"Illegal immigration" by Chris Ingram (Views, Jan. 22) reminds me of a quote from the U.S. House floor more than 100 years ago: "I shall not be speaking to the House, but to Buncombe …" (Buncombe County, N.C.), wherein originated the term "bunk."
As Abe Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." I say, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, and that is enough."
If nonsense is repeated enough, enough people will believe it. Or are all of those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won't do?
I remember picking tomatoes in Ruskin. It was 15 cents per pound for picked tomatoes in the box: 10 cents for the landowner who took the many risks, planting and nurturing the crop, and who paid the taxes, etc.; and 5 cents for the labor picking them.
At that same time, tomatoes were being retailed at $1.39 per pound. So who was making most of the money on these tomatoes? Not the grower. Not the picker. But, rather, someone who never saw or touched those tomatoes: the many middlemen.
This is like those who never do any work other than sitting at a console grinding out stuff about illegal aliens and UFOs, and about how unions ruined the textile, electronics and railroad industries and education — and everything else gone wrong in the world. And I'm sure Mr. Ingram makes more than the $12 to $14 per hour that strawberry pickers earn.
When the pay is appropriate, the workers will show up in droves. And when workers are treated justly, then the needs for unions will vanish.
James Harris
Gaithersburg, Md.
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