Immigration, agriculture (and others)
Not to slag on Agriculture (yes, I am gonna), but they have a large hand in the inconsistencies in US immigration policies and play both sides. Don't pity those fuckers.
Last week, I stumbled on a Youtube channel titled "Farm to Taber" when I posted about how it really wasn't the case that American farmers were voting against their interests by throwing their support behind Trump in particular, and Republicans in general. The net-net is that a) farmers are actually fairly wealthy, and b) they really like regulations being removed that prevent them from destroying the environment and abusing their employees.
Geoff Anderson
In the comments, someone mentioned that the video was eye-opening, but also that her take on "raw milk" was worth a watch. And it is.
So, I did what I do, subscribed and continued down the rabbit hole.
The video below was from about 3 months ago, and it is about how agriculture businesses (and they are businesses) is largely to blame for the ICE crisis.
Before I paste that video in, I want to relate a frustration that really grinds my fucking gears.
The Republican party has become the party of no to immigration. They use it to rile up the rabble of their base, but the truth is that a lot of the traditional power in Republican politics comes from their business roundtable, country club member, and think-tank ecosystem that wants no regulation, and virtually no restrictions on staffing. I even wrote extensively on it back in July of this year:
Geoff Anderson
What Ms. Taber lays out is how especially in agribusiness the model is tilted to using undocumented labor.
Sure, saving money is a large part of this, but it also ensures a staff that is compliant and will not complain about when they are treated like slaves.
She points out that it is not all agribusinesses, and that if you build your business around paying living wages to people who are authorized to be here working (like H-2A) that leads to a predictable staff that can be trained and be more efficient.
And, if Republicans in government wanted to truly address the waves of undocumented immigrants in the workforce, ICE should be targeting the business owners and managers who exploit this pool, almost with impunity, knowing that if ICE raids them Friday, by Tuesday, they can have staff in role again.
And it would be a balm for my soul to see business owners jailed for their trampling of the immigration laws.
As always, I encourage you to view this less than 7-minute video and you will understand the issue more.
