Immigration Crackdown Hurting Farm Industry

[spuwho]

So I talked to mom today and here's what I've got:

BT is correct, they hire H2A workers for the season.
My #'s are way off, they only brought in 26 this year, which has been about normal.  The  most she could remember off the top of her head was approximately 50 workers.
The state mandates the minimum wage and hours for H2A workers and they are 10-99 employees so there's no withholdings.  $10.62/hr (minimum) & 40 hours/week.  Overtime gets paid at time and a half.  She said that 12 are paid the minimum, 6 are paid $12, 4 @ $14 & 4 @ $16.  She confirmed that these are repeat workers and they do increase their pay yearly at about $1 a year.
All of the immigrant workers are legal.  Her company pays about $30k/year combined to:  DoL, Consulate of Mexico & the required state licensing and to Amigo Services out of TX which is a staffing service.
On top of that her company is responsible to cover 100% of the costs of:  housing, transportation for basic needs, transportation to and from Mexico.
To hire H2A employees, they have to keep the job opening listed for a minimum of 3 months and are REQUIRED to hire any citizen who applies and meets the qualifications (not much considering the work).  These workers get the same minimum requirements that the immigrant labor force gets.   This farm is in SC and their ad is ran in 3 states - I forgot to ask which 3.  She did say that she has hired about a dozen local workers this year, and none has lasted for a month.
Their company has paid for 3 people over the years to become naturalized citizens at approx $50k each.  Those 3 are still with the company, work full time in a crew-leader role and are bring home well over $1k per week (in season) after taxes. 
They refuse to hire undocumented because of the inherent risks of losing their privileges with the immigrant labor.


So based on that, I wouldn't be shocked that the average of CA workers is $16/hr.  And this blows any job stealing rhetoric out of the water:  Immigrants DO NOT take any jobs away from Americans, because as I stated, these jobs are required to be given to Americans if they apply.

Excellent info. I guess that blows some stereotypes away.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Wait, it's almost like you're saying that certain politicians offer up bullshit, completely devoid of facts, to exploit lazy, xenophobic thinking for their own political purposes.

You could say that, but not in the way I think you think it means. 

I guess my opinion on the subject is that I hear a bunch of hyperbole from both sides and none of it paints a really accurate picture. 

No:  immigrants aren't 'stealing' jobs from hardworking Americans. 
Yes:  Companies that rely on LEGAL immigrant labor are absolutely FOR deportation of ILLEGAL immigrants. 

This is only one company that I have a personal knowledge of and knew they were above board before even going down this path. 
That doesn't mean that Jimmy's Turf Farm isn't hiring all the undocumented laborers they can find, paying them slave wages and refusing to hire anyone that requires a W-2.

[finehoe]

This is only one company that I have a personal knowledge of and knew they were above board before even going down this path. 
That doesn't mean that Jimmy's Turf Farm isn't hiring all the undocumented laborers they can find, paying them slave wages and refusing to hire anyone that requires a W-2.

Exactly.  NRW's mom sounds like she does things on the up-and-up, but it doesn't tell us much about businesses who use undocumented labor.

Seems to me that rather than spending $21.6 billion on an ineffective wall, we'd be better off going after the businesses that hire immigrants here unlawfully.  Throw a few executives from companies who hire undocumented workers in jail, and I'd wager the illegal immigrant "crisis" would be solved post-haste.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

This is only one company that I have a personal knowledge of and knew they were above board before even going down this path. 
That doesn't mean that Jimmy's Turf Farm isn't hiring all the undocumented laborers they can find, paying them slave wages and refusing to hire anyone that requires a W-2.

Exactly.  NRW's mom sounds like she does things on the up-and-up, but it doesn't tell us much about businesses who use undocumented labor.

Seems to me that rather than spending $21.6 billion on an ineffective wall, we'd be better off going after the businesses that hire immigrants here unlawfully.  Throw a few executives from companies who hire undocumented workers in jail, and I'd wager the illegal immigrant "crisis" would be solved post-haste.

But an effective $21.6 billion wall would do just that by limiting the source of labor for those companies.

[finehoe]

But an effective $21.6 billion wall would do just that by limiting the source of labor for those companies.

It'd be a helluva lot cheaper to remove the incentive for people to come here in the first place, which is what would happen if businesses knew they'd be in deep shit if they hired an undocumented worker.

[JHAT76]

But an effective $21.6 billion wall would do just that by limiting the source of labor for those companies.

It'd be a helluva lot cheaper to remove the incentive for people to come here in the first place, which is what would happen if businesses knew they'd be in deep shit if they hired an undocumented worker.

And that is not counting future maintenance on a wall.  We already do that so well.  (yes that was sarcasm)

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

America's Infrastructure Scores a D+

[carpnter]

But an effective $21.6 billion wall would do just that by limiting the source of labor for those companies.

It'd be a helluva lot cheaper to remove the incentive for people to come here in the first place, which is what would happen if businesses knew they'd be in deep shit if they hired an undocumented worker.

I've been saying this for years.

[finehoe]

And there you have it.  If carpnter and I can agree on something, there's hope for the country after all!