In Colorado, the state legislature passed laws that would require immigrants to obtain state identification in order to receive any government services. In addition they passed a law that allows the police to check the immigration status of any immigrant. These measures have forced documented and undocumented farm workers out of the state, leaving the Colorado’s agriculture industry in shambles. The laws that were supposed to save the state millions will actually cost the state millions in less than a year. Colorado’s response to the unattended farmland is to replace the immigrant farm workers with prison inmates who will be paid roughly 60 cents an hour. The Department of Corrections has demanded a total of $9.60 an hour per inmate to pay other associated costs, profiting $9.00 per inmate per hour these men and women work. Immigrant farmers were paid only $8.50 an hour for their labor.
Historically, immigration policy in the United States has been shaped by seemingly economic concerns that mask an underlying racist motive. During the 19th century, Chinese immigrants were welcomed for their labor contributions but were denied fundamental civil liberties enjoyed by whites. An exclusionist immigration policy was enacted when white citizens decried the increasing presence of the Chinese and demanded that further immigration should cease and those already in the country should be sent back.
Never mind the dehumanizing exploitation of prison labor. Never mind the underhanded scheme by Colorado’s Dept. of Corrections to capitalize on the legislature’s discriminatory practices. And never mind a hypocritical system that chases undocumented farmers out, only to replace them with inmates to work for slave wages. The government’s decision to substitute prison labor for the skilled labor of immigrant farmers is a perversion of social policy and justice. Immigrant farmers are not expendable. It is outrageous that a democratically elected legislature in the year 2007 would continue to pursue the hate-filled policies of the past.
What was the point of driving out the immigrant farmers? Citizens who complain about losing job opportunities to immigrants did not take the jobs they left behind. Farm owners are left not knowing if they’ll have workers to bring in their crops. Colorado is left policing an expensive program and is forced to turn to poorly paid inmates to repair the damage the state has caused. These anti-immigration policies are not about saving money nor are they about providing jobs for “legal citizens.” They are a return to a period in our history where bigoted policies undermine the most fundamental values of tolerance, compassion, and good sense.
5 Comments
It is unfortunate that many federal and state elected officials do not truly analyze each situatin before making decisions that affect the well being of the nation or the state.
I am sure that many decisions are based on minority interests rather than what is truly important.
In order to jump start an economy you need to spend or circulate wealth, probably econ 101 information. How will the prison system increase consumption? How will they create jobs? How will it help landlords? How will it help small and large businesses? How will it help the medical profession? How will it help the entertainment industry? How will it help the education institutions? How will it help the travel industry, fuel industry, auto industry, etc?
If the state government felt that immigrants were a burden on the state services all they had to do was, if not included already, to include in their regs who is eligible for the benefit. So simple yet so far from the mental capacity of some of our state and federal leaders.
The state government could have decided to issue driver’s licenses to all undocumented – to identify them. They would have helped the insurance industry and the law enforcement community because they would have had an identity document that could have been issued upon providing biometric information for future reference.
Anyway, I do not want to ramble on but the point is that there are other simpler way to create win-win situations for everyone touched by an alien – legal or illegal. Must remember that some illegal aliens also have family members who may be citizens or legal residents and are affect by whatever action is taken.
Victor W. Johnston
You must realize that these leaders and corporations do not want a “win-win situation for everyone;” they want a win solution for themselves. Corporation and the DOC, which is a rat that needs to feed itself constantly, are not interested in fairness or logic, they are interested in money, more for them, they do not care who gets hurt, as long as it’s not themselves or their shareholders. The deal here is obvious, the DOC is getting a huge cut, the guard union is probably happy because I’m sure it’s providing more jobs for these knuckleheads, and the “industry” is still getting a great deal; now the agriculture industry has joined the prison industrial complex. Before you know it, (because of the scam of 9/11, the PATRIOT Act and the new”Security Industry), we’ll all be contributing to this new mega growth industry.
Please look beyond trying to sell good ideas based on what is logical and fair for all when analyzing these issues. It’s never the case for them. Corporations are winning all the time and that is all the government represents. Individuals do not have the money or the lobbies to work on their behalf.
