Alabama's Racist Racial Profiling Bill Causing ALL Latinos to Flee! No One to Replace "Jobs Americans Won't Do!"

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's strict new immigration law is backfiring. It was intended to force "illeegals" out of jobs. Instead, it is driving away many construction workers, roofers and field hands in the country legally who do backbreaking jobs that Americans won't do. The vacancies have created a void that is dealing a severe blow to Alabama's economy and is slowing the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities.

Some employers believe they can carry on because of the dismal economy, however they worry there isn't anyone to hire who will do these jobs. Here is what is happening: Many LEGAL Hispanic workers are fleeing the state because their family and friends don't have the proper papers and they fear they will be jailed. And there are NO "White Americans" willing to do these jobs.

Rick Pate, the owner of a commercial landscaping company in Montgomery, lost two of his most experienced workers, who were in the country LEGALLY! He spent thousands of dollars training them to install irrigation systems at places like the Hyundai plant.
"They just feel like there is a negative atmosphere for them here. They don't feel welcome. I don't begrudge them. I'd feel nervous, too," Pate said.

While it's not clear how many of an estimated 185,000 Hispanic people in the state have fled, one estimate figured as much one-fourth of the commercial building work force has left since the (RACIST) law was upheld last week, said Bill Caton, president of Associated General Contractors of Alabama. Commercial construction is a more than $7 billion-a-year industry in Alabama.

Legislators said the law would help legal residents suffering from nearly 10 percent unemployment, but they were wrong! One of the bill's authors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said he expected short-term problems, but he has received "thank you" calls from (only) two (racist) people who replaced illegal immigrants who fled their jobs. Beason predicts that trickle will become a rush. "We have the best law in the country and I stand by what we've done," Beason said.
Many farmers disagreed. On Chandler Mountain in north Alabama, tomato farmer Lana Boatwright said only eight of the 48 Hispanic workers she needed for harvest showed up after the law took effect. Those who did were frightened. "My husband and I take them to the grocery store at night and shop for them because they are afraid they will be arrested," she said. Farmer Chad Smith said his family farm stands to lose up to $150,000 because there are not enough workers to pick tomatoes spoiling in the fields. "We will be lucky to be in business next year," he said.

The financial toll will be extreme! This racist law allows police to detain LATINOS they racially profile INDEEFINITELY if they say they are suspected of being in the country illegally. Additionally, this racial profiling bill requires schools to check the status of new students when they enroll. These elements make it the toughest law in the nation.

The law targets employers by forbidding drivers from stopping along a road to hire temporary workers. It also bars businesses from taking tax deductions for wages paid to illegal workers and makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to solicit work. A federal judge has temporarily blocked those sections of the law so she can study them more.

In Alabama, ALL Latinos FEAR for their safety! "We're afraid to go to Walmart. I'm afraid to walk the kids up there to get the bus. I am afraid to drive," Gonzalez said. Her husband worked as a brick mason and cook, but was recently unemployed. Now they have decided they probably will return to Mexico. "We're just trying to be here one more year, but with this law ..." she said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head.

In Tuscaloosa, there is still a lot of rebuilding to be done after Alabama's killer tornadoes in April. Without the Hispanic workers to help out, it will take even longer for neighborhoods to be fixed up. Blake Corder, the president of the Home Builders Association of Tuscaloosa, noted that the workers had left the area and he even lost a few renters in the past week.

Likewise, schools are worried about their students who have suddenly stopped showing up for class. Out of 34,000 Hispanic students, 2,285 were absent Monday. That number increased from Friday by a few hundred.

The figures show seven out of every 100 Hispanic children were out of school, even though state school officials have tried to assure parents that they won't release their names to police and that no child will be denied an education due to legal status.

At Gonzalez' mobile home community, driveways were full of cars and trucks at midday Tuesday, a time when most residents used to be at work. A resident who didn't want to be identified out of fear of the law said people are afraid to venture out during daylight. "People are just not going to work. They don't want to be arrested," the woman said.

