Immigration

Every year, thousands and hundreds of illegal immigrants cross the boarder between Mexico and the United States. It is estimated that there are around 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Over one third of the 12 million live in the three major cities in America: Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Traditionally immigrants have settled in what are called “boarder states” which included Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. However, with the recent crackdown on illegal immigration and the increase in Boarder Control Agents, life is becoming very difficult for immigrants in these states. Because of these, there is an increasing surge in immigrants traveling further into the United States to avoid deportation. In addition to traveling to the non-traditional boarder states to avoid deportation, they also are going further north for better wages. States such as Virginia, Maryland, and Washington are seeing an increase in the Hispanic population, which is believe to be due to the illegal immigrants coming to find work that pays better. Even places like Oregon and Illinois are seeing a flux in the number of migrant workers. Many times the coyotes avoid the boarder states all together because it is so easy to get caught. In fact, some coyotes charge 10 times more if a immigrant wants to go to one of the boarder states.
However, there are many problems associated with the migration of illegal workers. The biggest problem is the safety of the immigrants. Many times the illegal immigrants go to great lengths to cross into the US, many times risking their life. Once in the US the danger to their health and safety is not over. The workers usually have to live in horrible conditions and work in even worse conditions. One Tufts Professor found that in 2005 immigrants made up 17% of the workforce in the US and they accounted for 28% of on-the-job deaths. It is not just immigrants from Mexico or South America that are struggling with the working conditions. In 2004, two Vietnamese floor finishers died after the varnish they were applying to a floor ignited. Generally speaking, the immigrants are so vulnerable to get hurt and be “abused” because they do not know their rights. They are so terrified to speak out because first they are here in this country illegally, and second because they need the job so desperately. The challenge is getting the message out to the immigrants that they do have rights. They do not have to work in such horrible conditions or suffer from injuries. Many corporations and business are getting in trouble because OSHA has begun investigating more and more of the work related deaths and injuries. For example, the Tyson Food, a giant multi-million dollar company who is the world’s largest processor of chicken, beef, and pork who employees 114,000 people at 300 plants around the globe, recently was investigate and is being charged from purposely recruiting immigrant workers. At a Tyson Food plant in Kansas, at least one worker is hurt every single day. This has caused the largely immigrant composed employees to try and unionize. They work in the nation’s most hazardous occupations: meatpacking. The workers at the Tyson plants have to work in the most unbelievable conditions. They work eight-hour shifts, with very few breaks, in near freezing temperatures, covered in blood as the carcasses are flung around. What is so disturbing about this is that Tyson’s not the only company that treats the migrant workers like this. Tyson’s just so happened to get caught. Think about the hundreds of other corporations out there that possibly are doing the same things. When writing for this blog, I came across articles that discussed the lawsuit with Tyson’s and how they were treating the workers. I decided to go to Tyson’s website to just look at it. I was disgusted that on their homepage when they claim to care about communities and help others. Very ironic if you ask me. What really made me mad is they have listed their “Core Values”. Here is what they say they believe in:

We are a company of people engaged in the production of food, seeking to pursue truth and integrity, and committed to creating value for our shareholders, our customers, and our people in the process.
Who we are:
We strive to be a company of diverse people
working together to produce food.
We strive to be honorable people.
We strive to be a faith-friendly company.

What we do:
We feed our families, the nation, and the world
with trusted food products.
We serve as stewards of the animals, land,
and environment entrusted to us.
We strive to provide a safe work environment
for our Team Members.

How we do it:
We strive to earn consistent and satisfactory profits for our
shareholders and to invest in our people, products, and processes.
We strive to operate with integrity and trust in all we do.
We strive to honor God and be respectful of each other, our
customers, and other stakeholders.

I think that this is very, very, ironic that these are supposedly their “Core Values” yet the violate so many of them. It makes me so sad and so angry knowing that there are probably other companies out there like Tyson’s. Personally, after finding out this information about them, I will never buy another Tyson’s product. It disgusts me.

Hopefully, after our new President sorts out the issues with the economy, the issues with illegal immigrants will be addressed. Some thing has to give. We cannot claim to care about people and help others and yet continue to let this sort of thing happen to the most vulnerable population. It's not fair and it's not right.