It’s About Jobs

To get the money to improve their lives, they come from the all across Mexico trying to cross the border into the USA to get jobs that no American will do. They do it for low pay, long hours and no benefits.

However, they are stopped at the US/Mexico border. So they enter illegally via The Devil’s Highway. This is the title of the book by Luis Alberto Urrea. The Devil's Highway is deserts and mountains in southern Arizona where no one lives. This well researched book is the saga of 26 Mexicans crossing illegally to find that job to improve their life. The book details the lives of the 14 that died while trying, the survivors, the coyote "business", the coyote guide who is in prison for murder of the those who died in the attempt, the US Border Patrol and all the other government agencies on both sides of the border that are involved in the effort to slow those looking for a way to better their lives.

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The American consumer is used to cheap. Especially food. Agriculture is where most of the illegal aliens find jobs. They arrive at the job at six in the morning, do physically challenging work and work long hours with no benefits. This is not a job that Americans want. However, there are many Americans who want to stop the job seekers at the border. Why. The media talks about the very small percentage of those illegals that take advantage of the US social systems or commit crimes.

It's too bad that the media doesn't spend as much time talking about all those miserable jobs the illegals do or what they actually contribute to the US economy. They pay sales tax on everything they buy. Many even contribute to social security and can never collect a dime. Could be a good way to keep the system solvent for a few more years.

Using the agriculture industry as an example…. Is there a solution. Sure. Will the American consumer like the solution. No. The result will be more expensive food. When the agriculture worker gets better wages, better working conditions, better housing for the temporary workers and benefits, the price that consumer pays goes up. There will be picket lines at the grocery stores. Government and industry doesn't like that. Nothing changes.

An alternate solution to expensive food would be to import it from China. Sure. Like that is a good idea. Then I have to wonder why we import food from China since the USA is supposedly feeding the world. But that is another issue.


This makes my head hurt. Time to get out and do some exploring....