California farmer, Steve Scaroni, is moving 20 percent of his farming business to Mexico because of the insecure labor force due to immigration laws.
Scaroni claimed that at least 50 percent of his crews were short on a weekly basis. He attributed this shortage to tightened borders and recent crack-downs on immigrant employers. Employers have 90 days to fire workers whose social security numbers do not match up with the records of the Social Security Administration. Because 70 percent of farm workers are immigrants, Scaroni said that immigration reform is much needed for his business to survive in the U.S.
Scaroni attempted to solve the labor shortage himself by mechanizing his farms in California, but some of his crops require human harvesting to put out the best product. Scaroni has established five farms in Guanajuato, Mexico, where his workers are brought to the fields on buses from their villages. He is relieved that he does not need to worry about losing his labor force in Mexico.
A handful of Scaroni’s California workers, who were never able to gain legal residence in the U.S., followed him to Mexico to work at the new farms. One of his workers lived in the U.S. for 15 years, but was never able to become a legal citizen.
Starting up the business in Mexico has been costly, but Scaroni believes he will quickly see major profits because he is now paying his Mexican workers $11 per day, in comparison to the $9 an hour he paid his workers in the U.S.
Scaroni believes that the U.S. food source will always be grown, harvested, and packed by immigrants. Now he is just wondering whether it will be grown, harvested, and packed in the U.S. or in third world countries.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html
Scaroni claimed that at least 50 percent of his crews were short on a weekly basis. He attributed this shortage to tightened borders and recent crack-downs on immigrant employers. Employers have 90 days to fire workers whose social security numbers do not match up with the records of the Social Security Administration. Because 70 percent of farm workers are immigrants, Scaroni said that immigration reform is much needed for his business to survive in the U.S.
Scaroni attempted to solve the labor shortage himself by mechanizing his farms in California, but some of his crops require human harvesting to put out the best product. Scaroni has established five farms in Guanajuato, Mexico, where his workers are brought to the fields on buses from their villages. He is relieved that he does not need to worry about losing his labor force in Mexico.
A handful of Scaroni’s California workers, who were never able to gain legal residence in the U.S., followed him to Mexico to work at the new farms. One of his workers lived in the U.S. for 15 years, but was never able to become a legal citizen.
Starting up the business in Mexico has been costly, but Scaroni believes he will quickly see major profits because he is now paying his Mexican workers $11 per day, in comparison to the $9 an hour he paid his workers in the U.S.
Scaroni believes that the U.S. food source will always be grown, harvested, and packed by immigrants. Now he is just wondering whether it will be grown, harvested, and packed in the U.S. or in third world countries.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html
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