[Vision2020] Long Live the Braceros (but with much better working conditions)

[Nicholas Gier]

Dear Visionaries,

I've suspended my column writing until I get my book "Religious Violence in
Asia" done, but I thought I would repost some items of interest.

This is first column I did about immigration and picking pears with
Braceros when I was a wee lad f 14.  I was the only illegal in the orchards.

Yours for common sense immigration reform,

Nick

*LONG LIVE THE BRACEROS: *

*ESSENTIAL GUEST WORKERS NOT FELON*

              In 1958 I got my first job picking pears in my hometown
of Medford,
Oregon. With 10,000 acres of orchards, Medford is called the Pear Capital
of the World.

When I was growing up there was an annual Pear Blossom Festival, and I
would march with my accordion band alongside a float decorated with pear
blossoms.

Later I thought that this probably looked as amazing as the cello playing
Woody Allen "marching" with his school band in his film "Take the Money and
Run."

             Except for a few migrant families from the South, I was the
only white kid in the orchards. Most of my peers thought I was crazy taking
on such demeaning work.

My crew boss thought that I was saving money for a "jalopy," and he was
mystified when I told him that I was saving for college. I was paid 12
cents a box and one day I picked 150 boxes, not bad earnings for a
14-year-old 55 years ago.

Most of the pickers were Mexicans hired on the Bracero Program. They were
legal guest workers, but I was an illegal because I lied about my age to
get the job.

A small portion of my social security check comes from that job, but even
after pleading in the courts, the Braceros were denied these benefits or a
refund on their deductions.

The Bracero Program was started in 1942 because of the severe labor
shortages during the war.  More than 4 million Mexicans crossed the border
legally, and they helped transform America's orchards and fields into the
most productive farms in the world. The program ended in 1964, but the
demand for this labor was higher than ever, and millions more began to
cross the border illegally.

          There is an argument by analogy against immigrants that is making
its rounds on the internet.  I will offer an edited version and then give
my critique.

*Let's say I break into your house.  Let's say that when you discover me
and you insist that I leave.  But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed
the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the
things you don't like to do.  *

*"I'm hard-working and honest. Not only must you let me stay, you must add
me to your family's insurance plan and provide other benefits to me and to
my family. If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my
friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to
be here.*

The main problem with this analogy of course is that these people are
warmly invited into American homes and employers gladly hire them without
checking their papers.

           The last thing they are doing is calling the police. These
Americans are breaking the law just as much as their workers are.  Some
growers have admitted that they could mechanize much of their harvest, but
they say it's cheaper to hire immigrant labor.

            Testifying at a recent Senate hearing, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg stated that his city's economy would collapse if the
estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants were deported.  He also predicted that
this would happen to the national economy as well.

             The Republicans who wish to criminalize these workers'
existence are the largest recipients of campaign money from employers who
rather would pay illegal workers less and provide no benefits.

The original Braceros worked and lived under miserable conditions and
suffered brutal discrimination, and, sadly, those conditions have not
improved much since the 1940s.

Larry Kudlow, writing for the conservative journal *National
Review*(4/4/06), praised the Bracero Program and urges Congress to
expand the
ridiculously low unskilled H-2B quota from 140,000 to the millions of visas
that are needed for our service and agricultural economy. Since Kudlow
wrote his article, the number of these visas has dropped to 66,000.

Kudlow reminds Americans that these people are “contributing to our wealth,
not reducing it, and only 10 percent of them have sent a child to an
American public school and just 5 percent have received food stamps or
unemployment benefits.”

In 2010 illegal immigrants paid $2 billion in Medicare deductions and $8.7
billion for social security.  The current senate bill would fine these
people if they wish to apply for legal status.  It is only fair, however,
that these deductions should be used to pay the fines with any remaining
funds applied to future benefits.

It's high time for us to recognize the contributions of these hard working
people, face the economic facts, and stop the fear mongering that has
demonized a group of people who have enhanced an already great nation of
immigrants.

 Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
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