That's the very definition of "illegal".
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That's the very definition of "illegal".
The crews that get the federal contracts are supposed to have proof (A-9s) that their people are legally in the country. Not citizens, but legally in the country.
Just read an article where farmers in S. Collyfonia tried to hired unemployed US citizens, had a big outreach, and got six people who tried the work. Our citizens just don't want to or can't do hard physical labor anymore. It doesn't even seem to matter what the pay is.
I would drool at the lunches the planting crews had. We had road access so two guys would head up to their vans early. They'd have one or two large cast iron pans full of premixed meat, beans, peppers, etc. with tortillas on the side. They'd heat it up. I would smell it as I ate my boring sandwich.
On one winter logging job, they hired those guys to shovel out the trees that had to be felled by chainsaw, and the shovelers sold and traded lunchtime burritos to the loggers. A few of the shovelers impressed the loggers and were running some equipment later.
Just read an article where farmers in S. Collyfonia tried to hired unemployed US citizens, had a big outreach, and got six people who tried the work. Our citizens just don't want to or can't do hard physical labor anymore. It doesn't even seem to matter what the pay is.
I would drool at the lunches the planting crews had. We had road access so two guys would head up to their vans early. They'd have one or two large cast iron pans full of premixed meat, beans, peppers, etc. with tortillas on the side. They'd heat it up. I would smell it as I ate my boring sandwich.
On one winter logging job, they hired those guys to shovel out the trees that had to be felled by chainsaw, and the shovelers sold and traded lunchtime burritos to the loggers. A few of the shovelers impressed the loggers and were running some equipment later.
You are right about this. It isn't just socal either. It is impossible to find Americans to do the kind of hard work needed to keep "our" country running. Agiculture would collapse without Mexican labor. Our local university has a few protests each year about farm labor and how hard the work is. The funny thing is, not one of the 14,000 or so students works in agriculture. They will eat the Brussell sprouts but they will not work for them.
There is a shortage of workers here and I expect it is the same everywhere. It is much more difficult to cross the border these days. Many workers return to Mexico for a month at Christmas and the farms are like ghost towns.
Like I said I have nothing against the people. However anyone committing a crime should expect punishment.
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The big problem here with the illegals working on forestry and agriculture sites is that the law is applied "selectively". I.e., some companies get away with it while others are raided constantly by INS. A farm down the road from me routinely employs 20-30 illegals a year and is overlooked. The farm owner is a good friend of one of the county commissioners and the incumbent county sheriff. I personally don't have a beef against him because he runs a clean, tight operation and keeps firm control over his people. His workers are always good to me and they don't interfere or trespass with us neighbors (this is a very small community.)
One of the local forestry contractors routinely employs 20-30 illegals and is regularly busted by INS. The company owner there usually claims ignorance and is slapped on the wrist but has to find a new crew on a regular basis.
In both cases though, the operations wouldn't even exist without migrant labor (legal and illegal) simply because no local people want to do the work.
Part of that is because they made it illegal to hire school children to work on farms and now kids grow up thinking that sitting in front of a computer is hard work. Average kid today watches you pick up a five gallon bucket of water and they way "Wow! How can you lift that?!!?!!?" There are those of us that hear them and are thinking "It's damn easy and you aren't really working till you are carrying three more just like it at the same time, son."
Classic example is a kid that is going to major in video game creation--his lifelong dream. He refuses to help his dad with even the most basic yard work. Daddy is going to pay for his school. If I were daddy he'd get to earn his way through school, doing hard menial labor at low wages.
Mr. HE
Classic example is a kid that is going to major in video game creation--his lifelong dream. He refuses to help his dad with even the most basic yard work. Daddy is going to pay for his school. If I were daddy he'd get to earn his way through school, doing hard menial labor at low wages.
Mr. HE
hammerlogging
Addicted to ArboristSite
I understand, and see how if you are operating legally, with immigrants or not, and are competing against people operating illegally, that it is unfair and unjust. One ought to do the right thing.
