Whack-A-Mole was a popular arcade game back in the mid-1970s which required players to use a mallet to strike randomly appearing toy moles back into their holes. The game’s heyday has come and gone, but the game’s concept remains a part of the nation’s lexicon in problem-solving.
In no venture is a round of whack-a-mole more descriptive than in the nation’s attempt to deal with the nuances of illegal immigration – as repeated efforts to resolve the problem are futile and produce new and varied reoccurrences.
The politically correct who read this are likely to shriek that I’m comparing immigrants to “moles.” No, not in the least. I’m comparing the federal government’s effort to deal with the entire process of immigration enforcement as being like a kid at a carnival game flailing blindly. There are two primary truths on a constant collision course.
First, impoverished, desperate people living in often dangerous foreign countries come to the U.S. to seek a better life. In many cases, they are willing to risk their lives in doing so illegally. Once here, they are willing to accept low wage, low skill jobs that many Americans simply refuse to do just to get a start here that affords them a chance to progress.
In many cases in the poultry and timber industries, immigrant laborers were actively recruited to the U.S. by some in their industries. Labor “brokers” cropped up to meet that demand.
Second, there is an undeniable and ready market for immigrant labor (legal or otherwise) in this state and nation. In Mississippi, immigrants are willing to gut our chickens, plant our trees, process our catfish, harvest our sweet potatoes, perform the hardest construction labor, cook our food and wash our dishes in restaurants, and clean our rooms in our hotels. The companies extending jobs to those immigrants profit from their labors.
In recent days, the headlines told the tale of last year’s roundup of immigrant workers in Mississippi poultry plants. 680 immigrant workers were arrested. 300 workers were released on “humanitarian grounds.”
Some 126 have been indicted and 76 convicted. Four middle level managers have been indicted, but that’s as high into the structure of the state’s poultry industry as the investigation has reached.
The American Immigration Council identifies 72,250 immigrants in Mississippi as of 2018 with 33.4 percent naturalized American citizens and 66.6 percent undocumented or otherwise illegal. That represents just over two percent of the state’s population.
The AIC documents that as about three percent of the state’s labor force, immigrant workers generate about $983 million in spending power and pay $357.7 million in federal, state, and local taxes. The Federation for American immigration Reform (FAIR) counters that illegal immigration costs Mississippi taxpayers $156.6 million annually.
Nationally, and it is particularly true in a presidential election year, the debates rage over so-called “sanctuary cities” and President Donald Trump’s “build the wall” mantra. With a 1,954-mile border between Mexico and the U.S., U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that 265 miles of border wall have been completed.
But if the Trump Border Wall initiative has been less impactful than the political hype would indicate, the combination of Trump administrative immigration policies with the impacts of COVID-19 have had a significant impact.
The percentage of Mexican illegal immigrants has declined in recent years, but the percentage of Central American immigrants has increased. Nor does any real basis in fact exist for the popular but erroneous myth that U.S. southern border troubles are caused by “Mexicans coming to steal our jobs.”
Central America’s “Northern Triangle” (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala) is dominated by lawlessness and gang violence that has made the region unstable and forced as many as 3.5 million residents with families and children to flee and brave the treacherous trek north to the U.S. seeking a better, safer life away from the extortions of gangs and organized crime in their home countries.
Still, the equation is simple: Supply of immigrant workers plus demand for cheap labor equals more Whack-A-Mole public policy on immigration.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Sid Salter: Federal Immigration Efforts Remain a Whack a Mole Affair in Mississippi
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17 comments:
A bigger issue for the poultry industry in Mississippi is that of the actual poultry houses in operation, 50 % are over 20 years old, 2/3rds of the houses are over 15 years old. The USDA Farm Service Agency is not fullfilling its mission in the State of Mississippi when they only guarantee loans for actual age left on the houses, NOT EFFECTIVE AGE. The FSA does not recognize effective age over actual age. This is not in concert or parity with other FSA State offices. Mississippi growers will face nothing short of bankruptcies when they cant amortize required improvements necessary to stay in business or even sell their farms to new emerging growers. FSA in Mississippi is setting the poultry industry here up for disaster.
