On the heels of my article about our Vermont Governor Douglas sanctioning the hiring of illegal aliens by his family’s farm there is a new article in the Burlington Freepress where Mr. Albee, Vermont’s new Secretary of Agriculture, supports the hiring of illegal aliens to steal jobs from legal Vermont residents. This is disgusting.
Vermont’s Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee said Friday he’s concerned new federal rules will subject dairy farmers to criminal penalties if they hire illegal immigrants to do milking chores and other farm work.
:
Vermont agricultural officials estimate there are more than 2,000 migrant workers, mostly Mexicans, employed on dairy farms in the state. Many of the workers are believed to have entered the country illegally. Farmers say the workers are needed because they can’t find people locally who are willing to do the manual labor the jobs require.
-Burlington Freepress
The problem isn’t that people won’t do the work. The problem is these criminal employers won’t offer a competitive wage. Hiring illegal aliens hurts legal workers by lowering the wages and standard of living of everyone else in that sector. It hurts law abiding farmers by giving the criminal farmers who hire illegal aliens an unfair competitive advantage in the market place since they can keep their costs lower. This is fundamentally wrong. I wrote to the Secretary and the newspaper:
Dear Mr. Albee,
I read the Burlington Freepress article today about farmers who are getting away with hiring illegal aliens. Huh?!? So the government of Vermont is supporting criminal activity? Competitors who get to hire illegal aliens and pay them less than market wage not only get an unfair competitive edge but they’re getting government sanction of their breaking the law?!? Gee, thanks, Vermont - your making it harder for law abiding farmers to make a living.
This is supposed to be a market economy where you offer a wage. If it is too low you don’t find workers. If the dairy farmers who hire illegals can’t find legal workers to do their milking its because they are not offering a reasonable wage. By getting away with hiring illegal workers they keep their costs down below what their law abiding competitors can do. That’s wrong.
The ICEmen should be all over these farms arresting the illegal workers and their employers. The fact that the Governor’s own family is doing this, and getting away with it, smacks of nepotism and smells like sh*t.
Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
Take a moment to write to Mr. Albee to express your views on the government’s support for illegal alien employment. Note that you can also leave comments on the original story at the Burlington Freepress web site. Maybe if we all make a loud and angry buzz the governor will do his job and arrest himself.
Hat tip to Sharon.
I was talking w/ a man the other day that said,”My workman’s comp. was more than I paid in wages, the last year I was a farmer.”
He tried to do everything above board, legal,and to the letter of the law. He had workman’s comp. on young men throwing hay, declared wages paid,etc. It put him out of business. Now a ‘factory farm’ rents most of his fields and milks w/ latinos.
We expect our government officials will follow the laws and rules they swear to uphold. Another new ‘Animal Farm’.
Comment green mt. boys — August 25, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
The Same thing is happening in Washington State! These ‘cheapskates’ that hire illegals are STEALING from people who follow the laws! And the sooner our government realizes that and stops listening to their rich whining donaters, the better off this country is going to be! (We need a new face in every place!)The only reason they donate is to be able to skirt the laws, and those of us who try to do the right things are getting DAMN TIRED of supporting the cheaters and their illegal employees! Here in Washington State, our governor does more for illegals than she does for us, they get better medical, more education, etc. etc. and like I said we are getting DAMN tired of it! When they get to the point that they want better jobs, she gives them to them over us, then they go get a new batch and start all over again, and again we have to pay, and pay, and pay….enough is enough!@#?@!
I called the county auditors office the other day to see about some voting questions, and I had to press one for ENGLISH! Do we live in Mexico, I don’t think so!!!Give me a break!!!
Comment Sara Jo & Toy (Bud) Renfroe — August 25, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
i added my half cent worth of commenting…hope they get the messages ….NOT!
Comment SUSAN — August 26, 2007 @ 6:35 am
contact the gov here….
link
Comment anna — August 26, 2007 @ 6:52 am
If the tables were turned and Americans were migrating illegally to Mexico they would be subject to severe penalties including long jail sentences.
Non native born Mexicans are unable to hold any kind of elected, appointed or civil position.
It’s time that we make our immigration laws directly reflect the laws of the country illegals are coming from.