Builders have complained they can't find replacement workers and delays in projects are expected. Once the economy picks up and construction returns to normal, the impact will increase, said Russell Davis, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Alabama.

"There is going to be a void. No question," Davis said.

Once Again, Latino Workers Called in to do Jobs Americans Don't Want to Do --- The Gulf Oil Clean-Up!

As in past summers, the Gulf Coast promises to be a +100 degree, sweltering hot house. Imagine being in this swelter and cleaning up the mess from the Gulf Oil Spill.

The "Deepwater Horizon" offshore platform exploded April 20 and triggered an underwater oil gusher. The gusher has been spewing 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day and continues to gush. So far, it is estimated that more than 6 million gallons of crude oil have spewed into the Gulf. The spill is the size of the state of New Jersey.

While Fishermen and tour boat captains sit idle as thick crude invades their state's shorelines, some businesses are flourishing. Clean-up companies like "Coastal Tank Cleaning" have been contracted to clean up the mess from the spill. Much as he hates to say it, Mark Leonard knows it's true: The oil spill that is fouling the Gulf of Mexico may save his family's business. Leonard, 34, is operations manager for Coastal Tank Cleaning, a company called in to help set booms to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak from getting into Lake Pontchartrain. The Morgan City-based company sent 10 workers and equipment to a staging area at Fort Pike, on the eastern tip of New Orleans. "We don't want this to happen," he said. "We didn't want this to be our saving grace to keep the company going. But this is something that I think is helping a lot of companies that were down, and possibly wondering `When is it finally going to pick up?' `When can we start working again and staffing again and paying our bills?'"

The work is difficult, dirty and sometimes overwhelming in the +100 degree heat. Sometimes it is unsafe. Some fishermen who have been contracted by BP to clean up the gulf oil spill say they have become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant, prompting a Louisiana lawmaker to call on the federal government to open mobile clinics in rural areas to treat them. The fishermen report severe headaches, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing. Concerned by the reports, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking the agency's help providing medical treatment, especially in Plaquemines Parish, a southern region where many fishermen live.

The oil clean-up is a job most Americans do not want to do. As with the clean-up of the Southeast after Hurricane Katrina, many of those being hired to do this massive job are numerous Latino workers and many of them are undocumented. For the last 100+ years, Latino workers have been called upon to help Nation Build this great country of ours and complete some of the most strenuous and difficult jobs that many Americans do not want to do. This is yet another example. My prediction is the majority of those hired to clean-up this massive, massive ecological mess made due to Americans consumption of oil will be performed by undocumented workers. This time, I think we need Comprehensive Immigration Reform as payback for their hard work!

References: How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? Gulf Oil Spill Jobs Oil cleanup workers report illness

Dobbs, Republicans and ANTIS Vote Against American Unions and Workers And Don´t Make Sense!!

I am so very angry at Republicans right now!

Perhaps I should not even write this blog! I try to wait a certain period of time when I am angry before I write a blog, but I have to write this, and I am writing it now!

Republicans are so short sighted. They are pandering to the "Lou Dobbs", ANTIs in their ranks and refuting the UAW and other long standing union members. The Republicans are demonstrating how archaic they are!

I hate Lou Dobbs. Tonight he had a group of idiots on his show ALL bashing Union Members!!

Before I go on, I want everyone to know I AM VERY Pro-UNION!!

My Beloved Father was a Union Man!! He believed in the Union!

Together the Unions and Workers were able to request and receive a working man´s (person) wage, union benefits, and retirement benefits. They were NOT asking for the multi millions the Wall Street Bankers ask for. All they asked for was a livable wage, benefits, and a retirement package once they had 30 years. I love unions. I don´t think that is too much to ask for.

Unions were why Michigan survived! My Father was Union. My Brothers were union. My Father in law was union! Most Everyone in Michigan is PRO Union and most Everyone owns USA produced cars!

