What did you have for breakfast today? Maybe it was a little bacon and eggs, or maybe you had some nice pancakes, or perhaps some cereal, maybe you had a nice bowl of fruit. Where did you go on vacation last year, some nice hotel, perhaps a cruise, maybe you stayed at a small motor inn. Last weekend when you went out for dinner where did you go, a nice restaurant or perhaps a small greasy spoon. The house you are living in, who built it?
You might think that these questions are not related, but they all have one thing in common. You would not be able to eat, would not be able to stay at any hotel, or eat at many restaurants, or even be able to live in your house without one important group of people. Immigrants.
Your typical Dumbass here.
People here on Cape Cod probably don’t think a lot about where their food comes from. Most of it comes from some place else, mostly the Mid-West and California. And almost all of it was picked by a migrant worker. Most of them in this country illegally.
With the lettuce harvest beginning, farmers in the $1 billion winter vegetable industry are panicking about getting their crops out of the ground. Vegetable growers estimate they could be 32,000 workers short of the 54,000 they need for the winter harvest, which runs until March. Last year, local farmers left hundreds of acres of lettuce in the fields because they lacked the manpower to harvest it.
Worker shortages have swept the Western agriculture industry, bringing $300 million in losses to raisin growers in California’s San Joaquin Valley in September and causing consternation about this winter’s harvest from the Christmas tree farms of Oregon to the melon fields of Arizona.
“Today I have approximately 290 people working in the field,” Jon Vessey said recently. Vessey runs an 8,000-acre winter vegetable farm with his son, Jack, near El Centro, Calif. “I should have 400, and for the harvest I need 1,100. . . . There’s a disaster coming.”
Next time you go to a restaurant, try and find out who is washing your dishes, or cooking your food. You may be surprised to find out that these jobs are predominately done by immigrants, many of them illegal.
Several days ago when rumor of an illegal immigrant round up spread across the country many construction companies had to shut down, why? Because so many of their illegal immigrant workers didn’t show up for work that they didn’t have enough workers to build anything.
The meat you eat for breakfast, all got packed by, you guessed it, immigrants, many illegal.
The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to nearly 12 million, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center. Pew says that illegal immigrants make up nearly five percent of the labor force. About 20 percent of that population works in construction, and four percent is employed in agriculture.
From here.
Today is a national protest. Illegal, and legal immigrants alike will be staying home today, and not buying anything. They are doing this to show just how much they contribute to the economy.
The current administration’s plan to turn being an illegal into a felony it simply unrealistic. The estimates of illegal immigrants in this country range from 10-12 million! people. That is about 3 percent of the American population. To find and imprison (or even just return them to their home country) them all would cost billions of dollars, and would require a quasi-police state environment.
Do you want to be stopped at a walmart and asked for your “papers?” Do you want to be on a plane during a “routine sweep.” Or perhaps you would like to have to prove your citizenship every time you fill up at the gas pump? Maybe these sound harsh but how else will you round up 12 million people?
Its just not going to work. Instead we should embrace these workers that make our lives much better, we should embrace these people that add so much to our culture, and our economy. We should allow them to get all the same things our Irish, German, Russian, Italian, Etc ancestors got when they came to this country for a better life. Take a look in the mirror, are you a native American? If not then you have an immigrant to thank for your place in the world.
Today a national protest will be taking place where immigrants (illegal and legal) will be staying home from work to show just how much of the American economy is effected by immigrant labor. I know of at least one shop on Cape that had signs up saying they would be closed today. And I hope more join in.
The house Republicans plan for these people (and we are talking about real human beings here) would create a world of a permanent poor underclass of people that are forbidden by law to ever get ahead. While filling our jails with people who’s only crime was wanting to work hard.
We need a law that allows people to work here legally and return to their home country when they want to, at the same time allowing those that wish to stay a legal and easy way to become citizens. We should invest in Mexico and South America to create jobs there so that these people will not have to make the dangerous journey to America just to feed their family. Our voice can make a difference, call your rep, call your senator, send an email, let them know how you feel.