Good post. One of the things I see way too often are the Hispanic workers being exploited in order to keep production costs down. They're often illegals who, after doing whatever job they've signed on to do, are abandoned by their employers or deliberately set up for capture and deportation...often without receiving their full pay. Can't happen in America? Yes it can. And it does. All too often it's their fellow countrymen who screw them over.
I saw this first hand earlier this year. The labor contractor, Hispanic, who turned out to be the cousin of the owner, also Hispanic, of a "tree service", grabbed the money and ran. He'd had contracts with three different government agencies yet still managed to employ a crew that was 100% illegal. He left behind about a dozen bewildered non English-speaking workers, some clapped out old vans and junk equipment. The owner disappeared, too. The workers, broke and hungry, were deported. The owner and his cousin surfaced briefly in southern Oregon trying to gather a crew but haven't been heard of since.
I don't have the answers to the immigration problem and I'm not sure anybody really does. Simplistic solutions aren't working and all the money and manpower we've thrown at the problem aren't fixing anything either.
I agree that, in agriculture especially, very little would get done without migrant labor. But when the very governmental agencies who complain the loudest about the illegal worker problem choose to ignore the problem and the plight of both the workers and those who hire them I don't see any resolution any time soon.
And...does anybody really eat Brussel sprouts?
forestryworks
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hey Gologit! Can you PM me the name of the guy? Just in case?
I thought only the orchardists played that game. Also that they couldn't do that anymore because word gets back to Mexico and nobody will work for them.
Guatemala is the place that the brush pickers come from. One was shot by a hunter last week. His family is up here and does not speak Spanish. They speak a Mayan or Indian language. The hunters at least turned themselves in and one was arrested. They were hunting bears. I doubt the family is here legally. Our cop says there is a coyote in our part of the state, with connections in Guatemala.
Those guys and girls seem to have a van wreck every few years and get killed. They look very young, but have to prove they are 18 or over to get a permit. They pick Salal all day, bundle it up, and carry big, heavy, pack like stacks of Salal back to the van. I do not know what they get paid. I doubt it is very much. Their vans have removable seats so they can really fill them up with brush, and then find a tiny space to hunker.
The Sacramento Bee wrote a scathing article about them. It blamed the Forest Service for the wrecks and working conditions. Which made no sense.
I have no idea how to cook Brussel Sprouts, or artichokes.
I heard the famous TV loggers who yell at their workers all the time are logging in my neighborhood. I heard a feller buncher in the distance yesterday morning. Their trucks have been seen on our county road.
I thought only the orchardists played that game. Also that they couldn't do that anymore because word gets back to Mexico and nobody will work for them.
Guatemala is the place that the brush pickers come from. One was shot by a hunter last week. His family is up here and does not speak Spanish. They speak a Mayan or Indian language. The hunters at least turned themselves in and one was arrested. They were hunting bears. I doubt the family is here legally. Our cop says there is a coyote in our part of the state, with connections in Guatemala.
Those guys and girls seem to have a van wreck every few years and get killed. They look very young, but have to prove they are 18 or over to get a permit. They pick Salal all day, bundle it up, and carry big, heavy, pack like stacks of Salal back to the van. I do not know what they get paid. I doubt it is very much. Their vans have removable seats so they can really fill them up with brush, and then find a tiny space to hunker.
The Sacramento Bee wrote a scathing article about them. It blamed the Forest Service for the wrecks and working conditions. Which made no sense.
I have no idea how to cook Brussel Sprouts, or artichokes.
I heard the famous TV loggers who yell at their workers all the time are logging in my neighborhood. I heard a feller buncher in the distance yesterday morning. Their trucks have been seen on our county road.