Any updates on the woman who purchased Metro?
Long time readers of JJ already know that when it comes to opining about illegal aliens working in Mississippi Sid Salter is not remotely a credible voice.
Wow Sid Salter is a corporatist shill- never woulda guessed!
I agree with 8:42. But where are our U.S. Senators and Congressmen? Answer -- Missing in action, but issuing press releases blustering about how they got this grant and that grant, when actually they didn't do anything. This is one of Salter's better columns. It should be noted that Tyson Foods in Carthage and Forest were not raided. They were clean. They check every job applicant backwards and forward. They are very automated and hire U.S. Citizens, not just foreign labor.
If there is strict enforcement, the practitioners are called nazis and xenophobes, if there is no enforcement we live in a society where the rule of law doesn't matter. In fact, it seems that certain government bodies prefer the "rights" of illegal aliens over United States Citizens.
The fact is that illegal immigrants commit their first crime by entering the United States without proper authorization, the criminal activity continues when they apply to work with falsified documents, and again when they fill out an apartment application, and so on and so forth.
It's long been time for a purge of illegals from the United States (no, not that kind of purge), but an organized process by which illegals are systematically and immediately removed from the United States. Start with the fugitive violent criminals, then move on to anyone illegally present who has a criminal record, then seek out those whose visas are expired and then move on to those who are working without legal authorization.
I've been asking this question for years; as a Citizen of the United States, which laws can I flagrantly disregard, and then claim racism if I am prosecuted?
Actually Americans are willing to do these jobs, contrary to the racist talking point by Sid Salter. They're just not willing to do the jobs for $7/hour!
Take a lap, Sid. You're deliberately watering down the true cost of illegal immigration. You act like the labor will always be cheap no matter what and that the market will never respond to a labor shortage with more wages.
The fact that 2% of the labor force is illegal should be appalling. When put into terms of the low wage strata, they compose 7% of the labor force of the bottom 30% & 13% of the bottom 15%.
You talk about money and how they generate spending power, but for who? They're living in a trailer split between 15-20 people & sending their money back home to their families. That money isn't coming back to Mississippi.
It's no coincidence that the more illegal immigrants that are deported equals higher wage growth for the bottom quarter. How much does it cost that goverment(s) to have 2% of the resident labor force not participating because it is cheaper for them to collect benefits than to work a job with artificially depressed wages?
9:49, apparently the laws against felons possessing guns, rioting, looting, murder, and arson. In certain locations.
No One should whack Sid Salter
The reality here is that Salter has always worked in the liberal news industry and that group of nuanced soviets has always appreciated open borders, alms for the impoverished and sanctuary for the meek, regardless of our laws.
Mr. Salter plateaued some years back when he was writing about horse-racing over in Neshoba. Now he's gone full circle and taken on the race for the coveted Nobel-mantel left at the Clarion Alter by Jerry Mitchell and Bill Minor. Irrelevance brings on a certain sort of anal discomfort.
Mississippi, with its shameful history of hate, racist violence, and religious bigotry, should be more repentant for your collective sins and show you have changed by stopping this xenophobic disdain for immigrants. With so many people fleeing the state, you should all be grateful that somebody actually wants to come here and keep the businesses in the state alive. The sooner that you accept that brown people are your equals, the better off you will be.
They 'come here to keep the businesses in the state alive'. Rather than laughing at your comment, I'll simply ask you to explain it.
" Whack-A-Mole was a popular arcade game back in the 1970s"
Sorry Sid, I don't remember that arcade game.
The cool kids were playing Astroids and Space Invaders.
Anyway . . . comparing illegal immigration to a damn 1970s arcade game is beyond goofy.
interesting how you never hear anything about Sanderson's
Kingfish, why do you pay for Salter's blabbering? In your annual donation drive, you always list Salter's fees as a significant expense.
...as long as the right moles get whacked
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