“CBS Evening News” has a history of being tough on businesses that might be engaging in illegal activity or otherwise acting unethically. But there’s one exception – employers of illegal immigrants.
“Jim Zappala says the federal crackdown is killing his business right in the middle of harvest,” CBS correspondent Seth Doane said on the October 10 broadcast. “His onion farm in western New York has been targeted by immigration officials twice in just six months. Workers have been deported. Others are too scared to return.”
Zappala is the owner of Zappala Farms and has openly admitted to hiring illegal immigrants. One solution Doane proposed to Zappala: pay more money and he could get American workers to do the jobs. “I don't think there's any amount of money that we could pay to get workers to come in and hand-clip these onions or help with the field work,” Zappala replied.
According to Doane, up to $9 billion annually could be lost if U.S. farmers “don't get the labor force they need.” However, the costs are much greater when immigration regulations aren’t enforced.
According to a study by The Heritage Foundation, a household headed by an individual without a high school education, which includes about two-thirds of illegal aliens, costs U.S. taxpayers more than $32,000 in federal, state and local benefits. That same family contributes an average of $9,000 a year in taxes, resulting in a net tax burden of $22,449 each year.
“Over the next ten years, the constant dollar net cost of low-skill households (immediate benefits received minus taxes paid) is likely to be at least $3.9 trillion,” wrote Robert Rector, author of the study.
“Aren’t there laws on the books to be enforced?” Doane asked Mike Biltonen, an apple grower in New York facing similar labor woes. “They are,” Biltonen replied. “They are intended to be enforced. I think they haven’t in the past because there has been a recognized problem.”
But Doane warned that “enforcing the current laws will only force operations underground, out of the country or out of business altogether.”
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Thank you Welfare Nation
October 11, 2007 - 14:28 ET by Daniel BakerFor making America an immigration nightmare.
_______________________________
Learn about "the best choice for people of faith" http://www.evangelic...
This is an Enron that's
October 11, 2007 - 15:30 ET by TruthMongerThis is an Enron that's just A-OK:)!
A service of the new NB respect police
Maketing is the Answer
October 11, 2007 - 14:41 ET by JayTeeAmericans are OVER Weight...Fat even...
Advertisement:
We PAY you to Exercise. Pick Onions at minimum Wage, Walk / Bend / Stoop / Lift your way into burning Calories, while making $$$'s.
Slim Fast, NOW !!
Also, we sell to you at a Discount, Purchase limited to 2 Lbs of product.
What good is a Free Press, if it is a False Press ? David Foote GoE
American Automation
October 11, 2007 - 14:46 ET by deerjerkydaveAmerica will do what it does best, invent a machine that will pick onions. If we can land a man on the moon, we can invent a tractor to pick onions. It'll save these farmers money in the long run and do it much faster. I guarantee you that if the free market is allowed to do its job and a demand exists for onion picking, a solution is going to quickly appear. Human enginuity knows no bounds unless it is stifled by government imposed regulation.
I had to pick tomatoes for
October 11, 2007 - 14:52 ET by mostlymoderateI had to pick tomatoes for one long, dreary summer. I must admit, farm work is lousy. However, I know people would do it if we took their welfare checks away.
Idaho
October 11, 2007 - 15:02 ET by deerjerkydaveI lived in Idaho a few years back. I can tell you that there were plenty of white guys working in the potato fields.
deerj... There still
October 11, 2007 - 15:12 ET by bigtimerdeerj...
There still are.
I am sick and tired of hearing the same rhetoric...regular americans will not take these jobs...
BULL.
Watch DIRTY JOBS
October 11, 2007 - 15:52 ET by JayTeeWatch the Dirty Jobs show on TV, Count how many Americans are doing the DIRTY JOBS on his show.....very few Mexicans....and No Iranians
My Son has washed Dishes, waited Tables, etc....My first Job was at a Car Wash.
I'd pick Onions before I'd wait on the Public at a McDonalds.