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No need for a PM...I'll put the names out right here. The contractor/owner, used the last name of Gonzales but spelled it differently on almost every piece of paperwork. Central Tree Service, Northern Reforestation, Gonzales Tree Work, and a couple of other company names were used. There is probably a lot more to this but the civil servants who hired this clown are busily covering their tracks. And, realistically, I don't think much will ever come of it.
And you're right about a lot of the workers coming from countries other than Mexico. Most of the Mexicans are wise to the scams and they communicate and network with each other on who's doing what. The workers from further south haven't had the experience or opportunity to know when they're being screwed...until it's a done deal.
There needs to be some level of accountability established or I don't see this situation ending any time soon.
And Brussel sprouts? I ate one once. Once.
And you're right about a lot of the workers coming from countries other than Mexico. Most of the Mexicans are wise to the scams and they communicate and network with each other on who's doing what. The workers from further south haven't had the experience or opportunity to know when they're being screwed...until it's a done deal.
There needs to be some level of accountability established or I don't see this situation ending any time soon.
And Brussel sprouts? I ate one once. Once.
I'm sure some of you have seen the labor camps, but for those that have not...
The only way to describe them is living in a hell hole; dirty and stinky like you can't imagine. A ten by twelve bedroom will sleep twelve men. An old shop will sleep two hundred at night and not have a single bathroom. Cooking is done on camp stoves, hot plates, and open fires inside and outside the buildings. The smell of the food and smoke mixes with the smell of human sweat and waste. Their clothes are often a greasy black color from lack of washing.
When working the fields, that's right picking your food, they will relieve themselves right there. The men pull it out and go, and the women let it run down their legs, if a more solid form of relief is needed they squat and go. Children live in the same conditions and behave the same way. Hand washing and toilet paper are non-existent.
Many of them have cell phones, but they never call the cops, not even in life and death situations, cell phones just tell them where the work is. Appendicitis will kill them because they don't know to go to the hospital. Fights are not uncommon and knife wounds leave nasty scars. Often infection is worse than the injury and death is basically no big deal. Bodies will sit for days before someone buries with them without any ceremony.
You don't think of people ever living like that in this country, but it happens everyday in illegal labor camps all over the west and south. Seeing first hand breaks your heart and makes you angry. How can this happen here? Sometimes what you see as a cop just can't be unseen, the images haunt you forever. Dirty faces of children sitting in torn clothes playing with dirty sticks and pretending they are dolls, while their dead father lies on a plywood "bed" next to them.
After you get past that layer of illegals you come to the ones that are "working the system" Little wonder that they will, the quality of life is so much better for them.
That is where we pay for a house for them. The people density per square foot drops at least 80%. The housing has electric or gas ranges. There are toilets. Medical care is a trip to the ER. The welfare worker gets clothes for the babies, clothes for the kids, clothes for the parents and clothes for the grandparents. Food stamps free up cash to buy beer and tobacco, and to eat food from taco wagons, next they get the big TV. Soon life is so good they don't need to work at all. You can always push some drugs for a little spending money. They live the same as those in the housing projects; all of that on the backs of taxpayers. This group makes a lot of calls for the cops, thefts, domestics, fights, stolen cars, missing kids, OD's, shootings, you name it.
Of course there are the legals that work hard and play by the rules. I count many among my friends and family and they have my respect. There is irony in how little needs to be said about them, we all know them and they are an ongoing part of what built this nation. Give us your poor, your tired, your hungry, and we'll give them a chance to live in freedom and peace. I love this nation, but I hate the disease within her.
Mr. HE
The only way to describe them is living in a hell hole; dirty and stinky like you can't imagine. A ten by twelve bedroom will sleep twelve men. An old shop will sleep two hundred at night and not have a single bathroom. Cooking is done on camp stoves, hot plates, and open fires inside and outside the buildings. The smell of the food and smoke mixes with the smell of human sweat and waste. Their clothes are often a greasy black color from lack of washing.
When working the fields, that's right picking your food, they will relieve themselves right there. The men pull it out and go, and the women let it run down their legs, if a more solid form of relief is needed they squat and go. Children live in the same conditions and behave the same way. Hand washing and toilet paper are non-existent.