Today, the Republicans, listening to their Republican and ANTI constituents, voted against the bailout for American owned Companies. They voted against Unions. They voted for Foreign Owned Car Companies with Non Union factories located in their states.

I ask, how can these REPUBLICANS refute the Union?!? (WHY, Because Foreign Auto Makers Reside in their State?!? And Pay Big $$ to their PACS!) How can they turn down this bill?!? Why were the Republicans so willing to pass the bailout for the RICH BANKERS ON WALL STREET?!? Those who have those Fancy Recognition Parties in Million Dollar Hotels?!? And Multi Million Dollar Bonus Packages for their CEOs and other Officers?!? All Driving Foreign Cars!!

I believe in the Working Man! Unions are good!

Pay the Million Dollar Business Owners?! But Delete the Unions?! Republicans DO NOT MAKE SENSE!!!

Reference Documents:

Automakers fail to cash in on big GOP donations

A Tale of Two Auto Plants

U.A.W. at Center of Dispute Over Bailout

Gov. Granholm to Bush: Thanks for your help

Breaking News! Agriprocessors - Exploitation Central - Hires Texas Latino Homeless to Backfill Postfill Jobs!!!

Agriprocessors, the most exploitive employer in American History, has gone beyond the pale! They are invading the Texas streets and collecting the Latino homeless to fill the Postville Agriprocessors jobs. Are these jobs truly work Americans won´t do or is Agriprocessors out to continue to exploit another minority group? (Citizen Latino Homeless)

The Jewish Journal Reports:

NEW YORK (JTA)—In an effort to restore lagging production at its plant in Postville, Iowa, the country’s largest kosher meat producer has been hiring workers from homeless shelters in Texas to replace employees detained in a massive federal immigration raid last month. According to a spokesman for the meat producer Agriprocessors, workers are recruited by a firm in Amarillo, Texas, and sent to Postville. Once there, they are processed by Jacobson Staffing, a Des Moines-based company that screens them for drugs and alcohol and ensures they are legally permitted to work in the United States.
Several officials in Postville say the new arrivals have created problems for the town. Postville Police Chief Michael Halse told JTA that his officers had arrested four plant workers for disorderly conduct this week.
Father Paul Ouderkirk, leader of the local Catholic church, which has played a lead role in helping former workers and their families after last month’s raid, said a mentally challenged woman from Texas had come to his church looking for help with prescription medications. And in an interview Friday with Postville’s local radio station, Diana Morris said she spent three days on a bus from Amarillo only to discover she was expected to live with 10 men in a four-bedroom house that had no electricity or hot water. “Amarillo’s homeless problem has become Postville’s homeless problem,” Jeff Abbas, who runs the KPVL radio station, told JTA.

