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More trouble brewing on the southern border

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by ursidman, Jan 27, 2024.

  1. GatorNorth

    GatorNorth Premium Member Premium Member

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    While we are being honest, let’s take it one step further. Trump had both houses from 2016-2018 and did nothing on the border either except fear-monger the invasion during the 2018 because it was better politics (or so he thought) to do that than address the problem.
     
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  2. g8trjax

    g8trjax GC Hall of Fame

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    Good question. We've got enough slave labor here already.
     
  3. AzCatFan

    AzCatFan GC Hall of Fame

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  4. VAg8r1

    VAg8r1 GC Hall of Fame

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    Without addressing the pejorative term "slave labor" this is a consequence of a shortage of agricultural workers and the dirty little not so secret is that some of them are undocumented. While the article is almost seven years old it still holds true and by the way it only addressed a shortage in Santa Barbara County, California.
    Labor Shortage Leaves $13 Million in Crops to Rot in Fields
    This one is more recent.
    Farmers Can't Find Enough Workers to Harvest Crops—and Fruits and Vegetables Are Literally Rotting in Fields
    Crops rotting in the field: How the immigration debate is keeping food off the table
     
  5. VAg8r1

    VAg8r1 GC Hall of Fame

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  6. okeechobee

    okeechobee GC Hall of Fame

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    Most of what Trump did on the border was by executive order. There were quite a few consequential orders he issued regarding the border and Biden reversed many of them. The President doesn't need Congressional authority to protect our border. It's already part of the Oath of Office and law of the land. Neither Trump nor Biden needed Congress to enforce laws that are already on the books.
     
  7. okeechobee

    okeechobee GC Hall of Fame

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    So, we need to keep the border open so those stupid migrants can do our shit jobs that nobody here wants to do? Priceless.
     
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  8. AzCatFan

    AzCatFan GC Hall of Fame

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    What happens to the economy if billions of dollars literally die on the vine? What happens to housing prices if there's a significant shortage of construction workers? What good is bringing back manufacturing jobs if there are no people to fill them?

    You think the myth of the welfare queen is true, but the truth is, the majority of Americans receiving assistance fall into 1 if 4 categories. 1. Already working 2. Elderly 3. Child 4. Disabled and unable to hold down a job. Not the pool to find millions of people to a replace an immigrant labor force.

    We already have 3 million more job openings than unemployed. Why shouldn't we better let supply of labor meet demand?
     
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  9. Gatoragman

    Gatoragman GC Hall of Fame

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    I work in the industry in Florida and if the farmer is doing the jobs he should, as most of my customers, they are very rarely short workers since H2A has taken effect. You have to plan ahead but there are plenty of workers if you plan. I know of 2 H2A firms that each have over 3000 workers at any given point throughout the year. It's not like it was "back in the day" but there are plenty of workers if you plan accordingly.
     
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  10. AzCatFan

    AzCatFan GC Hall of Fame

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    H2A Visas are capped out at just under 300k per year for the entire country. That's about half of what is needed to be filled by immigrants, as there are also about 300k undocumented immigrants working in AG. This means, if every business planned accordingly, there would be labor shortages. But not every farm does, and they are likely to fill in their needs with undocumented.

    And this is just AG. There are an estimated 1 million to 2 million undocumented working in construction. If AG took all 300k H2A, what's left for construction? Zero.

    These are just two industries. There are also plenty of labor needs in other industries such as hospitality, bottom level healthcare (like senior daily care), and more.
     
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  11. tampagtr

    tampagtr VIP Member

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    Great post - really strong
     
  12. Gatoragman

    Gatoragman GC Hall of Fame

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    You are demonstrating your lack of knowledge of the H2A program. It is designed strictly for agriculture and there is no cap om how many can be here. Construction and other industries not going to say because I do not know, but your statements about limits in Ag is false and if the farm plan accordingly they should not have an issue.
     
  13. AzCatFan

    AzCatFan GC Hall of Fame

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    I'm not a lawyer, and don't know how the immigration system works. Does look like H2A are unlimited, which helps AG. Great. What about the other industries? There are only 300,000 undocumented working in AG, which leaves 7.7 million others working in other industries. Are there enough Visas to cover them as well?
     
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  14. Gatoragman

    Gatoragman GC Hall of Fame

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    You present yourself on every border thread as an expert and have no issue with criticizing anyone about their lack of empathy for "Human Beings" and their racists overtones to brown people but have just shown your lack of knowledge of how the border and immigration works. I won't bother with any additional retorts of your statements concerning the border or immigration because they lack the creditability you present them as.
     
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  15. slocala

    slocala VIP Member

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    Congress has to allocate funds. Are you saying Biden can reallocate funds from
    Somewhere else? How? I don’t think you are suggesting the border agents are bad at their jobs. Maybe they need 21st century tools and technology.

    The remain in Mexico policy on balance made sense to me because of Covid. I am not sure we have a willing partner in Mexico at this time.
     
  16. buckeyegator

    buckeyegator Premium Member

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    Is azcatfan really mayorkas in disguise?
     
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  17. AzCatFan

    AzCatFan GC Hall of Fame

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    You know how H2A and AG visas work. Great. They represent less than 4% of the undocumented work force. Do we have anything in place to reach the need of all other industries so they can meet legally meet their labor demand?

    You don't have to have an advanced degree to understand simple statistics, such as there are 3 million more job openings than unemployed in the US. Nor do you need one to understand that if there are 8 million undocumented in our work force, add up all the open positions (about 9.5 million) plus the 8 million undocumented, we simply don't have the numbers to legally fill all positions.

    No expert needed to understand that twice, bipartisan committees looked at the problem, and twice, in 2017 and 2013, came up with the same solution. The latter being the Gang of 8. And since then, we've spent billions on other solutions, including a wall, and the problem keeps going. What we haven't tried since the early 1960s? An expanded guest worker program, like the Bracero Program, or what the Gang of 8 suggested.

    The concepts I write above don't need an expert to understand. Do they?
     
  18. GatorJMDZ

    GatorJMDZ gatorjack VIP Member

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    No, just people of at least dull normal intelligence.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2024