Taking jobs away from perfectly legal Americans?

[akv]

I don't believe in amnesty for illegals either, but more disturbing is with high unemployment and the state of the economy they couldn't find 300 Americans willing to work for $16-20/Hr?

Taking jobs away from perfectly legal Americans
Unbelievable! -mynorthwest.com

Polls show most Americans reject amnesty for illegal workers, because as we all know giving amnesty to an undocumented Mexican would be taking a job away from perfectly legal American. And so last December in the town of Brewster, a small farm town in Washington State, a big fruit orchard called Gebbers Farms was forced to fire most of their Mexican workers -- over 500 of them -- because immigration agents had found that most of the workers were here illegally.

By law, the farm advertised for perfectly legal American workers. And the pay isn't bad -- cherry pickers in Washington state earn, on average, $16.48 an hour --and a really GOOD cherry picker can make $20. Apple and Pear pickers make less, but still well above minimum wage. Plus, you get free transportation to the farm!

Yes, you have to carry at least 40 pounds down a ladder, and the weather ranges from cold and rainy to heatstroke conditions. But how many unemployed Americans would jump at the chance for a paid trip out of the city, into the fresh air?

Well, about zero, apparently.

Because after firing the Mexican workers, Gebbers Farms has now started flying in 300 fruit pickers --- from Jamaica. The main difference? The government will give the Jamaicans the proper documents. So the farm will pay to fly in Jamaicans to replace the Mexicans who were already there, because the government was not ABOUT to give documents to the Mexican workers. No, that would have been amnesty. And as we now know, giving amnesty to an illegal Mexican would be taking a job away from a perfectly legal... Jamaican.

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=75&sid=325110