What good is a Free Press, if it is a False Press ? David Foote GoE
I hauled hay for 3 cents a
October 11, 2007 - 15:41 ET by bassndudeI hauled hay for 3 cents a bail, up to 25 cents later on, I have picked cotten, (dont wanna do that again), but they have machines for that now. I picked water melons, no easy job and I have picked tomatoes also. But I would do it again if I had to. But I will not work at Micky Dee's or 7-11.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Hehe, Bass the best time to
October 11, 2007 - 17:19 ET by Dan The Man 2Hehe, Bass the best time to pick mellons is at night. Done a few that way and almost paid for it too. In my older years I see the folly but it broke the boredom back then. But I have hauled mellons for money in day too along with hay and picking corn and peas and taters and the list goes on. I would work at McDees before I went back to farming again. Its lots cooler and pays better. But if I had to I would do anything that needed to be done.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
But if I had to I would
October 11, 2007 - 17:26 ET by bigtimerBut if I had to I would do anything that needed to be done.
Me too Dan the Man. ..and I have at times also.
Years ago
October 11, 2007 - 23:38 ET by ReformedLib Re-FormedConMy hubby was robbed and stabbed and out of work for months. Found out the hard way that his employer had no workers' comp. I did whatever I could to bring money in- I baked treats to sell, made clothing, served buffets and bussed tables, worked as many extra hours as I could at the part-time job I did have... whatever got the bills paid besides going on the dole. I believe that picking veggies and whatnot is not an optimal job, but (and I just had this conversation yesterday with someone) given the choice between paying 2.00 more a pound for steak or .50 more for a head of lettuce or paying all that extra money in taxes to cover illegals who are eating up our national resources, well, here's my 2.50, I'll take one steak and an extra head of lettuce!
Reformed... B-E-A-U-T-I-F-
October 11, 2007 - 23:45 ET by bigtimerReformed...
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!
3 cents!We got 6 cents
October 12, 2007 - 07:30 ET by well993 cents!We got 6 cents split between 3 of us.No hay bucker union at the time.That is how you made money.Did irrigation lines picked spuds..old hook belt.They did have a machine that did it but there was a field that they experimenting with different types of potatoes.Picked rock and hoed mint.It is definately my choice to serveing Big Macs.
History repeats itself
October 11, 2007 - 14:57 ET by Captain RepusOur country had the same problem up intil the middle 1800's in that there was no way our cotton fields could be harvested without the cheap labor of another class of people. At that time, my relatives were living in poverty, but couldn't get a job in the fields to earn a living because of the huge pool of cheap labor that was available.
The solution is simple; give some of the country blue uniforms, some grey, give them some rifles and cannons and let's settle this labor dispute like gentlemen.
Five dollars for a head of
October 11, 2007 - 15:30 ET by PeskyDaneFive dollars for a head of lettuce? Fine, bring it on.
Laborers
October 11, 2007 - 16:17 ET by bsmarjIf you can't afford to stay in business without an illegal workforce or government subsidies, why in the hell are you in business at all. Corporate welfare at it's finest.
No Mas!
October 11, 2007 - 16:55 ET by okiehawk44keep it coming america -- down here in florida the only people who can even get a job maintaining lawns are mexicans and the only people you see on construction sites are mexicans -- go figure! think they are the only people who can do that work? not a chance amigo. stop the subsidies and these people will go back to mexico and the criminals who are hiring them will go broke. GOOD!
Farmers distress - boo hoo!
October 11, 2007 - 16:19 ET by pocomoco“Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Farmers have no room to cry. In the 1960’s when there were only 3 million illegals, Eisenhower started rounding up about 300,000 and low and behold, the rest left voluntarily. Eisenhower did so because he determined that the illegals were ruining the economy and were a security risk. Sound familiar?
Did the farmers learn anything? No-o-o-o-o!