Many of them have cell phones, but they never call the cops, not even in life and death situations, cell phones just tell them where the work is. Appendicitis will kill them because they don't know to go to the hospital. Fights are not uncommon and knife wounds leave nasty scars. Often infection is worse than the injury and death is basically no big deal. Bodies will sit for days before someone buries with them without any ceremony.
You don't think of people ever living like that in this country, but it happens everyday in illegal labor camps all over the west and south. Seeing first hand breaks your heart and makes you angry. How can this happen here? Sometimes what you see as a cop just can't be unseen, the images haunt you forever. Dirty faces of children sitting in torn clothes playing with dirty sticks and pretending they are dolls, while their dead father lies on a plywood "bed" next to them.
After you get past that layer of illegals you come to the ones that are "working the system" Little wonder that they will, the quality of life is so much better for them.
That is where we pay for a house for them. The people density per square foot drops at least 80%. The housing has electric or gas ranges. There are toilets. Medical care is a trip to the ER. The welfare worker gets clothes for the babies, clothes for the kids, clothes for the parents and clothes for the grandparents. Food stamps free up cash to buy beer and tobacco, and to eat food from taco wagons, next they get the big TV. Soon life is so good they don't need to work at all. You can always push some drugs for a little spending money. They live the same as those in the housing projects; all of that on the backs of taxpayers. This group makes a lot of calls for the cops, thefts, domestics, fights, stolen cars, missing kids, OD's, shootings, you name it.
Of course there are the legals that work hard and play by the rules. I count many among my friends and family and they have my respect. There is irony in how little needs to be said about them, we all know them and they are an ongoing part of what built this nation. Give us your poor, your tired, your hungry, and we'll give them a chance to live in freedom and peace. I love this nation, but I hate the disease within her.
Mr. HE
dingeryote
Blueberry Baron
I'm sure some of you have seen the labor camps, but for those that have not...
The only way to describe them is living in a hell hole; dirty and stinky like you can't imagine. A ten by twelve bedroom will sleep twelve men. An old shop will sleep two hundred at night and not have a single bathroom. Cooking is done on camp stoves, hot plates, and open fires inside and outside the buildings. The smell of the food and smoke mixes with the smell of human sweat and waste. Their clothes are often a greasy black color from lack of washing.
When working the fields, that's right picking your food, they will relieve themselves right there. The men pull it out and go, and the women let it run down their legs, if a more solid form of relief is needed they squat and go. Children live in the same conditions and behave the same way. Hand washing and toilet paper are non-existent.
Many of them have cell phones, but they never call the cops, not even in life and death situations, cell phones just tell them where the work is. Appendicitis will kill them because they don't know to go to the hospital. Fights are not uncommon and knife wounds leave nasty scars. Often infection is worse than the injury and death is basically no big deal. Bodies will sit for days before someone buries with them without any ceremony.
You don't think of people ever living like that in this country, but it happens everyday in illegal labor camps all over the west and south. Seeing first hand breaks your heart and makes you angry. How can this happen here? Sometimes what you see as a cop just can't be unseen, the images haunt you forever. Dirty faces of children sitting in torn clothes playing with dirty sticks and pretending they are dolls, while their dead father lies on a plywood "bed" next to them.
After you get past that layer of illegals you come to the ones that are "working the system" Little wonder that they will, the quality of life is so much better for them.
That is where we pay for a house for them. The people density per square foot drops at least 80%. The housing has electric or gas ranges. There are toilets. Medical care is a trip to the ER. The welfare worker gets clothes for the babies, clothes for the kids, clothes for the parents and clothes for the grandparents. Food stamps free up cash to buy beer and tobacco, and to eat food from taco wagons, next they get the big TV. Soon life is so good they don't need to work at all. You can always push some drugs for a little spending money. They live the same as those in the housing projects; all of that on the backs of taxpayers. This group makes a lot of calls for the cops, thefts, domestics, fights, stolen cars, missing kids, OD's, shootings, you name it.
