Deportees and Labor Shortages

"All they will call you will be deportees." -- Woody Guthrie

   As the nation reaches full employment -- it's now 4.4 percent, the lowest in years -- American business owners are becoming aware of a major problem with deporting many thousands of newcomers who arrive illegally and take jobs that many folk don't want and will not take.
   Soon enough, money talks, and when a labor shortage starts eating into profit margins and productivity, the America firsters change their attitude.
   First on the list was the agriculture industry, where farmers could not find workers to harvest the crops. But the wealthy elite didn't care, because these pickers were low-wage and unskilled, and the higher price of grapes, oranges and other crops did not have as much of an effect on their lifestyles.
   Then the labor shortage spread to other industries, but still company owners and local workers held to their opinions that the newcomers were all violent criminals anyway, and the jobs should go to their "real American" children. But many of the youngsters didn't want those jobs, and felt they were somehow entitled to something better.
   Then came the colleges and universities, who are losing tuition income from foreign visiting students who pay at higher rates but decide not to come to the U.S. in fear of violence.
   The latest example is the horse industry. Trainers at major racetracks such as Churchill Downs say it's increasingly difficult to find staff. Like many others who have questionable legal status, these newcomers fear deportation, and refuse to leave the grounds even to buy groceries.
   In Kentucky alone, the horse industry is worth an estimated $4 billion.
   Perhaps those who bring their horses to compete in the Kentucky Derby will send their college student offspring to help muck out the stables when track management runs out of workers.