[LINK] ACS policy?

[Jan Whitaker]

At 11:47 PM 3/09/02 +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote:
>And backed up by the sentiments of one (Hon) Sr. Ruddock who stated this
>evening on an SBS program looking at the asylum seekers something to effect
>that those people seeking refuge in Australia are taking jobs that Aussies
>should be doing. Jobs like: fruit picking, garbage collection, manual labour,
>road repairs, etc.etc.etc. Strangely, none of these refugees have any 'skills'
>needed by this country.

He has to be listening to his US brothers from the southern border 
states.  Everyone remember where ol' Dubbya is from?  Right!  Texas!!  And 
where did the term 'wet back' originate?  Right 
again!  Texas!!!  ['Illegals' coming across the Rio Grande River] Of 
course, people smuggling across the southwest has been going on for eons, 
with often dire consequences of people dying as they are let out in deserts 
miles from civilisation and perishing.  The smugglers are called 
'coyotes'.  Boat people generally arrive in Florida from the Caribbean 
Islands, e.g. Cuba.

In the late 80s/90s there was a change to some act, immigration?, that 
required any employer to check right to work status by completing what 
is/was? called an I9 form.  The person applying, either at interview or it 
may have been at hiring stage, had to complete a form and provide proof of 
identity that indicated they were a citizen or proper resident with the 
right to work in the US.  Big fines for those who hired 'illegals'.  This 
was a scandal that caught a lot of pollies when they were hiring 'illegals' 
as cheap nannies and house keepers, particularly those in NY and 
California.  Some had to resign over it -- after all, they broke the law!!!

The bit about fruit picking, etc. is quite evident in the US.  As here, the 
migrating work force that follows the crops is a routine thing there.  I 
don't recall a 'back packer' group that did this, unlike here in 
Australia.  Not sure of why the difference on that.  I may just not have 
been aware of it.  But the bit about taking away American jobs of picking 
fruit and doing menial labour has always been a catch cry of the immigrant 
bashers.  The truth of the matter that counters that [at least as close as 
one can get to any truth on this issue] is that the fruit wouldn't get 
picked and it would rot on the trees without this migrating 'illegal' work 
force.  So the farmers take their chances.

It's a sad world sometimes, isn't it?

Jan


JLWhitaker Associates
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit@primenet.com  --  http://www.primenet.com/~jwhit/whitentr.htm


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