Friday, February 16, 2007
A Town that Wants [You to Pay for its] Illegal Immigrants
The LA Times' Gregory Rodriguez took a trip up to farm country and found that the growers in Tulare County wanted to keep their labor force in place--on your dime. That is, the Citrus town of Lindsay was applying for federal aid to "avert an economic meltdown" devising an:
I wrote the following to the Times--resisting the temptation to ask how throwback to the 1930s WPA can be "innovative".
The letter didn't make it in, but I can't complain too much about, as a much pithier message was printed [scroll down].
Additional thoughts: Why is agriculture special in regard to immigration? After all, many United States industries have adapted to high labor costs by innovating or (in the worse case) moving operations abroad. Florida juice orange growers are already mechanizing, and surely we can import table oranges from, say, Mexico. Why not let trade and mechanization work its magic, rather than stay stuck with a cheap labor strategy which will fail in the long run?
innovative plan to not only address joblessness but to keep the workforce from abandoning the town. Invoking the memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era Works Projects Administration, the city's elected officials — all of whom are Republicans — are seeking federal aid to put the idle labor force to work on local improvement efforts. ("A Town that Wants Illegal Immigrants," Feb 11)
I wrote the following to the Times--resisting the temptation to ask how throwback to the 1930s WPA can be "innovative".
Lindsay, California presents a wonderful example of the dangers of relying on imported low-wage labor. According to the 2000 United States Census, the median household income in Lindsay is just below $25,000—half the United States’ average. Per capita income was less than 40% of the national average and 39% of the town’s population lived below the poverty line. Lindsay was (and is) a very poor place; given the nature of its population, much of the poverty is imported.
In light of these facts, Lindsay’s request for federal largess is yet another data point showing that mass immigration does not pay for itself. Private businesses may gain, but we all pay the costs. Rather than subsidize Lindsay’s cheap labor habit, government should prompt farmers to mechanize. Increasing labor productivity and reducing the need for immigrant labor is the only viable long-term solution for California agriculture.
The letter didn't make it in, but I can't complain too much about, as a much pithier message was printed [scroll down].
Additional thoughts: Why is agriculture special in regard to immigration? After all, many United States industries have adapted to high labor costs by innovating or (in the worse case) moving operations abroad. Florida juice orange growers are already mechanizing, and surely we can import table oranges from, say, Mexico. Why not let trade and mechanization work its magic, rather than stay stuck with a cheap labor strategy which will fail in the long run?
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