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Mexico says U.S. needs at least 600,000 more migrant workers

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There are millions of unemployed Americans.

Reinforcing the point that Trump's 'greatest economy in history' was great primarily for the 1%. Also reinforcing the point that America's current form of capitalism largely ignores those at the lower ends of the wealth and power ladders. Instead it favors the already-have-wealth-and-power sorts, i.e. those the Republican Party 'elite' 'establishment' care about.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The US immigration system is broke.

Taking advantage of foreign workers is illegal, yet the system is setup to encourage abuses by employers and workers across all industries. If there is work that has to be performed in the US, then the people performing it should be permanent residents and paid accordingly. If that means lettuce costs $5/head instead of $2.50/head, fine. Bust the employers. Fine them out of existence. Make it hurt them personally. Don't let the owners hide behind corporate protections. PERSONAL LIABILITY.

If local people aren't willing to work for 2x the price, setup migrant farm work VISA programs that require leaving the country every season, no family members allowed, no anchor babies.

Say that Biden has ended the H-1b VISA pause this week too. The point of that program is to get the best and brightest, which means they should be paid at least 20% higher than an American would be paid. Seems pretty clear that enforcing higher payments directly for the best people who aren't available in the US (the companies claim) would only be fair. About 20% of H-1b VISA employees I've met had exceptional skills. The rest were average or had clearly lied to get hired.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

As long as they get paid $15+ an hour, why not get brown people to do the dirty work?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Nobody is preventing those unemployed people from applying for jobs typically done by migrants. The issue is that most Americans don’t want those jobs.

Well, that’s not entirely true. A lot of these people that want employment could offer better and competitive incentives to lure in Americans, but they don’t want to because that’s too much time and money invested. Also, if these people want to hire illegals, they should be legal, no exceptions.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

How about giving them work first.

For one thing, few ever apply. Believe it or not, farmers in California try hiring citiznes, but native born workers seldom survive even a day in the fields. It's hot, strenuous, buggy, dirty work. And even if they can handle the physical demands they generally can't come close to the level of productivity that is expected. That migratory workforce is surprisingly skilled at what they do. It is not easy to pick fruit or delicate leafy vegetables unless you know what you are doing. It's real easy to mess up a lot of what you pick and ruin its market value. This about how beautiful those veggies look on the store shelf. You can mangle cabbage or lettuce if you pick it wrong and then the farmer doesn't make as much off their crop. The buyers for the grocery chains look at their crop and won't pay top dollar for mangled veggies. Nice looking carrots fetch a buck and a half a pound at the grocery store, but I can also buy a 30 pound bag of beat up mangled carrots for $7.99 (we take our little boy out to feed donkeys with the beat up carrots, donkeys don't care- we love the donkeys too). This is true of most crops. Each crop requires specific skills. Doing it fast enough to justify a $15 per hour wage, which many California farms pay, is a skill that takes time and effort to learn. Someone who's last job was in a doctor's office or Frys Electronics, or who was short cooking food in a now closed restaurant, isn't going to walk out to some farm outside, oh say Watsonville, and be productive. It might take a whole season to become productive. Who is going to put fourth that much effort unless they expect to spend their lives picking crops?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I should have said "Think about how beautiful those veggies look on the store shelf" Apologies for the correction.

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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that he would press for a deal to get legal guarantees for workers from Mexico and Central America when he speaks with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Monday.

He estimated that the United States needs another 600,000 to 800,000 workers per year.

And that's just at Trump Tower, Bedminster, and Mar-A-Lago....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

With the economy in shambles there’s absolutely no need for the country, particularly California to take on thousands of illegals, none. The leaders don’t want to listen to the people, then the people will leave, that’s the only thing they can and should do. The rich don’t have to worry about these people, there’s no way they can get near them, so why would they be bothered by their presence. Now if they could live where the Mega-rich, I’m sure they would quickly oppose opening up the border. So at this point the only thing the middle class can do is leave.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

You left the US so you may not know this but most of us in California love our immigrants. We work with them, hire them, work for them or patronize their businesses. We are glad the bigots left. Good riddance. Just me but I would rather have a poor immigrant for a neighbor than an American born white bigot. I am not alone either. The immigrants appreciate America more, are family oriented and generally more honest. Immigration is in my own blood too so I have no patience for those who disparage the immigrant. They are what made and continues to make America great while the bigots have always been a stain on the nation.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Btw, the tech industry, Amazon and eBay had a fabulous year this past year. As a result California had record tax receipts this year along with a record budget surplus and is offering their own in-state Covid relief payments. They are also looking at ways to spend the surplus supporting businesses that had to close due to the pandemic. There will still be some billions available to add to the already large rainy day fund the state started to set aside after the 2008 Great Recession. You can thank "ol' Moonbeam" Gov Jerry Brown for initiating that rainy day fund and demanding budget surpluses every year. Ten years straight with budget surpluses and pushign $20 billion in reserve.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Legal immigrants are welcome, regardless from where they come. It is only the people who skip the line that cause any concern. It breaks the American ideal of "fair play" that is part of the culture.

We are a nation of immigrants. Large groups of legal immigrants have come from other countries from time to time. We add their culture and language into the American way of life. Most of us are very happy to have a wider culture than just what our families have.

If the US Govt wants to allow 10,000 legal immigrants or 2M legal immigrants in annually, doesn't really matter to me. The key part is LEGAL immigrants. The number of illegal immigrants is my real concern, but mainly due to the vast numbers.

If the US govt decides that farm-worker visas are needed, great. I don't have any issue with that. Solving problems is good.

Every illegal immigrant is a slap in the face of all the legal immigrants who played by the rules.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Legal immigrants are welcome, regardless from where they come.

Unfortunately, not so many Americans hold this balanced opinion. Trump's war on immigrants extended to legal immigrants as well - he cut out so many legal visas, and put onto his acolytes that all immigrants are bad.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It's hot, strenuous, buggy, dirty work. And even if they can handle the physical demands they generally can't come close to the level of productivity that is expected. That migratory workforce is surprisingly skilled at what they do.

If they are so extraordinarily skilled then they should be paid according to their ability?The free market meritocracy and all that. Or a native workforce should be trained up to a level where they can be remunerated commensurate with the effort demanded from such a job so the dangers of migration are mitigated?

But then the margins for the landlords wouldn't work out to be so attractive would they...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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