Bush is lying to you about "guest" workers

Speaking in Tampa yesterday, president Bush offered a fairly standard recitation of his immigration talking points (link), albeit a bit more incoherent than usual.

Let's just look at this one lie-rich paragraph:

My attitude is, you recognize it for what it is, and you say, you can do this on a temporary basis. You say, if there's a willing employer and a willing worker on a job an American won't do, then it's okay to fill that job, so long as you're not here permanently, so long as this is not -- (applause.) And so I believe there ought to be a temporary worker program. We've tried this in America before -- pretty successful, at least in my own home state of Texas. You got people -- Red Putnam over there, he's got people -- probably have been bringing people in to pick oranges, I don't know. Agriculture relies upon a lot of people willing to do the work that others won't do. And it seems like to me that there ought to be a legal way to make this happen without creating a sense of amnesty or permanency.

First of all, as pointed out many times before, these "temporary" workers will be here for as long as they want. They'll have U.S. citizen children, they'll buy property, start businesses, and variously become entrenched in the U.S. The "liberals" will whine if we try to deport them, and the "conservatives" will whine about losing their monetary contributions.

And, if there were some way to deport "temporary" workers once their time was up, why don't we deport those illegal aliens who are here now?

The answer is simple: president Bush is lying right to your face.

As for the bracero program, it was certainly pretty successful in increasing illegal immigration both during and after its implementation, in addition to being rife with worker abuse.

As for the "Red Putnam" shoutout, I believe that's a reference to Rep. Adam Putnam or another member of his family. He's a 20-something member of a Florida orange growing clan (link, link).

Is Bush accusing him of employing illegal aliens, or is he just referring to legal worker programs? Would he care? Would someone read "In Florida Groves, Cheap Labor Means Machines" to our leader?

Comments

I do not understand all this issue about immigrants. It brakes my heart that thies is going on, in a country of freedom. Were great leaders have strugeld to make something out of a nation that is so beutiful. I can not relate with the "illegal immigrant" but i can say i know how it feel, I have members in my family that have trugeld to make something of them self in the U.S and yes they were Immigrant at a point but now they have done right and are U.S. citizens just like you and me. I just wish that all those people that are so ignorent would just SHUT UP, you do not now how it is, immigrants do not want to harm any one, they just want to provide a better life for there family that are here or not. All I ask is that give them a chance.

To: boofug
From: minagirlz
Boofug, I feel you. Take it from me, "been there done that" a long time ago too. I remember I worked those fields from sun-up to sun-down right alongside my brothers and sisters. My friends can't believe that I ever did that type of job growing up. They thought only the "illegals" did that type of work. WRONG!

To: LomaAlta
From: minagirlz
You would lose that can of Delmonte peaches to me. Some hardworking Americans are still pickin' cotton down here in South Texas. I won't do it, but I still have relatives that do this every summer. It's very lucrative for them. They don't only pick the cotton they clear the cotton fields of all types of weeds that can damage the cotton crop. Plus, they work right alongside some very friendly illegal immigrants. My uncle says these people are always trying to go out of their way just to be frienly and to be accepted by us. Another thing, my uncle says that the illegals get the same wages. If you want a job pickin' cotton this summer so you can see for yourself how wrong you are I can hook you up with my uncle. I think you just need a little reality check. So, holla if you want it! Nice talkin' to ya!

How's that for rationality; the president getting down to his jes' folks particulars, as if saying, yep, I know planters' [I mean expert agronomists'] nephews by their nicknames, doggone it! The people he should know or understand some tiny bit about, are everyone except the viciously hyperexploitative landowners and their illegal aliens in peonage, though. An approach like that would have gone over in the democratic party of the 1850's, except that they had class and a sense of chivalry; they were not traitorous and disloyal.

boofugg:
I bet you a can of DelMonte peaches that you couldn't get a job picking peaches today. Americans are now frozen out of those jobs. And, you would find yourself in a very hostile environment if you were to be hired. Good Luck, write if you get work.

P.S. from Boofugg:
I'm just takin' a guess here....but I would venture to bet that most (and probably all) of you people out there who say illegal aliens are "doing the jobs Americans wont do" have never worked in America's fields and orchards to pay the rent, the PG&E and all the rest of that shit that sustains life.

In 1954 I, my mother, my father and my sister, were picking peaches in Stanislaus County, California. It was not a fucking hobby. We picked peaches because we had to pay the rent.

Lone:
You are correct about some essential parts of the illegal immigration problem.
1) There are no such thing as temporary or guest workers. As long as we allow anchor babies and refuse to deport existing illegal aliens, then guest/temporary workers programs are frauds.
3) the Bracero program was a disaster for everyone involved.

But there a couple of other things you might consider. First, the phrase "jobs Americans won't do..." is absolutely false. Let the free market system work and those jobs will be filled by willing Americans. The idea that illegal immigrant workers make things cheaper for Americans is also false. Some goods and services may be cheaper on the surface. If you look at the true costs (displaced American workers, welfare, free health care, free education for illegal immigrants, crime, etc.) then illegal immigration costs the USA hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

So, there is nothing positive about illegal immigration--it is an organized criminal enterprise (come on RICO) and ultimately will cost much more, such as the loss of respect for the rule of law in America. What are the costs of that?