In a statement Friday to JTA, Jim Martin, Agriprocessors’ newly hired compliance officer, said any allegations that contractors had misled new recruits would be investigated. “We would note that we do not believe that homeless people should be prohibited from applying for employment from Agriprocessors,” Martin added. “In fact, for the appropriate individuals, we welcome the opportunity to offer them the chance to better their lives.” Agriprocessors has been struggling to restore production since authorities conducted the largest immigration raid in U.S. history May 12 at the Postville plant. Nearly half the workforce was rounded up and some 300 workers are now facing deportation, having pleaded guilty to various forms of identity theft and fraud. The company has had trouble getting its production levels back to speed, sparking concerns of a kosher meat shortage around the country.
Within weeks of the raid, a Waterloo staffing company withdrew an estimated 150 replacement workers from the plant, citing safety concerns. A group of Native Americans brought in from a smaller Agriprocessors plant in Gordon, Neb., left within days, saying working conditions were worse than expected and the company hadn’t made good on its promises. Those reports have helped prompt several Jewish organizations to call for boycotts of the company. But Rabbi Seth Mandel, rabbinic coordinator for the Orthodox Union, one of two agencies certifying the plant as kosher, says Agriprocessors merely is responding to the dictates of the market. “Most consumers will not pay a premium for free-range, natural or organic beef, no matter how much lip service they pay to the idea,” Mandel wrote in an e-mail obtained by JTA. “The same thing holds true regarding employees and their working conditions. Meat packers would [have] no problem with paying higher wages and make working conditions better—IF the consumers would pay the premium price thereby entailed.”
In her interview with Abbas, Morris described how she was recruited from Amarillo with about 15 others and given a Greyhound bus ticket and $15 dollars to pay for food during the 1,000-mile journey. She said she was promised 30 days of free housing as well as a $100 bonus upon arrival. What made the offfer so attractive, Morris said, was the $10 per hour that Agriprocessors is now offering. “Everything down there is about $6 an hour being paid, and that’s the minimum wage,” she said of Texas. Juda Engelmayer, a company spokesman, said that Jacobson determined who was fit to work in the plant and that resources were provided to transport workers back to their homes if they weren’t offered jobs. “They are given the opportunity and the means to go back where they came from,” Engelmayer said. “I don’t know if everyone takes it. Free citizens are free to move around as they wish.”

ANTIs throwing Hissy Fit over Feinstein´s Needed Farm Worker Bill

The ANTI sites are in an uproar over the AgJobs Bill Dianne Feinstein has tagged on to an Iraq spending bill which is destined for the Senate Floor next week. Roy Beck from NumbersUSA, alipac and other sites are having their robotic ANTI followers mass sending pre-written rage email, free faxes and scripted phone calls to the beleaguered members of Congress. Hopefully Congress will understand these blind sheep do not represent the vast majority of Americans who are tired of spending outrageous amounts of $$ for fruit and vegetables and are actually looking for some relief to the overpricing and gas gouging currently taxing their pocketbooks! Check out some of the ANTI sites and read their "Hissy Fits" over the possibility of this bill passing and saving Citizens millions in future grocery bills.

Now, Read the SCOOP on what Sen. Feinstein is actually trying to accomplish:

Feinstein farmworker bill takes a baby step forward

OC Register Reports: Thursday, May 15, 2008

Determined to address an emergency situation in the U.S. agriculture industry, Senator Dianne Feinstein persuaded her colleagues on the Appropriations Committee today to add a scaled-down version of her Ag Jobs bill to the Iraq spending bill destined for the Senate floor. "We need this legislation because in the last year 13,280 farms in the United States have shut down, and others have moved their operation to Mexico'' between 2006 and 2007, Feinstein, D-Calif., said at the Appropriations panel meeting to vote on the Iraq bill. Of the closed farms, 1,000 were in California. The committee approved her measure by a 17-12 vote.
The provision Feinstein hopes can survive a Senate floor vote and get approved by House members as well falls short of the permanent fix she had hoped to provide for an industry she says is in crisis because of an acute labor shortage. Under today's amendment, farm workers who have worked in agriculture within the past four years will be able to work legally for growers for five years. The measure doesn't include any path to legal status or citizenship...This more modest approach is likely to draw support, especially from lawmakers who don't want to give any permanent status to immigrants who entered the country illegally or who overstayed their visas.
But there is a determined group of senators and House members who oppose any benefits for people who broke immigration law and say there wouldn't be a labor shortage if growers paid higher wages. And it's likely that those lawmakers might try and add enforcement provisions to the bill that would be objected to by members who might otherwise approve of the agriculture provisions. Some immigration advocates have also expressed concern that if individual immigration issues are dealt with separately, it will make it harder to get a broad comprehensive bill passed. But Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst for the Immigration Policy Center, a pro-immigration think tank, said agriculture "has always been its own issue. I think Feinstein is showing us there is an appetite for balanced reform. Employers need workers and it just makes sense at this point in time."

Say Good-Bye to Tomatoes!

