WSJ, Los Angeles Times promote "guest" worker programs

What a coincidence. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal offered "As U.S. Debates Guest Workers, They Are Here Now". It's subscriber-only and the blurb provided has little beyond telling us that "Companies Featured in This Article: VeraSun Energy, Xcel Energy".

Today, the Los Angeles Times offers "Immigration Reform Efforts Reinvigorate Support for Guest Worker Program" from Lee Romney. Oddly enough, the title is a bit misleading since there's no new "support" mentioned in the article, only that from growers that have been singing the same song for decades:

As border enforcement shrinks the labor force of undocumented field hands and immigration reform looms in Congress, growers have focused with renewed vigor on the need for a simplified federal guest worker program.

The featured grower is Luawanna Hallstrom of Oceanside's Singh & Sons.

It also contains this charming bit:

This year, the company was abruptly notified there would be a five-week delay because the Department of Homeland Security, which vets company applications, had moved its processing center. Hallstrom, a Schwarzenegger appointee to the state board of Food and Agriculture and a national immigration reform advocate, enlisted help from the White House, and her applications were quickly processed. But, she asks, "how many people can do that?"

Indeed. It would be nice if the American public could have the same access to politicians as she does.

Immigration · Mon, 09/18/2006 - 11:46 · · Importance: 1