TooFarTampa
SoWal Insider
Well said jdarg. I imagine that most of the undocumented and migrant workers in Florida are doing construction, farm work and housekeeping services. Those are all very hard jobs and usually they have someone riding them hard to get them done. I am willing to bet that the price of our beloved Plant City strawberries (among other crops) would rise significantly if the people who picked them were documented and thus had to pay taxes on their higher wages, etc. Also, think of all the housekeeping jobs that citizens of Florida don't want to do. Who wants to clean up after tourists? Pretty much only those people who really need the money.
There are many reasons why many of the migrant workers cram a dozen or so people into a little house, and I don't think it's because they are all lowlifes or riffraff (a word I hate). No. 1 they are saving as much money as they can to send home to their families, because that's why they are there. No. 2 there probably aren't that many landlords willing to rent to them, understandably so. So the slumlords who will rent to them gouge them, and as a result a bunch of them have to get together to pool their money for a place to live. Not a good situation for anybody but the slumlord.
This is a very complex issue and as John R pointed out it is an unwinnable "war." In our state at least there is a big market for the undocumented. They are quite simply part of the economy, and to paint them all with a broad and unflattering brush is unfair.
I was wondering if the ladies who clean my house would show up today. The woman who runs the service is of some sort of Hispanic origin -- I suspect she is a U.S. citizen -- and most of the women who work for her speak only a little English. I don't know if they are documented or not, but they are nice ladies who do a very good job for a good price. Frankly it doesn't matter to me personally whether they are legal or illegal because they are providing a valuable service, and I have mixed feelings about the big picture anyway. Well, they came to work, and did a great job.
There are many reasons why many of the migrant workers cram a dozen or so people into a little house, and I don't think it's because they are all lowlifes or riffraff (a word I hate). No. 1 they are saving as much money as they can to send home to their families, because that's why they are there. No. 2 there probably aren't that many landlords willing to rent to them, understandably so. So the slumlords who will rent to them gouge them, and as a result a bunch of them have to get together to pool their money for a place to live. Not a good situation for anybody but the slumlord.
This is a very complex issue and as John R pointed out it is an unwinnable "war." In our state at least there is a big market for the undocumented. They are quite simply part of the economy, and to paint them all with a broad and unflattering brush is unfair.
I was wondering if the ladies who clean my house would show up today. The woman who runs the service is of some sort of Hispanic origin -- I suspect she is a U.S. citizen -- and most of the women who work for her speak only a little English. I don't know if they are documented or not, but they are nice ladies who do a very good job for a good price. Frankly it doesn't matter to me personally whether they are legal or illegal because they are providing a valuable service, and I have mixed feelings about the big picture anyway. Well, they came to work, and did a great job.