As for cheapskate farmers, they do it cause they can get away with it. No fear of reprisals, sanctions or fines. Doesn’t make it right or ethical. But it will happen.
Kind of pitiful when the Governor and the Sec of AG in Vermont can willfully and blatantly smack the law. By smacking the law, they smack every hard working citizen and legal immigrant in the Great State of Vermont.
Keep up the great stuff Walter.
Comment Steve Ainsworth — August 26, 2007 @ 11:43 am
It isn’t just agriculture. I have been having some work done on my house. For a major job I hired the best outfit in town. You guessed it, none of their crews spoke english. When it came time to paint I could only find painters that would spray the house. I tried to find an old time painter to brush and roll especially on the inside. The quality painters have all been put out of business by outfits with illegal cheap labor. Quality of the jobs was severely lacking but there are no quality outfits that can make it.
Just cut back my own health insurance making the rates barely affordable. Took a look at my property tax bill and there is a charge there for “indegent healthcare”. that equals 3 months of my own healthcare insurance charges.
USA citizens are getting screwed and I believe the tolerable limit has been reached for many citizens. I guess I am providing healthcare for the painters. The costs for illegal alien labor are being absorbed by law abiding citizens while businesses enjoying profits for paying substandard wages get a pass and even a pat on the back.
The only positive excuse given for NAIS is to give each person coming over the Rio Grande a tagged cow and let him report his whereabouts every 24 hours.
Comment Mary Beth Westcott — August 26, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
It’s everywhere and in every line of work you can name. So, has anybody else out there googled North American Union? I hope I”m not the only one having a HUGE problem with this concept. Does explain why those who ought are basically doing nothing to return illegals to their place of origin.
Comment GinnyP — August 26, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
A dairyman I know refers to his illegal labor as “My Mexicans”. In addition, he also proudly states he can get two or three for the price of an American.
Nor is this problem limited to agriculture, or Mexicans. Many of Vermont’s hotels & restaurants in the Burlington area do business with at least one Brazilian “contractor”. You might want to be careful where you eat(this issue isn’t limited to labor, check the CDC numbers).
Another old friend in the health care industry assures me, many of the retirement centers employ illegal labor too.
The thing that surprises me -and it shouldn’t- is how many otherwise intelligent law and order types favor the illegals, but that’s because monetary issues are how they prioritize progress.
The other thing is I don’t blame these people for coming; I would too if I were in their shoes. But! this is “another” colossal “tell(think liars & poker)”. These people are driven out by essentially the same policy makers as those behind NAIS: global players, agencies and organizations seeking through legal means dressed up nobly, to monopolize markets the world over.
The Tell: our pols and law enforcers UNASHAMEDLY saying that in this instance, breaking the law is just fine. When is it finally going to be permissible for citizens to get angry and then throw these bums out: locally and federally? Oh! the other laughable pass the buck rationale: this is not a local enforcement issue.
peaceably
I’m ol’ school, the sum of 4+2 is so 6, lol.
Comment Mr Dirty Nails — August 27, 2007 @ 8:17 am
What are “criminals”? Whoever are declared to be such by agents of the State? Or those who commit true crimes (violations of life, liberty and/or property)?
What is “the law”? Agents of the Supreme Court once stated that “an unconstitutional law is no law at all.”
Don’t ever accuse others of “criminal activity” and “breaking the law”. Especially not if you yourself have decided that morals and principles trump any man-made legislation.
[You’re missing the point to an extreme. The Governor is excusing his own family for breaking the law he is required to enforce by accepting the office. Additionally, Governor Douglas is one of those Nanny State government officials who strongly pushed for mandatory Premises Registration and mandatory NAIS last year here in Vermont. He lost on that. He thinks he should be allowed to tell us how to run our farms wants to make it criminal for us to have animals without permission of the state yet at the same time he excuses his relatives from the law by saying they should get away with hiring illegal aliens, paying less than market wage, gaining an unfair competative advantage against farmers who don’t break the law, etc. That’s nepotism. Jim’s a bad boy. -WJ]
Comment damaged justice — August 27, 2007 @ 9:02 am
Is this a fair question?
