Crop Freeze, Illegal Aliens, Farmers & Tax Payers

The recent crop freeze in California, specifically Ventura County, underscores the key component of the illegal immigration controversy, money in the form of cheap labor for all sorts of industry. The incontrovertible fact is that there are lots and lots of people making lots and lots of money on the backs of illegal aliens. And, the buying public benefits in the form of lower product costs. Disregarding all the social ills accompanying illegal aliens, it’s a win-win situation, sort of.

Concentrating, for the moment, on the agricultural industry, as a result of the recent freeze, Ventura County farmers are in a world of hurt, or so they say. A certain percentage of the farmers lost a significant portion of their crops. The farmers have crop insurance, so the problem is? It’s those pesky farm workers, who lost a significant portion of their income.

"We need to do something for displaced workers until the next harvest starts," said Rob Roy, president and general counsel of the Ventura County Agricultural Association. "The concern is that unemployment benefits aren't going to help these workers."

Now, before we get too worked up, let us acknowledge that farm workers, the majority of which are illegal aliens, didn’t suddenly have an unemployment benefits problem when this freeze hit. The real concern of the Ventura County Agricultural Association is that they anticipate losing their cheap labor to the Monterey agricultural industry.

"Workers are going to leave the area," said Jeffrey Ponting, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance in Oxnard. "They're going to go where they can feed their families."

Most likely they'll head to Monterey, he said, and if that happens, "Ventura County's going to suffer in a big way."

Tom Deardorff, president of Oxnard-based Deardorff Family Farms, cuts to the quick of the matter:

Laborers get paid per box filled, Deardorff said. The more boxes, the more money. Yes, there are berries left to pick, but to get to the healthy ones will take more time, thus fewer boxes come down the line and workers lose money.

Of course, if farmers paid an hourly wage and benefits there would be an available labor pool. But, then product prices would go up, profits would go down and imported agriculture would become more price competitive.

To avoid all these problems, the farm industry wants the tax payers to provide for the needs of the farm workers. That’s a pretty good idea because: the farm workers win; the farmers win; it helps to keep farm product prices down; and only the tax payers are the losers.

And wouldn’t you know it, there’s going to be legislators all too willing to help.

…at a meeting Friday morning in Oxnard overflowing with growers, labor and agriculture officials, insurance professionals and others that was organized by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara. The farm community came to tell Nava what it needs to get through the agricultural crisis brought on by the recent
unusually cold weather.

"You tell us what it is we need to do for you," said Nava,…

Deardorff said,

"Basically, our federal immigration policy so far has just completely failed to address 12 (million) to 15 million undocumented workers in the U.S.," he said. "We're not providing any benefits or protections for these people."

Well, that’s not really true,

The Human Services Agency is opening eight centers around the county where people can get expedited relief (food stamps), per the governor's mandate,…

And, in case you forgot the opening caveat in this blog

Disregarding all the social ills accompanying illegal aliens, …

It’s no simple problem, but you can be sure of one thing: the taxpayers are going to pay and pay and pay. Of course, it really does not hurt the rich taxpayer and the poor, many of which would be considered wealthy in other countries, don’t pay anything.

Previous Postings:
Goodby & Good Luck
Illegal Aliens Out Of My City
Sovereignty Ignored; Seal the Border and Deport
Pres. Bush on Illegal Immigration
Mexico is No Friend of Ours
The Welcome Mat for Illegal Aliens is Rolling Up
Tell Me Again Why We Don’t Need A Border Fence