Of course there are the legals that work hard and play by the rules. I count many among my friends and family and they have my respect. There is irony in how little needs to be said about them, we all know them and they are an ongoing part of what built this nation. Give us your poor, your tired, your hungry, and we'll give them a chance to live in freedom and peace. I love this nation, but I hate the disease within her.
Mr. HE
It sounds horrible, but nobody is forcing them to come here and work in those conditions. They have a country of thier own, and the ability to make it better and as good as any other if they wanted to.
As for the labor camp conditions, I gotta call bull####.
Name any other employer that is required to provide housing for thier labor force, and maintain housing to a standard that is better than most private homes, or face fines and criminal charges.
The illegals live like that by choice.
If they wanted better housing and working conditions they wouldn't have hired on with some douchebag outfit. Then again only the douchebag outfits ignore the I-9 and knowingly hire the illegals.
The ICE and USDA crackdowns, have FORCED Illegals and thier employers into this, and if it's horrible, all they have to do is swim back over the river.
The field sanitation requirements have gotten to be a complete joke thanks to the West coast Douchebags that hire the illegals. It's still openly ignored by those #######s out west, and for some reason they are not getting clobbered for it, and the number of USDA audits elsewhere have doubled.
One porta john with a running water and soap handwashing station for every 25 workers located within a 5 min. walk or 1/4 mile whichever is closer, all use of the facilities is monitored to ensure the handwashing policy is enforced.
Most guys will have 2-3 for every 25, and have them mounted on trailers to keep closer to the pickers, and keep downtime to a Min. and ensure the pickers are hydrating.
Yet the backwards assed Illegals wont use the supplied facilities most times, because it takes time away from picking, so they just squat right there with a Tomato in each hand like they did back home where the practice is normal.
Even the migrants on permit will sneak a leak, and ya gotta catch 'em, It's just stupid .
Jackass outfits that skirt the regs, hire Illegals because they will work cheaper, because the better outfits wont have them.
If west coast growers and labor outfits are getting away with what you describe, drop a dime to the USDA, FDA, and make sure the whole bunch get locked up and thier employer is hammered. They make life miserable for everyone and need to be slapped hard!
To make a comparison, I am disallowed from letting my own dogs in my fields because of the potential for fecal contamination, and am audited annually for compliance...just one dog terd found, and we fail the audit, face potential fines and are no longer able to sell our fruit except to the poor paying secondary markets.
It ain't just Pooch terds either...compliance costs with the other requirements are insane.
All of this nonsense started with the idiots on the west coast, shipping human bio contaminated fruit and veggies back in the 90's, and then they fudged thier traceback documentation to cover thier butts.
Big growers that were audited, were buying produce off the books from hacks and labeling it as thiers or part of thier import operation, whichever worked better for them.
If they are still getting away with what you describe, while elsewhere Minutia is resulting in fines, there is a bigger problem, but explains why there are so many more Illegals on the coast.
They still have willing employers, and the USDA/FDA are still overlooking the matter.
Stay safe!
Dingeryote
dingeryote, The camps are totally illegal and were dutifully reported to state and federal agencies. Follow up by both levels was minimal at best. What I describe about the camps I've seen first hand. The practices in the fields I've seen first hand and heard about from famers many times.
The farms do a pretty good job of providing proper facilities, but as you said the workers don't use them. The farms don't run these labor camps, they are run by mexican "unions", basically mexicans making slaves of other mexicans. A camp won't last more than a couple of weeks at most. Often the location is a vacant building and they are trespassing to camp there.
Wild animals run freely through fields out here and FDA rules specifically allow percentages of animal wastes, bug parts, dirt, etc in processed foods and grains. Fresh market is tighter controls, but a field still has wild animals running through it all day and night and they mess too. I've never heard of a dog turd shutting down a harvest, ever.