As the family member of a man currently serving in CCA (Corrections Corporations of America) Immigration Detention center; simply for approaching the border with passport in hand and requesting Convention Against Torture Asylum to save his life from a murderous regime in El Salvador, I am disgusted by the profiteering Corporations such as CCA.
Many of the detainees housed in CCA in Otay Mesa have been waiting months or years for their immigration status to be resolved in the courts, which have a huge backlog of cases awaiting review. They have also been denied basic human rights, as has my fiancee – such as the basic right to bathe, medical or dental treatment for painful conditions, and often even denial to phone calls, based on the mood of the guards.
I’ll be DAMNED if I will approve of my fiancee working for the U.S., the State of California, or any OTHER corrupt entity, who has denied him his freedom. Not for 60 cents an hour, not for $20 an hour, not for $50 per hour. You want to detain him from his freedom, then foot the damned bill for all his expenses. Otherwise, release him on bond until his hearing and allow him due process.
It’s bad enough that corrupt ICE Agents take their passports, purposely lose them, and then threaten them with deportation with a “passport provisional” which they know is a death sentence in many Central American countries. But then to rob these people further of any dignity by paying them BELOW minimum wage to enhance the revenues of a business bereft of any moral obligation to honor basic human rights? HELL NO!
In Reporter Greg Moran’s article for the San Diego Union he outlines this best, “Immigration detainees at an Otay Mesa facility live in overcrowded and unsafe conditions that threaten their overall health and are unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego alleged in court documents filed Wednesday.”
My fiancee has told me, as have the attorneys for the ACLU, that when inmates file grievances over denial of human rights, they are moved as far away from family members as can be; sometimes even across the country, to keep them quiet. When this law suit was filed, hundreds of detainees experienced just this. They were moved, the family members were not notified, and they were denied additional rights for joining in the law suit. I happen to live with the family members of one of these inmates, who has served over 10 years for being accused of stealing $20 from a female gang member who accused him of taking this money, when he had over $200 of his own money on his person. He was originally from Guatemala and had lived in California all of his life, attended school here, and his entire family lives here. Now, he’s served more time for this misdemeanor offense, than most murderers and rapists serve. He was moved to Arizona after signing the law suit, then El Centro, and now has been moved back to CCA.
My fiancee, like many, did not try to cross the border illegally. He applied for asylum. He did not have any warrants out for his arrest. Indeed, he had been working for 8 years in Mexico and had documentation of such. He simply requested asylum under the Convention Against Torture agreement that the U.S. signed with the United Nations, to protect our citizens against torture as well as all human beings throughout the world.
Instead, the U.S. is in violation of the due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, in his case and it’s being hidden by unscrupulous ICE Agents.
I say to those who complain about illegal immigration…look at the history of the U.S. and the current behavior and if you still wonder why people feel compelled to break the immigration laws here after we’ve done so in their countries, destroying their economies, and killing their people…AND if we insist on denying human beings basic human rights, then stop bitching about immigration. We’ve brought this wave of immigration on ourselves. Now it’s time WE pay for it, not the victims of our imperialism.
Displacing migrant workers is really just the tip of the iceberg here. The Colorado DOC has an entire industry operating to exploit prisoners, manufacturing everything from clothing to fishing poles. And besides agricultural services, they provide construction, painting, furniture delivery, and modular office installation, just to name a few. A list of products and services are available at http://www.coloradoci.com
I say exploit because that’s all that is really being done. It might be argued that these prisoners are learning a skill that they can use when they are released. However, in Colorado, the chance that they will ever get to use these skills are slim and none. Employers routinely reject applicants with any criminal record, as do almost all housing providers. The only way they may find to use their newfound skill is by working for a fraction of their worth under the table. And of course, this would be a parole violation.
And that is precisely the point. Newly-released prisoners are set up to fail by the DOC, making it almost impossible for them to start a new life without somehow violating their parole and being sent back to prison. The revolving door that is the Department of Corrections is built in to ensure an ever-increasing suppply of slave labor for the DOC to profit from. More about this problem is available at http://www.examiner.com/x-9012-Denver-Criminal-Justice-Examiner
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