Illegal immigration and immigration reform are bubbling to the top of the media cauldron. The Obama administration sued to block the Arizona immigration law. Polls show most Americans agree with the law, and Utah wants to pass one just like it. Meanwhile, the United Farm Workers Union is getting a tepid response after offering the labor-intensive, low paying jobs filled by immigrants to unemployed Americans.
{|Post resource: Illegal immigrations and also the American farm
The United Farm Workers Union started a campaign called “Take Our Jobs” to draw attention to immigration reform. The AgJobs bill, which the union supports, is tied up in Congress because it would grant temporary legal status to immigrants that becomes permanent if they keep working on farms for a certain period of time. CNN reports that half a million willing unemployed Americans would be needed to replace the immigrant workforce. The union has posted an application at takeourjobs.org for Americans who want to work on a farm.
Back-breaking labor too much for unemployed
Union president Arturo Rodriguez told CNN that at least 4,000 people have responded to the application. Some are serious responses and others are hate mail. Out of those thousands, a few dozen have followed through. When the job seekers discover out the work accessible is back-breaking labor within the hot sun for minimum wage they chicken out.
Anti-immigration movement ignores critical details
The Department of Agriculture counts nearly 1 million farm workers in the U.S.. About 85 percent of farm workers are immigrants and up to 70 percent are illegal, according to the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project. Yet surveys show a majority of Americans favor a crackdown on illegal immigration. Allheadlinenews.com reports that a Pew Research Center poll found 59 percent of Americans favor the Arizona immigration law. Copycat laws are being drawn up in nearly 20 other states.
Illegal immigration feeds a hungry America
The United Farm Workers Union, in support of the AgJobs bill, insists that illegal immigration helps, not hinders, the economy. The CNN article quotes Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project as saying that in America it is pretty clear the least desirable job to have is being a migrant farm worker. Williams said that if anti-immigration extremists got their wish, a farm labor crisis would ensue. Immigrants fill the jobs nobody wants, he said, because everybody has got to eat.
Citations:
cnn.com
allheadlinenews.com
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