Immigration

By Paul A. Smith

Illegal or not?

The next day you can be assured a head of lettuce will be $5.00. Spinach will be $7.00 a bunch. Apples, $5.00 per pound. Do we raise our own children to go to high school, and then college to be career pepper pickers? If you think gasoline is pricey now, try feed your family when prices skyrocket. Does anyone truly look at their children and have aspirations for them to work in a field somewhere in central California?

I will propose that we need to have a worker program to do the jobs that none of us are willing to do. Just slamming the door won't do or we will starve over time, because we won't do those kinds of jobs. I understand that they are illegal now, so we better figure out a program that will allow them to work in this country. Otherwise we will have to pay $20.00 per hour for labor and the costs to you and me for a head of cabbage will mirror gasoline prices.

When a field is ready for harvest and no 'legal' workers show up, do we tell the farmer too bad and watch it rot on the vine or do we figure out a way to use the existing workforce that will do this work and bring it under some program that will be legal for the employers under some work program. I choose the latter and I will work on legislation to set this program up to benefit all of us. I am not willing to pay $5.00 for a head of lettuce and either should you.