Ok this bill or I should say one of the 1,500 National E-Verify bills being considered by congressmen and senators (It seems each has his or her version of this) will have a major impact on everyone who takes food for nourishment in the USA. The politics of a bill like this seems to push one party or the other into a corner or soapbox depending on the day. I am a State's rights citizen who believes in the rights of the state over anything Federal. I do not apologize for my feelings in this and understand many do not agree. The U.S. has laws in place to protect us from unlawful immigrants. These laws as many laws in our country have been circumvented by the droads of lawyers that roam our land. That being said we have millions of undocumented aliens living and working in the U.S. The idea is to get a grip on the wayward control of this and better organize the situation. I understand that some will say the democrats will use this group of people to vote them into office come the next election. I also understand that some will say the republicans are non emotional hate mongers who don't care about their fellow man. Most of this is politics without any depth. I constantly bellow to my fellow skyboxers that I farm for a living. The requirement of this job is working people who harvest food by hand. The reason it requires hand labor is normally a mechanical means is not available. The other reason is the cost involved to use a mechanical means is cost prohibitive. It has been estimated that 60 - 70% of harvesting farm labor is from undocumented labor. Yes they have all the required cards and information that says they are legal but they are forgery's. The E-Verify system would put an end to this. It would dive deeper into the verification process of the farm labor papers and verify who is legal. My question or comment is without a work visa program in place this is a losing scenario. Georgia implemented this in April of this year and had a meltdown of no labor to pick the crops. It got so bad that the Governor was recommending paroles and prison labor to pick the crops. What is the answer? Alabama, a state that I love has some serious problems now with their law aside from Federal intervention. What is the answer? Who is going to pick the food we purchase at the grocery store? I am here to tell you that it is not whites, blacks, asians or native americans. It will be the Mexicans, Salvadorians, Guatemalans and other natives south of our borders. Or maybe the question should be how much are Americans willing to pay for food products or import from other countries.?
Ralph, I admire the intelligent and rational way you address the issues here. You make an excellent point. I'm sure that much discussion will follow.
10% unemployment yields about 35 million able-bodied workers available as harvest farm labor. I propose that if those individuals who have been out of work for more than six months want to continue collecting their stipend, they be assigned some sort of state-beneficial labor, to include farm labor.
Thank you Sid , I have had the good fortune to watch many posters here lead the way it should be done! One of the great things about this forum...
Ralph, You're spot on. Actually, the law in Alabama is just one racist piece of toilet paper wrapped and worded carefully under the guise of protecting our citizens. There is language in that law that would literally allow you to detain people for being brown and not having papers.. W...T....F. For the record, I am a State's Rights person myself. The job of the Federal is to protect the most basic of human rights for it's citizens. The issue at hand is that the Federal has had to intervene to protect those. Well, once they are in they don't just stop there. The past 150 years of American history has taught us that.. As designed, I prefer this set up. State's rights with the Federal to make sure that South Carolina and Mississippi don't get out of hand. The laws of New York, or South Dakota or California have no bearing on life and law in Alabama or New Jersey. The issue, to me, is a rather simple one. Whites and blacks (especially here in the South) have no incentive to get off their ass. They make more money being unemployed or defrauding the government on some ******** disability claim. If you reduce the unemployment benefit to be competitive with the wages of those farm hands, I bet you more than a few of those people are not above working. You are correct.. either Americans want to pay more for their food (they don't) or they want to continue to float entire classes of people who make more money than I do because they live off unemployment/disability AND generally make a lil something something on the side in the black market. Immigration is a smoke screen. The real issue is something that we, as a nation, don't want to address. When your liberal politicians say 'They don't care about the Americans'.. and when your Hollywood celebrity says 'Those people want to work, don't you disrespect them.'... People get all 'white guilt' and tuck tail. I'm here to tell you.. Those people don't want to work because politicians are buying them off to sit on their f*cking asses. Well said, sir. /rant.