Congress is, of course, to blame as they pile on farm subsidies every year and look the other way regarding the illegals resulting in the problem growing 4 to 7 times greater since the 60s.
Boy! Can we sure use Eisenhower now!
poco... Excellent
October 11, 2007 - 16:21 ET by bigtimerpoco...
Excellent points.
I could not agree more about the farm subsidies and the illegal immigration ties.
Congress makes me furious each year when I listen/watch the debates and votes with the subsidies grow each year.
Past pathetic.
Insulating farmers from economic reality
October 11, 2007 - 20:02 ET by nkviking75A lot of farm policy is based on the notion that anyone who wants to farm ought to be able to make a profit at it, even if it requires forcing a new product on the public (ethanol) to create a new market for corn, looking the other way while farmers hire illegal aliens, paying subsidies, and paying farmers to idle cropland. A few years ago a Republican Congress took baby steps to wean agriculture away from government money, but backed off after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. It'll be hard to restore capitalism on agriculture because the early consequences will be painful for some, but it needs to happen.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
"But Doane warned that
October 11, 2007 - 17:46 ET by ckc1227"But Doane warned that “enforcing the current laws will only force
operations underground, out of the country or out of business
altogether.”
So what? They essentially already are outsourcing if they rely on illegal immigrant labor. Technically they have already relocated.
If they relocate, or shut down, very few Americans will lose their jobs. We can import apples and onions from somewhere else.
If they want to utilize Mexican labor, they should relocate to Mexico.
Edit:
It's funny, they used to make the same argument about slavery, too.
The libs keep whining amount
October 11, 2007 - 19:29 ET by Col SmokeThe libs keep whining amount how our prisons are overcrowded, and the cost to build more keeps going up. Easy solution, "rent" out convicts for the going rate of Mexican illegal workers, pay the convict $0.30/hr and the rest goes to the prison system to pay for housing and security.
wont work
October 12, 2007 - 02:30 ET by NiftySwellYou want to put farmers who hire legals out of work by hiring inmates to do the work at 30 cents an hour? I dont know what you do but if I pay an inmate to do it for 30 cents an hour you are not going to be very happy about it.
wage
October 11, 2007 - 22:40 ET by bobrlbobHe has not offered a decent wage so quit crying.
“I don't think there's
October 12, 2007 - 02:02 ET by jdub“I don't think there's any amount of money that we could pay to get workers to come in and hand-clip these onions or help with the field work,” Zappala replied
This is crap. My father was a construction worker for 35 yrs, like his father before him. He made 50k and up during the 80's and 90's. Enough to own a home, pay the car payments, and put food on the table. In the past decade home prices have skyrocketed(tripled in some parts of the SF area) and the wage? DECLINED. why? Illegal infiltration. Pay a living wage and Americans will do the work.
Doesnt sound right.
October 12, 2007 - 02:28 ET by NiftySwellAnyone remember the Swift & co. ICE raids in Greeley, CO a year ago?
Reporters jumped in after the raids and had people on tape saying they were doing jobs no one wanted. Then within a month they had already hired replacements, had raised wages and working conditions and are still in business today! I grew up about 30 miles away from there and as a teenager I could not get work when I was 12 or 13 doing anything but selling or delivering newspapers. I could, however, jump in the back of a pickup with the legal hispanics in my neighborhood in the summer or on a weekend and plant onions and make 20 bucks a day doing it. That was a lot of money back then and turns out it was probably illegal for them to be paying me to do it. The point is there were plenty of migrant workers out there too, but there were also plenty of legals of all ages and colors out there bending over earning an honest dollar doing it. The thing is that farmers, contractors, and restauranteers nowadays want to pay less for more so in effect will reap what they sow when ICE comes around. I am still puzzled by the MSM sticking up for farmers paying sub wages and providing no benefits for immigrants but crucify Wal-Mart who is providing jobs, cheap food, affordable medication, and most recently affordable in store health care accessible to the poor in this country.