Farmers "burdened" with obeying the law

From Reuters...

Nine out of 10 American farmers surveyed said they have an unfair burden to ensure the workers they employ are here legally, a process some believe would be better handled by the U.S. government, according to a Reuters poll released on Tuesday.

The agriculture industry has grown increasingly dependent upon immigrant workers -- employed at meat packing plants and dairy, fruit and vegetable farms -- to help prevent labor shortages. But up to 70 percent of U.S. farm workers are estimated to be undocumented, totaling about 500,000 people.

"We can check but we can't be the document police," said Rodney Buss, an Illinois tree farmer who suspects many of the agriculture workers in his area near Chicago are in the United States illegally....

The American Farm Bureau estimates that without a guest-worker program, U.S. agriculture could lose up to $5 billion in revenue annually, including 30 percent of fruit and vegetable production going to foreign growers.

Aren't farmers also required to not hire kids under a certain age? Funny they aren't complaining about the "burden" of having to ensure the age of their employees. The problem is not the "burden" of making sure the workers are legal, but the "burden" of having to pay legal workers a decent wage. In those cases where the Immigration raided businesses, what followed was a rush by locals to apply for job openings. 

Explain to me why Democrats are pushing for A. a minimum wage hike and B. maintaining our pathetic immigration enforcement policies which allows millions upon millions of illegals to work for less that minimum wage? The two together produce only one thing--less jobs for poor America. Why do Democrats hate poor people so much?

Posted by Danny Carlton at January 10, 2007 5:54 AM