I love how conservatives blame immigrants for America’s immigration “problems” and rail against President Obama as he attempts to nudge the country toward taking advantage of the desperation of immigrants in a slightly more transparent way. Conservatives hysterically claim that our porous southern border is the problem. It isn’t. The problem is the greedy farmer. The problem is the unethical food processing company that doesn’t want to pay a living wage or be bound by even the most minimal standards of workplace safety. That’s what they found out in Alabama when they really cracked down on the people who employ illegal immigrant labor.
Dirty jobs are available; Americans won’t fill them; thus, Americans are too soft for dirty jobs. Why else would so many unemployed people turn down the opportunity to work during a recession? Of course, there’s an equally compelling obverse. Why should farmers and plant owners expect people to take a back-breaking seasonal job with low pay and no benefits just because they happen to be offering it? If no one wants an available job—especially in extreme times—maybe the fault doesn’t rest entirely with the people turning it down. Maybe the market is inefficient.
Tom Surtees is tired of hearing employers grouse about their lazy countrymen. “Don’t tell me an Alabamian can’t work out in the field picking produce because it’s hot and labor intensive,” he says. “Go into a steel mill. Go into a foundry. Go into numerous other occupations and tell them Alabamians don’t like this work because it’s hot and it requires manual labor.” The difference being, jobs in Alabama’s foundries and steel mills pay better wages—with benefits. “If you’re trying to justify paying someone below whatever an appropriate wage level is so you can bring your product, I don’t think that’s a valid argument,” Surtees says.