U.S. Farmers say Immigration Laws are BROKEN!! One of Nation´s largest Tomato Farmers to STOP harvesting tomatoes this year and will instead harvest grain since it can be harvested by machines. Farmer says harvesting tomatoes are high paying jobs but jobs Americans won´t do due to the heat and difficulty of harvesting.

Major Pa. tomato producer quits, blames Congress
By Nancy Petersen Inquirer Staff Writer Tue, Mar. 25, 2008
CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. - Keith Eckel, the largest producer of fresh market tomatoes in Pennsylvania, is getting out of the business. Fearing that the labor needed to harvest his tomatoes won't be there when he needs it, Eckel announced yesterday that after decades of growing tomatoes, he was calling it quits. He placed the blame squarely at the feet of Congress and its failure to enact what he called a meaningful immigration reform measure. "The system is broken," Eckel said before a crowd of neighbors, employees and news media gathered in the packing house at his farm near Scranton. "It's a sad day," he said. "We're closing a part of our business that we really love."
Eckel's problems are echoed coast to coast by farmers who are reliant on foreign farm workers allowed into the country each year to plant, pick and package crops. Eckel said the impact of the government's increased vigilance on illegal immigration and the lack of action on an immigration reform bill has sown doubt among farmers that they will be able to count on a predictable and sufficient work force.
The push for immigration reform has stalled in Congress and little action is expected during the rest of this election year. The problem can be solved if Congress would pass a viable and accessible guest-worker program, Eckel said. Otherwise, he and other farmers say they are not going to take the risk of planting crops they can't harvest for lack of a workforce. Eckels estimated the value of his tomato crop at $1.5 million to $2 million. "It is a real concern, and we are disappointed that Congress has failed to act," said Peter Furey, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. "Ultimately, consumers will feel this." Eckel warned that unless the issue was resolved, it would eventually drive the fresh fruit and vegetable industry offshore, causing an inevitable rise in food prices.
Last year, Eckel employed 180 people, but this spring, when he plants crops that can be handled by machines, he will employ five. Farmers across the country who depend on immigrant labor are facing the same decision as Eckel: Do they forge ahead and risk losing a crop, or do they plant another crop for which a machine can do the work? "It is one of those situations where the ground is shifting under your feet and you may not notice it until two or five years out," said Jack King, director of national programs for the California Farm Bureau Federation. Workers on Eckel's farm averaged $16.59 an hour "and they earned every penny of it," Eckel said. "No one will harvest tomatoes in 90 degree weather except immigrant labor," he said. And a number of people who worked in his packing house were retired workers picking up a few extra dollars, he said. Congress needs to act, said Furey of the New Jersey Farm Bureau: "We need a national solution that is realistic, in tune with the economy and fair to the people." Eckel gave President Bush credit for trying to enact meaningful change, but he said a divided Congress and emotions got in the way. He said the climate was such that legal immigrants were fearful of moving across state lines, further exacerbating the problem.
Although his workers have documents proving that they are legal, Eckel said some estimates show that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the documents are fraudulent.
"We can no longer take the risk," he said. "We have done everything we can to comply with the law." Most farmers are honest, he said, but rather than run the risk of losing their crop, they simply won't plant one.
"It's a very uncertain time," said King of the California Farm Bureau. "Farmers are scared stiff on this immigration thing. They are operating at the mercy of the federal government." King said that some of the state's vegetable growers were moving their operations to Mexico, raising concerns about food safety.
Last year Eckel planted 2.3 million tomato plants over 340 acres of his Lackawanna County farm, a crop that he estimated supplied about 75 percent of the fresh tomatoes in produce aisles between Boston and Washington. He said his was the largest tomato producing operation north of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Ohio. This year, he is planting about 45 acres of sweet corn, and 1,200 acres of corn for grain.
When his mother asked where they will get tomatoes this summer, her son said: "We'll buy from one of our good neighbors."