Mr Albee:
Would you kindly inform us -as you are arguably a public servant- of the prescribed legal process necessary to having you removed from the public payroll.
sincerely
Comment Mr Dirty Nails — August 27, 2007 @ 9:26 am
It seems that if there is going to be war anywhere, it should be in Mexico. There needs to be an insurrection, rebellion or war to change the Mexican government to be much more democratic like ours. Then there would be little urge for illegals to cross over to our comparatively great country and government. In the meantime, any of our citizens feeling patriotic can join or help the Minutemen Border Fence project going on by help of donations and volunteers.
Comment Nanette Alexander — August 27, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Damaged Justice are you threatening Walter? It sure sounds that way? Are you from the Governor? Or the agriculture agency? Maybe Albee? So is the Vermont governorment going to add retaliation for exposing them on top of hiring illegals and Nepotism to their list of crimes? The answer to what and who is criminal is pretty easy to say. it was the government who made the law and they are getting away with breaking it. We have a government of criminals. Our founders warned us of this time would come and to take take up arms against our own leaders.
Comment Stephen Hastings — August 27, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
I come from Vermont, and mostly all farms have mexican workers. But we see a lot of their kids in school, and they have green cards. I think people should kind of mind their own business about this!
[You didn’t read the article very carefully, or at all. We’re talking about illegal workers, not those with green cards and we’re talking about the Governor using a double standard for his family vs those of us he wants to force mandatory NAIS onto. He wants to have us mind our own business when it interferes with his business but otherwise he wants to invade our lives with Nanny State heavy handed regulations. -WJ]
Comment Mountain Pride Farm — August 27, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
“Damaged Justice are you threatening Walter? It sure sounds that way? Are you from the Governor? Or the agriculture agency? Maybe Albee?”
I AM, who I AM. As are all of us.
I have no political power to wield over others. Nor do I want such power. You may wish to read my words again, and attempt to comprehend more carefully. Because it ain’t me who’s “missing the point.”
Comment damaged justice — August 28, 2007 @ 6:44 am
It is well known that our govicorp working with international conglomerates has made life very hard in most places like mexico and central and south america by flooding the local markets with cheap foodstuffs,can you say NAFTA? Many of the people sneaking in here were small subsistance farmers forced off their plots by these corps,its sad and it’s wrong and it must be dealt with,as they are attempting much the same thing here.
These are the same corporations that are pushing NAIS on American farmers,I can understand a person wanting a better life and coming to the land of milk and honey to find it,BUT illegal is the same as unlawful and hard times or no,it is our country,not theirs,and there isn’t an excess of milk and honey here lately either,to let illegal residents have some.
A nation that will not protect its borders will cease to be a nation in short order,we have to have laws to limit the amount of people coming here,lest we have nothing left in a few years,we can not absorb the whole world,nor should we.
Also when any issue affects my personal liberty,you can be sure it’s MY business to mind and mind it I will,just try jumping the border the other way,you will soon find out how one sided the issue is.
I get the point that Walter is making,and it is a very valid one,I deal constantly with people in office who seem to think that they are there to “rule” over the rest of us and that they enjoy special privileges because of their office,anyone remember the term”public servent”?
I was just at a town hall meeting with Sen Specter and folks were angry about illegal fence jumpers,the issue ain’t going away and it will be addressed by the American people and the states if the fedgov doesn’t get serious soon,let us remain focused on the fact that there are people in this fedgov as well as some states who are hostile to liberty,they are who we fight against,no matter what lawlessness they may be practicing,its our job to ferret it out,and expose it,thats what Walter has done.Thanks!
“Live Free,or Die Tryin”
Comment LEE — August 28, 2007 @ 8:33 am
“illegal is the same as unlawful”
No, it is not. And the fact that people — agents of the state, and otherwise — fail to make that distinction, is the source of a great deal of lawlessness and loss of liberty.
Comment damaged justice — August 28, 2007 @ 10:25 am
Isnt it interesting how ‘damaged justice’ hides his/her identity and makes threats and rash attacks on other people from the safety of anonyminity? Whats your problem ‘damaged’? Are you hiring illegals yourself and trying to defend your illegal unlawful practices?
