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Bloomberg: ‘I Need More Mexicans’: A Kansas Farmer’s Message to Trump

C

cdyhybrid

Member
Link

Undocumented immigrants make up about half the workforce in U.S. agriculture, according to various estimates. But that pool of labor is shrinking, which could spell trouble for farms, feedlots, dairies, and meatpacking plants—particularly in a state such as Kansas, where unemployment in many counties is barely half the already tight national rate. “Two weeks ago, my boss told me, ‘I need more Mexicans like you,’” says a 25-year-old immigrant employed at a farm in the southwest part of the state, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s trying to get his paperwork in order. “I said, ‘Well, they’re kind of hard to find.’”
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In Haskell County, where Cattle Empire is the biggest employer, 77 percent of voters cast ballots for Trump, compared with 57 percent statewide. But Priest and other employers interviewed for this story complained that the immigration policies emanating from Washington, 1,500 miles away, clash with the needs of local businesses.

Representative Roger Marshall, a Republican whose district includes southwest Kansas, says immigration is the No. 1 concern he hears about from constituents. The freshman congressman says he’s confident that once the border is secure, “President Trump will look at this, too, as an economic problem.”
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The price of milk would jump to $6.40 a gallon if U.S. dairy farms were deprived of access to immigrant workers, according to a 2015 report commissioned by the National Milk Producers Federation, which estimated that half of all workers in the industry are immigrants. Lingering in Congress are two separate bills that would modify the existing H2A agricultural visa program so that dairy farms can hire workers year-round rather than seasonally. In an April 18 statement in support of the legislation, the milk producers’ trade group said: “Without the help of foreign labor, many American dairy operations face the threat of closure.”
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Enjoy your milk while you can.
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
Sounds like a pretty terrible deal for American farmers, but Trump wouldn't know a good deal if it bit him in his stupid orange face.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Good thing we have Americans lined up to take the jobs those damn illegals stole. #maga
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
Zhengi said:
Pay more and provide better working conditions to attract workers.
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What is this, charity? Fuck no.

I'll continue to demonize Mexicans, thankyouverymuch. I need them, but fuck them for stealing jobs.

They just better not rape anybody while they're working for me.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Americans will eagerly do shit work for low pay after automation takes the good jobs.
Except coal miners. They'll just cry and scam disability forever.
 
A

Apathy

Member
Zhengi said:
Pay more and provide better working conditions to attract workers.
Click to expand...


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...0-farm-workers-only-7-americans-stuck-it-out/

Americans are "too good" to stick migrant worker type jobs. It's actual hard work, back bending labor

Also there's a limit to the pay they give because you (and most people) aren't willing and in some cases able to pay for an increase in price of fruits and vegetables. Americans are so chained to the idea that an Apple or a cucumber must be a certain price that that ties the farmers hands as well.
 
N

NoRéN

Member
You mean to tell me that voting against your best interests has repercussions?

Ahahahahahahaha

Where are all the white people? Still pulling on their bootstraps at a trump rally?
 
C

chicken_pasta

Banned
People throw shade at China for paying terrible wages to their workers, while US Farmers manage to stay competitive just because they're underpaying illegal workers who can't complain because of their immigration status. They're basically slaves, living in terrible conditions, but hey gotta keep our farmers competitive.
 
S

Shoeless

Member
I'm sure the Americans that voted on the issue of keeping job-stealing foreign workers out carefully considered this factor, knew that it meant a possible increase in pricing that would directly affect them, and then, after weighing the pros and cons, were willing to accept this trade off. Surely they won't be caught by surprise by consequences like this and complain about it, because they were voting on the basis of debated and thought out arguments, and not on reflexive hate and paranoia with no actual basis. Surely.
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
A shame these people couldn't figure that out a few years ago when Georgia tried to reduce undocumented workers and the state ended up losing billions in rotting crops. The farmers were even offering wages well above minimum wage, but nobody wanted to do the job.
 
Z

zethren

Banned
Let things start to get economically rough on the majority, and you'll see actual change start popping up. It sucks that it has to wait and get to that point, but it seems like it so often does.
 
A

Apathy

Member
chicken_pasta said:
People throw shade at China for paying terrible wages to their workers, while US Farmers manage to stay competitive just because they're underpaying illegal workers who can't complain because of their immigration status. They're basically slaves, living in terrible conditions, but hey gotta keep our farmers competitive.
Click to expand...

On top of the basically slave labor, don't farmers get government subsidies?
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
Being lactose intolerant finally paid off \0/

It sucks but the truth is, Trump supporters don't learn unless it hits them over the head.

And even then, some of them refuse to learn because it would mean saying they're wrong.
 
A

AbortedWalrusFetus

Member
As long as they pay the Mexican workers a living wage of a minimum of $15/hr, provide full health insurance benefits, and maintain occupational health and safety standards equivalent to that of the average domestic worker, I say let them bring in workers.
 
T

TyrantII

Member
Skyrocketing inflation on food would be pretty fun, especially matched with 30 years of stagnant wages.

Lets see them blame in on Democrats this time.
 
R

Roland_Gunner

Member
Zhengi said:
Pay more and provide better working conditions to attract workers.
Click to expand...

More pay sure, but working on a farm is really tough. You can only make it so much better for workers on the margins. Some 50 year old whose been working in an office for 30 years isn't going to be able to do it no matter what the wage is.
 
T

theechrisfox

Member
I'm convinced these people could go completely broke and be living in a cardboard box with naught but celery and mud and old chicken bones to eat and they will still vote Republican next time.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
As long as they pay the Mexican workers a living wage of a minimum of $15/hr, provide full health insurance benefits, and maintain occupational health and safety standards equivalent to that of the average domestic worker, I say let them bring in workers.
Click to expand...

The article says that they can make up to $18/hr depending on how fast they work, and that minimum wage in the area is $8.25.
As for the benefits... lol, what year is it?
 
A

AbortedWalrusFetus

Member
TAJ said:
The article says that they can make up to $18/hr depending on how fast they work, and that minimum wage in the area is $8.25.
As for the benefits... lol, what year is it?
Click to expand...

Yes, and I bet that very small portion of them are coming close to that $18/hr number, ESPECIALLY the illegal ones. The average farm labor wages in this country are $10/hour for legal residents. You don't have to do too much searching to hear horror stories of people working for dollars a day either.
 
A

AcademicSaucer

Member
If your industry needs semi-slave labour there is something really wrong there, specially when planes will just fly by and drop pesticide on them.
 
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