The changing of the seasons is guaranteed every year to bring a bumper crop of stories about crops rotting in the field. Here’s a thought for the cheap labor lobby…. Since you have excluded Americans from employment for so long, why would you expect them to be sympathetic to your situation, or for that matter, to be familiar enough with farm labor (something American youth did in great numbers until recently) to have any opinion except that you are looking for a handout.
Illegal Aliens Show New Militancy in Protests Across U.S.
“A growing number of undocumented immigrants in Arizona and other states are taking immigration protests to a new extreme, staging acts of civil disobedience by deliberately getting arrested in order to be turned over to federal immigration officials. Often wearing T-shirts declaring themselves “undocumented and unafraid,” the protesters have sat down in streets and blocked traffic, or occupied buildings in several cities including Phoenix and Tucson,” the Arizona Republic says.
“Dozens of protesters have been arrested, but in almost every case, federal immigration officers have declined to deport those in the country illegally. Protesters say they are planning more acts of civil disobedience, including possibly in Phoenix.”
Another Harvest Season of Sob Stories from the Cheap Labor Farm Lobby
“The Broetjes, and an increasing number of farmers across the country, say that a complex web of local and state anti-immigration laws account for acute labor shortages. With the harvest season in full bloom, stringent immigration laws have forced waves of undocumented immigrants to flee certain states for more hospitable areas. In their wake, thousands of acres of crops have been left to rot in the fields, as farmers have struggled to compensate for labor shortages with domestic help,” says an article in Time magazine.
High-Skilled Visa Bill Fails to Pass House
“A House bill to increase visas for immigrants with American degrees in the science, technology, engineering and medicine fields was shot down Thursday. At 257-158, it failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority to pass,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“‘Unfortunately, Democrats today voted to send the best and brightest foreign graduates back home to work for our global competitors,’ the bill’s sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said in a statement. ‘Democrats voted against a bill that helps American businesses hire the most qualified foreign graduates with advanced STEM degrees. Their vote against this bill is a vote against economic growth and job creation.'”
Mexico Reviewing NAFTA Complaint Against Alabama Law
“Mexico is reviewing a complaint by an American labor union that Alabama’s immigration law violates a clause of the North American Free Trade Agreement that is intended to protect the rights of migrant workers, the union said Thursday,” the Birmingham News says.
“The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed a complaint in April with Mexico’s Department of Labor and Social Welfare that Alabama’s law, often referred to as HB 56, violated the Labor Principles and Obligations in the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation by ‘by creating a climate of fear and intimidation that chills immigrant workers and their co-workers who seek to form trade unions, bargain collectively or participate in other worker advocacy organizations.'”
