you approve of the Migrant Worker Program?
Lawmakers
argue: If Americans won't do the dirty work, why can't Mexican's do it?
Texas Agriculture
Commissioner Susan Combs, along with a group of Texas state legislators have announced
that they are supporting the invitation of Mexicans to come across the border and do jobs
that Texan Americans seem to consider beneath them.
Perhaps Americans have simple grown
too used to their air conditioned offices, but whatever the reasons, the result is a labor
crisis in rural Texas. It's becoming inordinately difficult to get Americans for outdoor
labor.
Although the US Immigration and Naturalization Service does allow for a certain number of
migrant workers in the agriculture arena, there are restrictions which--according to Texan
lawmakers--should be relaxed.
Mexican lawmakers certainly agree. After all, more work for the country's citizens means
more money filtered into Mexico, a better country-wide political climate and general
morale.
Rep. Judy Hawley announced that a collective effort would be made by lawmakers to see to
it that Washington responds to the need for a greater number of temporary migrant workers
from our southern neighboring country.
Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, pointed out that his support is for the farming community, and
that he would thus be in favor of such legislation.
Some opponents believe that U.S. jobs are being stolen from under the noses of American
workers, while others believe that agriculture guest worker programs are highly
exploitive.
``There is no labor shortage in agriculture,'' In Washington D.C., Bruce Goldstein,
co-director of the Farmworker Justice Fund in Washington D.C., maintains that there is no
shortage and that bargain foreign labor is the real goal, not to mention that employers
don't want to offer conditions even remotely attractive enough to entice American workers
into doing the jobs at hand.
Migrant workers have virtually no rights, and even when they do, the farmers are in a
position to bribe them, even if it's silently. For Mexicans, bringing home a wage is more
important than dignity and fairness in the workplace.
But farmers argue that these
allegations are utterly false, that they have trouble recruiting workers for as much as $9
per hour, even in high unemployment areas.
One farmer is about 66 workers short and if he doesn't find a solution soon, he will be
out of business. The farm has been in his family for four generations. After asking the
Texas Workforce Commission for assistance, the commission notified 297 unemployed
individuals, but not one of them responded.
Americans who are concerned about foreigners taking our jobs need to ask themselves what
these farmers are to do. The statistics and numbers can be deceptive. Just because an
American is unemployed doesn't mean he or she is ready or willing to take on work. Are
Americans just lazy, or is this a well-planned conspiracy designed to secure cheap labor
for farmers?
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