Protect American Jobs – Stop Illegal Field Workers

The new immigration laws and border checks have become a cry for many. The call it unfair, racist and many other names. Since the economy has become so bad and we are in a severe recession, many illegal workers have left the country and returned to home countries because the money is just not there anymore. So farms say they have to find workers through prison release worker programs.

The reason? They say it is because illegal’s will work the field jobs Americans refuse to do. Who started this rumor? I think it started with the farmers themselves. During the last great depression in Oklahoma, many people migrated west to work in the fields. The sought the land of milk and honey in California and other western states that had crops to pick.

This was the time that Steinbeck wrote about in his book, The Grapes Of Wrath. My own family heritage was a part of the movement from the Oklahoma and Texas as workers that found their way west to California and the fields that were ripe for harvest and jobs. They were called field tramps and even as a child I remember following the crops as my family picked cotton, cut grapes, picked peaches and oranges and harvested any type of crop that was ready.

It was a paycheck, outdoor work and great competition for the young and old alike. It was family. Everyone worked together. Even in Oregon for many years, older school kids were let out for three weeks when it was time to harvest the green bean fields. They would be paid for their work and it was their money for the summer for fun, clothes, trips and other needs.

But all that began to fall to the way side when farmers began to hire illegal workers to fill the jobs. Illegal workers did not have to pay taxes or other income. They would work for pay that was way below the minimum wage and never say a word. Farmers did not have to report their pay or pay taxes on illegal’s. They could pay under the table and not have to report income, taxes, wages paid or stick to standards that the government set to protect the American worker with pay that was at least minimum wage.

Eventually they were able to begin the chant of “they work jobs Americans will not do.” It is not true. American workers began as frontier survivors. Facing the hardships of farming and ranching in a new land. When illegal workers are allowed to over run a job source because of illegal pay standards, it undermines the American public and the jobs available.

Basically, any American that was not Hispanic or illegal was pushed out of the profession loved by many. No one is telling them not to work the fields, but we are asking that the false chant stop before something happens. We are a nation of mixed cultures and when you arrive legally, it is your right to be protected against companies that hire without protection. No more under the table jobs for illegal’s. If you are an American it should be your right to seek field work without worry of violence. No American, no matter what cultural background, should be pushed from jobs.

Opinions are welcome. I am not a racist, so do not accuse me of being one. It is not an excuse that will work for this cause. Face the truth and stop the lies now.