If you don't like the inspections and audits you face over there that is your problem to deal with. Vote in some people who will stick up for you and get the monkey off your back. It'd be great if there was a quick sensible solution to all the problems, but the truth is that the mess is so deep now it will take some time to sort out and make right.
Mr. HE
The farms do a pretty good job of providing proper facilities, but as you said the workers don't use them. The farms don't run these labor camps, they are run by mexican "unions", basically mexicans making slaves of other mexicans. A camp won't last more than a couple of weeks at most. Often the location is a vacant building and they are trespassing to camp there.
Wild animals run freely through fields out here and FDA rules specifically allow percentages of animal wastes, bug parts, dirt, etc in processed foods and grains. Fresh market is tighter controls, but a field still has wild animals running through it all day and night and they mess too. I've never heard of a dog turd shutting down a harvest, ever.
If you don't like the inspections and audits you face over there that is your problem to deal with. Vote in some people who will stick up for you and get the monkey off your back. It'd be great if there was a quick sensible solution to all the problems, but the truth is that the mess is so deep now it will take some time to sort out and make right.
Mr. HE
I’m not pointing a finger at anyone here, but I’m sure you all remember the words that when the Delphi fiasco started it was good that those over paid people got what was coming to them and so be it. A lot of people thought it would not affect them, but it has, all over this country.
Look at any empty factory that paid good wages, you may think; well they priced themselves right out of a job. Here is another view you might consider, just think how much those employees paid in payroll taxes and what the employer paid as well. That income for OUR government is gone forever. People that encourage and finically support companies to move production off shore govern us, and we stand of it. They, congress, are off shoring their own incomes, the fools.
And how does this government support companies like Delphi or any company moving off shore. For one it is called the MRT, Morris Relief Tax. Ever hear of it? So lets say the big operation in your town makes bathtubs. They have been there for going on 30 years. They close and move to China. They sell the facility for a cool 20 million dollars, and with the MRT they DO NOT, repeat do not, claim that 20 mil as income on their taxes, such a deal.
If you are in the market for a nice GM ½ ton pickup made in Pontiac MI it will run you 35-40 grand made by the high cost American labor at $70.00 all in. Oh you don’t want a pickup you want a Chevy Avalanche, well it will still run you 35-40 grand and it is made in Mexico by the $5.00 all in labor. Who is screwing whom?
George Washington and the rest of them are spinning in their graves.
Look at any empty factory that paid good wages, you may think; well they priced themselves right out of a job. Here is another view you might consider, just think how much those employees paid in payroll taxes and what the employer paid as well. That income for OUR government is gone forever. People that encourage and finically support companies to move production off shore govern us, and we stand of it. They, congress, are off shoring their own incomes, the fools.
And how does this government support companies like Delphi or any company moving off shore. For one it is called the MRT, Morris Relief Tax. Ever hear of it? So lets say the big operation in your town makes bathtubs. They have been there for going on 30 years. They close and move to China. They sell the facility for a cool 20 million dollars, and with the MRT they DO NOT, repeat do not, claim that 20 mil as income on their taxes, such a deal.
If you are in the market for a nice GM ½ ton pickup made in Pontiac MI it will run you 35-40 grand made by the high cost American labor at $70.00 all in. Oh you don’t want a pickup you want a Chevy Avalanche, well it will still run you 35-40 grand and it is made in Mexico by the $5.00 all in labor. Who is screwing whom?
George Washington and the rest of them are spinning in their graves.
Great post!
No it wasn't! He dissed Brussells sprouts, one of the sacred foods like artichokes and brocolli.
WHO dissed on Brussells sprouts??
There is something we have in common, don,t forget Cauliflowers!!!!
MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm. yum.
