Maureen’s story is sad, but I can’t condone the use of illegal immigrant labor to stay competitive. No, I do not want our food supplies coming from a country with questionable farming techniques and safety. But if farmers cannot offer competitive wages to bring in enough legitimate workers, then what really can be done about it?

Free trade sure is a bitch…

Many workers have found themselves on the receiving end of a pink slip due to their company relocating to another country for cheaper labor. It happened to me. I worked for Magnavox (Philips Consumer Electronics) in Greeneville, TN., at one time. They packed up and moved to Mexico. LOTS of people back here in the good ol’ US of A left holding pink slips over that one.

And our elected government stood idly by, hands in their pockets, and watched.

As they’ve done for thousands of other hard-working Americans. As they’ll do again today. As they’ll continue doing tomorrow.

But there is one upswing to free trade. It helps America’s wealthy become just a little more wealthy.

Immigration raids hurting farmers

Growers say crackdown is causing workers to flee; now they want reform

A climate of fear is spreading among undocumented immigrant workers, causing turmoil in industries dependent on their labor.

Maureen Torrey, an 11th-generation farmer in the rural town of Elba, N.Y., has been losing sleep. Just as rows of cabbage and winter squash stand ready for harvest on her 11,000 acre farm, she can’t find enough workers to bring in the crops. She needs about 350 workers and is 70 short of that number. “I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and my mind doesn’t shut off,” she says.

The problem, she says, is fear. Torrey Farms, a 14-crop vegetable farm located an hour east of Buffalo, has been raided twice since last October, when she says immigration officials kicked in the doors of workers’ housing and apprehended 34. In August, officials arrested seven workers and 14 more fled the area. Amid continued talk of a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, she’s afraid still more of her workforce will flee to less hostile terrain. With a population of about 9,000, the town of Elba, “Onion Capital of the World” to locals, may not have the manpower to replace them.

Moira Herbst, BusinessWeek

MSNBC.com

The plan to let Mexican trucks operate throughout the United States has prompted a war of words and legal papers between the Bush administration and Jim Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Hoffa and his allies at the Sierra Club and Public Citizen have sued in federal court to stop the government from issuing permits to Mexican freight haulers. Their lawyers argued in court that Mexican trucks pose a danger on the roads and threaten increased human and drug smuggling.

“Dangerous trucks should not be driving all the way from Mexico to Maine and Minnesota,” said Hoffa in a prepared statement. “What is it about safety and national security that George Bush doesn’t understand?”

The government argued that stopping the trucks would unsettle a key trading partner in Mexico and delay U.S.trucks from operating south of the border. Officials insist that a lengthy pre-inspection of Mexican firms has resulted in strict safety standards and compliance with congressional mandates.

More at the Arizona Republic