BCT Editorial – 3/28/08

This page was last updated on March 28, 2008.

Stoop labor; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 28, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Lack of migrant workers to pick fruits and vegetables could drive up prices.”

Historically, Times editorials conflate legal and illegal immigration and this one is no exception. As a result, if you’re in favor of legal immigration but oppose illegal immigration, editorials still label you as “anti-immigrant” and a “nativist” and accuse you of “anti-immigrant resentment.”

Most Americans oppose illegal immigration and fully support legal immigration. If we need a guest worker program, that’s fine and I believe most Americans would support it. What most people don’t want is another program that doesn’t address illegal immigration and border security. I also believe most people don’t want to see amnesty for existing illegal aliens. People should not be rewarded for breaking our laws, or for jumping ahead of legal immigrants who respected the U.S. enough to follow our laws.

Once again we get the “Americans don’t want to do this kind of work” BS. As I wrote in a previous critique, “If a qualified American won’t do a job, it’s because the job doesn’t pay enough and/or because he has the taxpayer’s ‘safety net’ to bail him out. In a free market, when people won’t take a given job, it’s because the offered wage is below the equilibrium.”

The editorial says, “That’s because more Americans might be willing to stoop to this kind of labor to supplement their incomes so they can afford to buy the very fruits and vegetables they are harvesting.” “Stoop to this kind of labor?” Is there something wrong with picking fruit and vegetables? Are some jobs not worthy of U.S. citizens and/or legal immigrants? If you believe some jobs are not worthy of citizens and legal immigrants, but are OK for illegal aliens, isn’t that bigotry?

Finally, the editorial concludes with “Look out, Third World, here we come.” The “Third World” BS is a regular fixture (scare tactic) in Times editorials on various issues. Either the author knows nothing of Third World conditions, or simply likes to engage in hyperbole.