- Joined
- Dec 12, 2011
- Messages
- 6,295
- Reaction score
- 18,814
- Media
- 147
- Member of
- NRA life, DSC, SCI
- Hunted
- Minnesota, Texas, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, British Columbia, Argentina, Kansas, Macedonia, Australia, Tanzania, Iceland
Oscar you make real points. Many don't want to hear that we need immigrants to do certain jobs, but we do. Are there citizens who can do that work? Yes there are, but not enough of them. No where close. It has always been this way. The Chinese and Irish built the railroads. That's one example. It is not just the type of work but also the reliability of the workers. Let me tell you when you have cows to be milked, it just doesn't work to have people not show up for work on time!Why we need them? Well, simple, no US citizen white, black, whatever color you want to insert here wants to be in a roof in the middle of summer when it feels like 110 degrees. Is it right? Well, no, and I'm sure there are ways to get that work force here legally. I believe that is the issue we need to fix, simplify the way to get this work force here.
Lanes Southern Orchards does it. They bring in the work force needed legally. I'll tell you a story from a Mexican family that worked at Lanes. My wife work with a teacher and her parents worked at Lane's. They were brought in by Lane's to work on their fields. They because legal residents, then eventually US citizens. The teacher who my wife worked with was their daughter. They worked hard, and became productive US citizens, and got their daughter through college. This is how it's done and what we need.
As for the Orchard farm you speak of, I'm sure they are using H2A workers. We use them (South Africans mostly) to help with field work, mostly truck driving but also tractors. However that is a seasonal work visa effectively good for 9 months. The rules for that visa are that the jobs be seasonal. If that roofing company you speak of does roofing year round, they do not qualify. And any year around farm job does not either. We can use H1B visas to get veterinarians and herdsman (professionals). But there is no good available option for full time year round positions other than work permits such as Reagan issued.
The country desperately needs reformed immigration laws. Something as simple as making a modified H2A visa for year around positions doing basic labor woukd suffice. However every time something gets offered up in congress, it immediately becomes a hot potato and muddled up with both parties differing agendas. It is politics at it's worst.