The Hispanic Dairyland

Immigrants arrive on U.S. American shores for a variety of reasons: economic opportunity, fleeing war, persecution, disaster, etc. Many of these people would and do accept what those already living here consider to be undesirable jobs, and are willing to do them for less pay than U.S. American citizens would want, much less than minimum wage. As stated in the text, this is partially out of fear for themselves or those they know being found out as illegal and deported. It also may come from desperation or a perceived better life than what they had in their country of origin.

I have no experience with manual labor on a dairy farm and the struggles farm managers and workers across the U.S. face. That being said, I find it reasonable to invest in the success of these immigrant employees. For the foreseeable future, there are more potential immigrant workers coming, so allowing those who have been on the farm for some time to be promoted, get significant raises in pay and/or benefits, perhaps fund their education or help with their citizenship (if they so choose) would have multiple benefits. Aside from the moral good farms would be doing from this utilitarian help, this would give one’s dairy business better publicity and make it more attractive to potential incoming immigrant workers, showing them the prospect of one day achieving at least some of the success they came here for. Plus, doing good, non-profit deeds as a for-profit business will make one’s products seem more valuable to many consumers, who know that they’d be supporting the good work the business does with their purchase. Whatever you may think about the "American Dream", both of these points alone support virtues the U.S. is founded on-tolerance, meritocracy, hard work, and opportunity.

Having someone for years, perhaps decades on a farm, doing similar level work and being paid roughly the same without the ability advance is nearing on indentured servitude-a societal relic of the past and certainly not what these people came here for. Of course, these are rational sapiens, with agency over their own lives. They should be able to receive this help or not, move to a different place of employment, or move back to their home country, as citizens or not.

While some might see this as opportunistic parasitism moving from their “shithole countries” to mooch of the fair economy of hard-working U.S. Americans, many of these immigrants, legal or not, feel as guilty and unwelcome as we say they are. When allowed to climb the socioeconomic ladder, these individuals are given many choices to support their quality of life, as well as that of everyone else. They can stay in the U.S., themselves and their families working towards obtaining citizenship and becoming permanent members of the U.S. community. They can also support their home countries via remittances, which today account for significant portions of many countries' GDP's. If they decide to move back to their home country, or anywhere else in the world, they'd be taking the resources they have gained here (financial capital, education, skills, networking, cultural awareness, etc.) with them. Each of these options are investments towards a more equal world, one in which more economic opportunity and less conflict exists in more places across the world; a world in which today’s illegal, low-paying, manual labor would be a thing of the past.