In the wake of the Mississippi raid, cue the chorus: "But Americans won't take those jobs!"
Stop. JUST STOP. This is 100% unadulterated chickenshit. Americans absolutely WILL take these jobs -- if they're well-enough paid, and the working conditions are safe, and the hours are reasonable. Because, as citizens of a nation that claims to be developed and civilized, we expect our jobs to treat us fairly, and with a modicum of dignity.
The problem isn't American workers. It's the owners, who don't want to pay what that fairness and dignity cost. So they import illegal workers that they can underpay, steal wages from, work long hours, and force into horrifically dangerous conditions -- and who are in no position to complain, or hold the bosses accountable.
I lived in Canada for years. There are chicken farms up there, too, and Canadians work in them. Because Immigration Canada isn't afraid to shut down businesses that hire illegal workers, Canadian meat plant workers get full wages and legal hours, and work in plants that meet provincial health and safety standards. These are decent jobs with decent pay and conditions, and the bosses have no problem finding people who are glad enough to have them.
The fact that so many Americans cannot even visualize how this could be shows just how low we've sunk. Mississippi is the poorest state in the US, and its citizens need and deserve to be first in line for these jobs.
Don't arrest the workers. Arrest the bosses who broke US law to recruit them, import them, and give them fake documents so they could run their plants entirely beyond the reach of US employment law. These guys are criminals who've stolen billions from the would-be working families of Mississippi, and the tax coffers as well.
When you parrot the line that "Americans won't take these jobs," you're doing these bosses' work for them, and excusing deeply anti-American behavior. You're making apologies for the system that created this tragedy. Stop being their apologist. Demand that we return to a nation of American workplaces that are fit for American workers.
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