From the other side of the fence…..
Received the following from (Tom O’Malley) who was a Director with SW
BELL
in Mexico City.
You remember I spent five years working in Mexico.
I worked under a tourist Visa for three months and could legally renew
it
for three more months. After that you were working Illegally. I was
technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval
During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys were working to
secure a
permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport
that
I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara’s was
the
same except hers did not permit her to work.
To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized
originals
(not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificate for Barbara and I.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of
graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at
least
one year.
6. A letter from the St. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no
arrest
record in the US and no outstanding warrants and was “a citizen in good
standing.”
7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why
there was no Mexican Citizen with my skills and why my skills were
important
to Mexico. We called it our “I am the greatest person on Earth” letter.
It
was fun to write.
All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish
and
be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It
produced
a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and
Spanish on
the right.
Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about five hours
accompanied by
a Mexican Attorney touring Mexican Government office locations and being
photographed and fingerprinted at least three times. At each location,
and
we remember at least four locations, we were instructed on Mexican tax,
labor, housing, and criminal law and that we were required to obey their
laws or face the consequences. We could not protest any of the
Governments
actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid out four thousand
dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When this was done
we
could legally bring in our household goods that were held by US customs
in
Laredo Texas. This meant we had rented furniture in Mexico while
awaiting
our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the company
paid.
We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and
under contract and compliance with Mexican law.
We were required to get a Mexican drivers license. This was an amazing
process. The company arranged for the Licensing Agency to come to our
Headquarters location with their photography and fingerprint equipment
and
the laminating machine. We showed our US license, were photographed and
fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after paying out a
six
dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and never received
instructions on the rules of the road. Our only instruction was never
give a
policeman your license if stopped and asked. We were instructed to hold
it
against the inside window away from his grasp. If he got his hands on
it,
you would have to pay ransom to get it back.
We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually using the number
of
our FM3 as our ID number. The company’s Mexican accountants did this
for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was about twenty legal
size
pages annually.
The FM 3 was good for three years and renewable for two more after
paying
more fees.
Leaving the country meant turning in the FM# and certifying we were
leaving
no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets or
liens) before our household goods were released to customs.
It was a real adventure and if any of our Senators or Congressman went
through it once they would have a different attitude toward Mexico.
The Mexican Government uses its vast military and police forces to keep
its
citizens intimidated and compliant. They never protest at their White
House
or government offices but do protest daily in front of the United States
Embassy. The US embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and
during
most protests the Mexican Military surround the block with their men
standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy.
These protests are never shown on US or Mexican TV. There is a large
public
park across the street where they do their protesting. Anything can
cause a
protest such as proposed law changes in California or Texas.
Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being
hard on
illegal immigrants.
the process to become an American is just as long, in fact many immigrants spend up to 15 years on it….If Mexico had the same law that the house approved you would have been arrested for committing a felony during the period of time you were working in Mexico illegally, that is why so many people are protesting, they want to make being here without a visa a felony, not just a misdemeanor.
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Arron, frankly I am appalled at your view point. You would fit in very well with the Klu Klux Klan, which in case your tiny pea brain is not familiar with it is a racist hate group in America, I would ask that if you truly feel that way you do not bother to pollute my blog with your close mindedness.
I wish I knew which town in the UK Arron is from. I would also like to know how he came to find your post Naib.
I don’t think he would typically read about the subjects posted here. The poor spelling and grammer indicate that this may be a hoax. People of that literacy level would not typically read The Seitch.
England proper (as opposed to the greater UK) has a history of being a tolerant melting pot of citizens from all of the kingdom since that is where the central gov’t is.
Just like anywhere in the US (large cities or small towns) there are going to be a range of people. Some of them feed on hate. Insulting them only fuels their emotions, and that’s all they have is emotions.
At least Arron doesn’t advocate killing them, openly anyway. I grew up around uneducated narrow minded people. There’s nothing you can do to help them. Let it be, Naib.
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