Talk to Colorado about how to cure illegal immigration:?
Question by Ri: Talk to Colorado about how to cure illegal immigration:?
Colorado could let inmates work on farms 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Colorado is considering letting prison inmates work on private farms after farmers complained that an illegal-immigration crackdown has left them short-handed, officials said.
Two vegetable farmers told prison officials and lawmakers that they need five to 20 workers and will pay up to $ 9.60 an hour — more than they’ve paid migrant workers in the past — but can’t find anyone to do the work.
The Pueblo Country farmers, Joe Pisciotta and Phil Prutch, said immigrant workers are afraid to come to Colorado because of its tougher immigrant laws passed last summer. Among other things, the laws require people receiving state and federal benefits to prove they are legal U.S. residents.
“They’ve just given up and gone to other states that don’t have these new laws. They just don’t want to deal with it,” Pisciotta said.
The Corrections Department program would probably start in Pueblo County, operating under the prison industries division, which already trains and employs about 1,200 inmates, department Executive Director Ari Zavaras said.
“Depending on how well it works, we’ll see where it will go,” Zavaras said this week.
He said the program fits his and Gov. Bill Ritter’s new emphasis on reducing recidivism. Under current growth estimates, prison construction will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years.
Colorado’s prison industries system already has internal agricultural jobs including growing flowers, raising bees and cultivating wine grapes. Inmates also manufacture items ranging from furniture to plastic bags.
___
Add your own answer in the comments!
15 Responses to Talk to Colorado about how to cure illegal immigration:?
Leave a Reply
Way to go Colorado! I have been saying this for a while now out ehre in CA when people tell me “if we deport all the Illegal Aliens, who is going to pick the lettuce?”
My answer is…we have the largest population of inmates in the country sitting around watching cable TV and playing cards. They can pick the lettuce, at 1/4 the cost of Illegals doing it.
ganjaman415
January 23, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Good plan for the prisoners at first glance but how long til they need more help? Who are they going put in jail to help some business succeed. To get rid of the illegals you require good SSI #s or they can not write the taxes off for labor. If the employers can’t get tax relief they will pay a little more for legal workers.
Jim
January 23, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Americans won’t do the work that illegals do.
TRUTH: Prior to 1965 when the disastrous Immigration Bill was passed, there was very little immigration. In fact, between 1925 and 1965, there was even a period of net emigration out of the United States. During this time, our grass was getting cut, our meat was being packed, our children were being watched and our houses were being cleaned. The idea that somehow we suddenly can’t run a country without an unlimited supply of foreigners is absurd.
Those in favor of foreign labor are corporations who are addicted to cheap labor. They are the ones who are benefiting. But their benefit comes at the American tax payer’s expense when you consider that the American tax payer is virtually subsidizing the labor costs of the greedy corporations by supplying the illegal foreign workers and their families with welfare, free education, free medical, WICs, housing assistance, etc. — something the corporations won’t do.
Americans won’t allow themselves to be exploited like illegals do, but they WILL do the work that illegals do for fair compensation and benefits. If Americans did the work that illegals do at higher pay, would that benefit the consumer? You bet it would in the long run. But many Americans who do not care about America’s future are consumers who favor the idea of exploiting illegal workers because it keeps commodity and service prices down in the short term.
imback_missme
January 23, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Prisoners need to STAY in prison….
Nairo
January 23, 2012 at 3:03 pm
lok at it this way,if you were in prison and you had a chance of getting to go outside and make almost ten bucks an hour.you would! ill bet they have about 1000 prisoners on that list!
antho_coro
January 23, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I am proud that Colorado has taken such an aggressive stance against illegal workers, I wish the other States would follow their lead. Farmers using prisoners is a great idea. The fee for the guards that would supervise them , can come out of their hourly pay. The Prison can collect the pay, pay the guards their wage, and pay the prisoners a prison wage, and the State can use the balance to help reduce the cost of prison related expenses.
It sounds like a win win solution to me.
Or they can just BAN illegals like they put a BAN on the American Pitbull Terriers, if they can BAN Americans they should be able to BAN illegals!
Gianna M
January 23, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Wow. So these poor farmers can afford to pay more than they have always told us they can. Looks like they have just been trying to take advantage of cheap labor and as a result we have a huge problem with illegals.
Jace
January 23, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Jim is right. This would be true slavery, and indeed where will they get more help when they don’t have enough inmates? Most people who are charged with a crime are threatened with long sentences if they don’t make a deal and plead guilty. Fewer than 2% of cases ever make it to trial because of this. And very few people have adequate representation.
Give the jobs back to the citizens. Enforce a fair and decent wage. Or give assistance to the people who do these jobs like the illegals are currently getting.
Jace is right too. So, these farmers will pay law enforcement a decent wage to get slaves to work for them, but they won’t pay it to the illegals or citizens. What do you all think of that? Could they not advertise these jobs and list them with employment agencies instead of whining about losing their illegal workers? I bet people would take these jobs if they had a reasonable belief that they would actually be hired instead of laughed at because they are not hispanic.
Have any of you seen the movie The Shawshank Redemption? This would just be another way of using cheap labor at the expense of jobs for citizens. How long do you think it would be confined to farm labor?
You all do understand that the prisoners would not be receiving these wages, right? Their owners would (I would be okay with it being used for restitution,if they would really use it for that). Who would this really be helping? Enslaving our own people is not the solution to the illegal immigration problem. But I suppose that I must consider that illegals make up a great deal of our prison population. They would just be working the same job for less pay and benefits. I am glad that someone is trying to come up with a decent solution to this problem.
DJ
January 23, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Good plan. This should be started nationwide.
Galaxie Girl
January 23, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Go Colorado
ferengi fighter
January 23, 2012 at 4:39 pm
I think this should become a Federal Law, not just for Colorado. For those posting that think this constitutes slavery, you couldn’t be more wrong. These inmates have broken the law and many of them have to pay restitution to the victims of their crimes. The farmers get labor, the inmates get paid, hence the victim actually gets to collect the restitution owed them. I see this as a win/win for everyone involved.
Also, it teaches someone who needs skills a useful trade and about honest hard work.
I am going to call my congresswoman and start pushing for a like program here in Wyoming.
Christina H
January 23, 2012 at 5:00 pm
i don’t have a problem replacing the migrant (illegal) workers with non-violent criminals. hell, it gives them a chance to pay their fines and restitution. maybe, just maybe, break that loop that got them there…
avhac
January 23, 2012 at 5:16 pm
they never should have done away with chain gangs. these people that say what will happen when the prisoners are gone are living in some other world or something. whens the last time a prison shut down because all of the prisoners were gone.
the wage issue is a myth. markets set prices.
tough enforcement laws like colorado APPARENTLY has, id have to look into that myself, are they way to go.
conservative republicans are the only ones listening to the people on this.
liberals want as many illegals as they can get.
fact.
quoth the raven
January 23, 2012 at 5:55 pm
sounds like a great deal for the convicts, the tax payer and the farmer
paulisfree2004
January 23, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Two quick thoughts:
1. If these TWO farmers can’t get help for 9.60 / hr. they could just try what other businesses do and raise the wage until they generate interest. If they had to pay an additional $ 2.50 / hr. X 40 hrs. X 50 weeks, they’d each have an additional expense of $ 5,000. since the average Colorado farm is 991 acres w/ $ 300 per acre revenue (yes, I looked it up), their increased costs would be 1.7%. Raise prices by 1%, cut other expenses by 1% and keep the change!
2. Or…just go ahead and use the convicts. Sounds like they’re used to employing criminals anyway.
This is a tempest in a teapot!
idlebud
January 23, 2012 at 6:57 pm