Comment Mark Venton — August 28, 2007 @ 10:44 am
there would be no jobs in the usa to be had( for the illegals) if our goverment didnt pay able bodied americans not to work. welfare is the reason the illegals can come across the border and find jobs.welfare in its self is not wrong,when it does what its supposed to do,but the feds allow it to be abused to the max. welfare is the reason for the jobs
[I’m not quite following the logic. Can you explain? I don’t think the illegals are collecting welfare and my impression is that welfare payments are pretty low, less than minimum wage would get you although I’m not sure on that… -WJ]
Comment nick — August 28, 2007 @ 8:10 pm
I think what Damaged Justice is trying to say is that there are things that are flatly unlawful, in the Constitutional sense, wherein there is actual measurable harm done to property, person, etc, and then there is the plethora of ‘illegal’ stuff that is simply control mechanisms not based on the Constitution….Am I tracking you correctly here? For example, it is illegal to operate a car without a safety inspection in our state, but who is actually harmed by that? You are hardly a criminal because you forgot about your inspection, or didn’t have the extra money when it came due….Is that similar to the distinction you are trying to make?
Comment Doreen — August 29, 2007 @ 4:52 am
Not all laws are just. Not all justice is legal.
Welfare? It’s a good thing to help others. The question is, is it a good thing for a government to preside over the “helping”?
Damaged justice…I know who you are…you’re my old history teacher who would throw controversial stuff out to the class, you know to make us “think”. Okay it was me that put the “kick me” tape on your back 30 years ago…sorry I didn’t know it would have such a traumatic effect on you years later that you’d go underground and masquerade as a quasi-intellectual. Do I get the extra credit now?
Comment Bob Constantine — August 29, 2007 @ 6:47 am
We have this probel bad in the Houston area. There have been several “Day Labor Facilities” built with public funds. That is the very thing drivign this, MONEY. People are not willing to pay the extra amount for quality.
Anytime we have an incident in the Houston area involving a “gim-me-grant”, LUCAC(Laegue of United Latin American Citizens)rear their nasty head and claim that the police, the “white” public body, Government (kind of ironic), etc are consipring aginst them. But time and time again it has been proven that the gimmegrant has been the guilty party. Just look at the incident in New Jersey.
People, a time is coming that will mirror the Civil War. We need to stand up for our Constitutional rights and let our voices bee heard. There was a study found that citizens (legal) of the USA were the best armed in the World. There were 90 firearms per 100 citizens.
Enough said. I don’t want some black suits kicking in my door for some trumped up charge.
Comment Rich Timm — August 29, 2007 @ 6:54 am
I have never threatened anyone in any of my posts here. For anyone to claim otherwise is delusional, or a deliberate lie.
Doreen has the distinction. It may not be “illegal” to send Jews to the gas chamber, as long as you dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s — but it will always be unlawful.
“Legal” is the mere FORM of law. “Lawful” contemplates its SUBSTANCE.
Comment damaged justice — August 29, 2007 @ 7:25 am
walter,there are thousands of able bodied american born young men and women on welfare.they choose to be there,they are quite happy with what the feds dole out to them in the form of money,housing,medical.they do not want a job,they have one already,they work for the the feds in the form of keeping them elected thus keeping them in office. what i am saying is,if they were not on welfare the jobs the illegals are taking would not be there to be had.
Comment nick — August 30, 2007 @ 4:52 am
Little story happened several years ago now….
I was managing a small satellite Dunkin Donuts and had a single mother working for me who was great. She was a hard working and very reliable young woman. I could only pay her so much per corporate orders, payed her all I could. Still she needed help with daycare to survive. We convinced her to finally go to the welfare office and see what they could do to help. Welfare actually told her she had to be unemployed before they could help her with daycare needs. She actually had to quit her job and take a month off before I could hire her back and she could receive the little bit she needed to survive. Her was a woman who wanted to work, could work, showed up and worked hard. She was forced to lay down and give up before they would help her. Had the welfare office ever called the store I suspect I would have been none too nice. She really only wanted some help until her small daughter was in school which was only months away. Welfare needs a serious overhaul too. I am perfectly ok with helping those who need real help. I am not ok with feeding those who don’t even try.
Minimum wage is a farce. Living wages is what should be. I often wonder what happened to Carmen. I truly hope the system didn’t force her to give up.