Ok, we've run down Brussell Sprouts. Now tell us how to cook them so they are edible. I don't even think they have them in our local (within 20 miles) stores.
dingeryote
Blueberry Baron
dingeryote, The camps are totally illegal and were dutifully reported to state and federal agencies. Follow up by both levels was minimal at best. What I describe about the camps I've seen first hand. The practices in the fields I've seen first hand and heard about from famers many times.
The farms do a pretty good job of providing proper facilities, but as you said the workers don't use them. The farms don't run these labor camps, they are run by mexican "unions", basically mexicans making slaves of other mexicans. A camp won't last more than a couple of weeks at most. Often the location is a vacant building and they are trespassing to camp there.
Wild animals run freely through fields out here and FDA rules specifically allow percentages of animal wastes, bug parts, dirt, etc in processed foods and grains. Fresh market is tighter controls, but a field still has wild animals running through it all day and night and they mess too. I've never heard of a dog turd shutting down a harvest, ever.
If you don't like the inspections and audits you face over there that is your problem to deal with. Vote in some people who will stick up for you and get the monkey off your back. It'd be great if there was a quick sensible solution to all the problems, but the truth is that the mess is so deep now it will take some time to sort out and make right.
Mr. HE
HE,
I'm on your side in all of this. The disparity of enforcement is what I'm trying to illustrate. Most folks don't see these Illegals bieng used as slave labor by other Illegals and part of the Narco trafficking machine.
We get that sort of crap coming into the area now and then, but we have an established cultural practice here, of providing housing and re-hiring familys that are either Citizens or on permit. Illegals with a Honcho selling thier labor, get run out of town quick because they have the effect of lowering wages for the legit migrants.
It's ridiculously easy for an Ag. employer to get his Mexican workers a work permit. Folks do NOT realize that either.
The USDA is responding to the public outcry(Media induced panic), in a very regionally selective manner, as is the produce industry. There isn't much anyone can do at this point, because it has already been done. There seems to be enough political and criminal influence out west, that the matter will continue to be a problem, and elsewhere the kneejerk reaction from DC will continue to be a costly and pointless PITA.
Wild critters are an issue everywhere. If there is a "Wildlife Mitigation policy" in place that meets USDA approval and audit, that is all that is needed and it is up to the auditor to decide if in fact it is adequate. Having a mob of wild hogs running rampant through fields and contaminating produce with choliform willy nilly is a little different than the occaisional Coyote terd they require to be dealt with here. Again, regionally selective enforcement.
It's no surprise the matter your office handed over to ICE/USDA was met with a yawn. But thanks anyway,it is appreciated, and I'm glad to hear it's still just the Feds dropping the ball by choice.
If the Illegal immigration issue was tied to the reality of the slavery issue, and thrown in peoples faces as much as the "Immigrants rights" hysteria, both issues could finally be dealt with in a constructive manner, and we could get the food supply cleaned up without making growers crazy and broke.
Stay safe!
Dingeryote
dingeryote
Blueberry Baron
Patty,
Start with 2 cups Fresh sprouts. Wash 'em good to get the sand out.
Chop up 3-4 strips of bacon and mince 3-4 cloves of garlic and half of a small sweet onion. Sautee' the onion and garlic in a drizzle of olive oil, with the bacon, untill the onion is clear and garlic starting to carmelize, then toss in the sprouts, add 1/4 cup of Orange juice, turn the heat to simmer and cover.
Stir every 5 Min, untill the sprouts are tender.
The acid and sugar in the OJ offsets the bitter in the sprouts.
Good fresh sprouts taste completely different than those that have sat for a week, and don't have that strong sulphur and bitter taste...or the resulting gas clouds.
Good luck to ya. Not everybody is supposed to like 'em. LOL!!!
Stale sprouts will keep the black flies at bay though...
Stay safe!
Dingeryote
I reckon the issue of illegal workers (of any origin, in any country) will be solved shortly after prostitution is eradicated.
Brussel sprouts, parboiled then fried with diced bacon and garlic then finished with a little cream and black pepper has changed many peoples opinion.
