Farmers say it is unfair to have to obey the law
NY Times:
What will happen if the law is enforced is that they will either pay more for legal labor or find a mechanized way of accomplishing the same functions. It is the latter that has usually happened and has made American farmers the most productive in the world.
The LA Times also looks at the effect on the economy if the immigration laws are enforced.
Facing the prospect of major layoffs of farmworkers during harvest season, growers and lawmakers from agricultural states spoke in dire terms yesterday about new measures by the Bush administration to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants.The rule of law is a "catastrophe"? It is clearly a problem for those who have ignored it for years and built their business model on ignoring the law. A guess the Mob though RICO was a catastrophe too. I am not comparing farmers with organized crime, but I am comparing their argument for ignoring the law.
“This is not just painful, this is death to the American farmer,” Maureen Torrey, who runs a family dairy and vegetable farm in Elba, N. Y., said in a telephone interview.
“We’ve tried everything we can do,” Ms. Torrey said. “But they are leaving us with no options.”
At a news conference in Washington yesterday, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, and Carlos M. Gutierrez, the secretary of commerce, formally unveiled the measures, which had been disclosed in general terms earlier, to reinforce border security and drive illegal immigrants out of the labor force.
The new effort was cautiously welcomed yesterday by conservative Republicans who defied President Bush in June and opposed a broad immigration bill he supported that failed in the Senate. That bill included provisions to give legal status to illegal immigrants and to create a guest worker program for agriculture.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who turned against that bill, said the measures were “a long-overdue step to regaining the trust of the American people that the federal government is serious about securing our borders and enforcing our laws.”
Under the new rules, employers will have 90 days to resolve discrepancies between Social Security numbers provided by their workers and the records of the Social Security Administration.
If the employers cannot obtain valid Social Security information for an employee within three months after receiving a notice of any discrepancies, they must fire the worker. Illegal immigrants often present false Social Security numbers on job applications.
Fines levied on companies for knowingly hiring illegal workers — currently $2,200 for a first offense and up to $10,000 for repeat offenses — will increase by 25 percent, officials said.
Mr. Chertoff said the “real hammer” would be more frequent use by the immigration authorities of criminal felony charges against employers and illegal immigrant workers. He said the authorities had made 742 criminal arrests so far this year in illegal employment cases, compared with 716 such arrests in all of last year, which was a record.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who has worked closely with growers, described the new enforcement as a “catastrophe.”
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What will happen if the law is enforced is that they will either pay more for legal labor or find a mechanized way of accomplishing the same functions. It is the latter that has usually happened and has made American farmers the most productive in the world.
The LA Times also looks at the effect on the economy if the immigration laws are enforced.
I am so sick of hearing how cracking down on illegal immigration, and penalizing farmers for hiring them is going to be the best thing for our "Great American Economy". It's all lies!!! We all know that these immigrant workers are extremely important to our economy because they truthfully DO the jobs everyone else won't. The problem is, we're in an "election year" so nobody in congress has the guts to do anything about their so called "immigration laws". I am an american citizen, latina, born and raised in N.Y. and i'm glad these illegal immigrants are keeping our economy going. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only kidding themselves. So go ahead, do your thing, deport them, and one day when you walk into your local supermarket. Don't be surprised that your milk is $15 a gallon and oranges, apples and plums are all $10.99 a pound. All because we restricted our farmers and half of all workers are not there to pick your FOOD!!!!!!!!
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