How far would you travel to get a job cleaning bathrooms? What risks would you be willing to take for a career as a leaf blower? These are the questions that come to my mind when I read or hear the stories of Mexicans, Central, and South Americans who journey via rail for thousands of miles just for the chance to perform menial labor for minimum wages in the USA.
I originally encountered La Bestia and her victims in a Rolling Stone article about a year ago. Since then, I have talked often of the horrific injuries and needless deaths that occur as immigrants cross entire countries clinging to rail cars.
Today, a chance viewing of a video about the proposed high speed rail initiative led CNN's smart search to find related videos about "trains." When I saw the small thumbnail picture depicting hundreds of dots atop boxcars, my eyes widened, and I clicked.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/08/03/wus.la.bestia.death.train.bk.a.cnn
No matter what you think about immigration reform, you cannot watch that video and see all of those folks willing to risk so much for so little and not feel humbled. Everyday, youngsters who should be in college are risking their lives to come pick grapes, or mow lawns.
If you think that these folks are stealing jobs from "hard working Americans" (by which you really mean white people), you are lying to yourself. How many white bus boys do you see when you go out to eat? What about landscapers? Outside of the owner/boss, do any of the people how tend your community's parks and gardens speak English as their first language?
This post isn't about taking sides on the immigration issue. It is a bout basic human needs and desires. Tomorrow, when you are driving to work, think about how far these folks are willing to go to vacuum your office and empty your trash cans.
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While reading August's edition of national Geographic, I was enjoying the story about the restoration projects going on in the Everglades and Santa Clara Pueblo when I came across an interesting line.
"[I]t is migrant laborers, not Seminoles themselves, who have been hired to remove the exotic species."
(Source: National Geographic Magazine, August 2010, Page 91.)
Most folks would probably read right over this line without thinking twice about it. But for me, it is evidence of an important fact Americans need to face: There are thousands of jobs in our great country that no white person, black person, or Native American is willing to do.
The folks being briefly mentioned in that line are making minimum wage, working in the elements, at tedious, monotonous physical projects (uprooting certain trees and plants not indigenous to the areas). Not one unemployed American would even apply for these back-breaking jobs.
Don't believe me? Check out this video clip about grape picking from CNN:
A Day in the Grapes
The key take-away from this piece of investigative reporting, in my view, is when Gary Tuchman asks his partner for the day, a 32-year grape picking veteran, a simple question.
"Cuantos Americanos?" How many Americans have you seen working here? His answer: ZERO.
When Gary asks the manager how many Americans have applied to work in the fields during his 15 years on the job, the supervisor's answer is also ZERO.
This should wake folks up to the fact that IMMIGRANT WORKERS ARE NOT STEALING AMERICAN JOBS. They perform tasks that we will not even APPLY to do. So when you hear Republican rhetoric regarding how Mexicans are hurting the unemployment rate, please don't believe them.
It was also interesting to notice the sheer number of workers needed to sustain the farm documented. Restart the video, and count the heads you see waiting to begin their day. I counted at least 30. I like grapes alot, especially red ones. In fact, I had a bowl of red grapes for lunch today that were absolutely delicious.
If these folks weren't showing up to pick them for $8.00/hr (minimum wage), in California's 100 degree heat, wearing long sleeves to keep the sun and insects away, I would surely be paying more than the $1-$2/lb I am used to. These folks are averaging $45.00/day after taxes. I bet they can't even afford to buy "las uvas" for their families.
Bottom line: There are jobs out there that we don't even think about. That is because we would never even apply to do them.
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Update: 8/27
Lead investigator in Mexico massacre is missing
I couldn't decide if I should put this article under my "Border Control vs. Immigration" post, or here. What made me decide on this location was that all 31 murdered men identified were NOT MEXICAN.
"Authorities have identified 31 of the 72 migrants whose bodies were found on a ranch near San Fernando, the attorney general's statement said. Of those identified, 14 came from Honduras, 12 were from El Salvador, four were from Guatemala and one from Brazil, the official said."
It breaks my heart to think that these migrant workers were traveling to my country, to pick my, fruit and scrub my toilets. Their bodies were found less than 90 miles from our border. We cannot let this senseless violence continue.
Drugs need to be legalized, localized, and taxed. Our immigration laws need to be reformed so that folks can both afford to apply for citizenship, and not have to wait a decade or more for approval.
"'Every year, thousands of migrants are kidnapped, threatened or assaulted by members of criminal gangs," Amnesty International said in a report this year. "Extortion and sexual violence are widespread and many migrants go missing or are killed. Few of these abuses are reported and in most cases those responsible are never held to account.'"
These are the brothers and sisters of the people that wash our cars, cut our lawns and serve our fries. Their blood is on OUR hands.
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Update: 8/29
As Mexicans mourn slain migrants, explosive goes off
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Update: 8/29
Human trafficking second only to drugs in Mexico
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10/1
Whitman's husband says it's 'possible' he saw Social Security Letter
What is truly sad to me about this story, is that a stupid nine digit number is overshadowing the moral lesson we could all learn from this situation. Ms. Santillan cleaned Ms. Whitman's home for nine years. She must have been doing an acceptable job, or her tenure would not have lasted so long. She was fired just before Ms. Whitman decided to run for office.
The fact of the matter is, Ms. Whitman will never find a legal worker to perform the same tasks Ms. Santillan was performing, for the same pay. Instead of using this story to demonstrate how illegal workers are taking the jobs no one else will, Ms. Whitman is instead getting caught up in her own lies. There is absolutely no way she didn't know about Ms. Santillan legal status. The fact that she fired her when she did proves it.
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10/24/2010
Migrants unite for better trailer park living (Yahoo News, by Gillian Flaccus, 10/23/2010)
Image working in the grape fields of southern California on a 110 degree day for ten hours. The work is not only backbreaking, but mentally monotonous to the extreme. The only things that would get me through the day would be thinking about a cold shower, and air conditioning when I get home. (If I could get through the day at all) The reality for a vast majority of migrant workers, both legal and illegal, is far from this luxurious. Most face "the stench of sewage overflows, street flooding and blackouts," not a thirty minute soak, followed by sleep in a tempered environment.
Things are changing for some of these trailer park dwellers, thanks to the help of NGO's, and communities coming together for a common cause. Still, not everyone is happy about the lawsuits that are resulting in forced improvements by landowners.
"'My brothers made this to help people in need. People came saying 'I don't have a place to stay, I need a place to stay' and now they're suing us. . .They're trying to make us look like bad people, but everything we have is here,'" the sibling of one man who donated his own land to fellow migrants claimed.
I know I love grapes. I also love the chili peppers, though I am not so fond of dates. The point is, I consume the product these folks are helping to produce. I should care about their living conditions. And, in fact I do. That is why I take the time to write about their cause whenever I find an appropriate story. But many folks, including those that call themselves Christians, despise immigrants for the "jobs they are stealing from hard working Americans." I refer these people to the video I discussed in the first post on this topic, A Day in the Grapes. No offense to Africa and Central America, but if Christians focused even half of their attention on the suffering taking place within our own borders, America would be a much better place.
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