When I worked for the police dept. I had a good rapport with some of the chronic welfare folks that would sit on the common all day and slip behind the stores to drink cheap beer. I finally asked them one day how they got their money to drink and smoke all day. They told me they would take their food money and a shopping list from somebody else and go shopping. They would then sell the contents of their shopping cart to the other person for cash. Bingo! Beer money. For food they would go to the various food pantries in the area and get the free stuff. Still works now that a lot of the welfare is on a debit card system.
Comment Sue F — August 30, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Words are interesting things arn’t they? I was speaking in terms of the actual understood terms of the two words.
Webster says that illegal means “unlawful or illicit”
Illicit means unlawful.
Unlawful means “not lawful,or not legal”
I understand what DJ is saying in the sense that there are things that are illegal by the decree of the tyrant that while illegal in the sense of the standing “law”(the tyrants will) are by no means wrong or immoral,basicly making that “law” itself abhorant,same thing works in reverse,some things are “legal” that are clearly in the wrong and men of conscience can not abide them,laws tend to meddle where they don’t belong,I understand that.
It may have been “legal” under a nazi system to send all kinds of folks to their deaths and to rob them, that’s a very good analogy of the way the term lawful,un lawful ,legal, illegal have and continue to be misused,certainly most folks here ascribe to a higher “Law” than the human version,and most folks recognize that any so called law that kills/destroys people is morally wrong,again I have to agree.
Thomas Jefferson said this ,”Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within the limits drawn around us by the rights of others,I do not add “within the limits of the law” because the law is often but the tyrants will,and always so,when it violates the rights of the individual”
In America the Constitution is “The Law’any and all laws made must comply with that supreme law,(now I am certainly aware that it is violated daily by govt at all levels,but it is the standard that we are to reach for)
Article 4 section 4 of our federal constitution clearly states that the fedgov is to protect the states from invasion,Webster#2 says that an invasion is the “first attack of anything harmful “Unlawful imigration” certainly fits that bill.
I believe the subject at hand was about “unlawful or illegal immigrants or farm migrants and how a certain Gov.seems to be neglecting his duty to enforce the law in his state,and on a broader scale how the fedgov is “allowing” the same by not enforcing even the above named Article while trying to pass this NAIS on the people.
If the preamble to the Constitution means anything then the Constitution was established to provide for the “common defense” (amoungst many things) and if section 10 of Article 1 is correct,then states may defend themselves from invasion, and if the will of the people is to defend the borders of their states and the nation then it seems to me that our public servants must be required to carry out that law,after all if our borders are not defended at the national level how will the several states who have rights and laws of their own ever be able to defend their own selves? And who can forbid them doing so?
Are all laws just? are they all nessesary? Obviously “NO” but then we must ask ourselves are laws against folks just waltzing acrossed our borders nessesary,
if we don’t have them, will all be well” and will we find that such laws are unnessesary and scrap them?
I think the answer in this case is obvious,no borders,
no protection of what we have here and soon we will have nothing here worth defending,we alredy have millons of people here unlawfully and many are not working jobs that Americans won’t do,they are on welfare and many are crooks sent here by their homeland and many are decent people who somehow feel they have a right to defy what we want,decent people perhaps,but breaking our laws regardless.
Ask the states where this has happened if they don’t feel invaded,most of them do,America is not “world community property” it is ours,our peoples,and those who have come here and respected us as a people enough to do it the lawful way,again only constitutional law should apply but law must apply,otherwise we are done with this great experiment called America,just try reversing this thing for a minute and folks would find there is very little toleration around the world for “illegal imigration” we as a nation can be proud of our record in that dept,we can not however be browbeaten into accepting every hardluck case in the earth,we are the ones, all of us Americans who must shoulder the burden and fight the fight to keep our liberty,I said “OUR liberty,we can not grant,give,or blackmail any other nation or people into living in liberty,but we can darn well require our govt to live up to and honor the principles that protect that liberty we call ours! I know that this is not an immigration forum,but I feel that the issue of govt not responding to the rule of law is why we face such crap as NAIS,so it is relevent,and interconnected,we must force the govt to abide by the law and get back to the constitution or we have nothing left but a revolution,and while that may one day be nessesary,I would hope we can change the course of things by prayer and by never backing down from the tyrants,I can only hope,thanks!
“Live free or Die tryin”
Comment LEE — August 30, 2007 @ 9:05 pm
checking in
Comment nick — September 1, 2007 @ 3:42 pm