Jul 19, 2011
California Republicans are pushing a bill that would require employers to electronically verify the immigration status of potential hires, despite warnings from farmers that it will devastate their work force.The Legal Workforce Act is aimed at using a system known as E-Verify to prevent undocumented immigrants from taking jobs...
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Rep. Elton Gallegly, whose ultimate goal is the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and his former colleague, JD Watts, continue their misleading cheerleading for E-Verify. They've got similar talking points, but both failed to mention the rotting fields in Georgia, thanks to a state E-Verify law.
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As it turns out, undocumented workers aren't really big fans of being targeted while they're doing their job, and farmers aren't so keen on having their workers picked on either. As a result of anti-immigrant legislators passing legislation that scares off undocumented workers, farmers are suffering, and a multi-billion...
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When I was in college, my roommate from New York City - aware that I had grown up in the farmlands of Central California - asked me a simple question: "What time of year do workers pick the raisins?" After I stopped laughing, I had to explain to...
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Jul 13, 2011
A year ago, immigrant labor activist Salvador Reza thought Arizona's tough state immigration crackdown could empty the work site he ran in north Phoenix. But 12 months on, after a federal judge blocked key parts of the law, day laborers still line up from dawn to tout for...
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Last week, New America Media asked an important question about an industry directly impacted by immigration: Slow Flow of Immigrants Already Impacting California Farms? Some say yes. Others, not yet. But if Lamar Smith's E-Verify bill passes nationally, there will be a worker shortage -- and crops rotting in...
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The number of immigrants illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico has declined according to a new study, and some California farmers are already seeing the effects on their crops. "We've seen in the valley this year a reduction of labor that we haven't seen for five or...
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Rep. Lamar Smith's battle with Markos Moulitsas (of Daily Kos) continues. Rep. Lamar Smith has very, very thin skin. He does not like to be criticized, nor does he allow any critique of his flawed E-Verify legislation go unrebutted. The problem for Smith is that he's got no facts...
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My family has long been making pies and jam out of the divine purple raspberry, a cross between the better known red and black raspberry families. The purple raspberry is a delectable mixture of tart and sweet, and purple raspberry pie is literally my favorite food in the...
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Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) sits on both the House Judiciary and Small Business Committees. She's a strong opponent of Rep. Lamar Smith's E-Verify bill. From her unique vantage point, Chu told her colleagues, "Mandatory E-Verify Legislation will Cripple Small Businesses."
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