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The high costs of low-priced produce
Dimitri Vassilaros is a Tribune-Review editorial page editor. He can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or 412-380-5637. He also blogs at KDKA
The Migrant Education Program gives you 897,000 more reasons to be disgusted by the stealth invasion from Mexico.
Taxpayers paid $393,600,000 last year to educate many of the roughly 900,000 eligible offspring of migrant workers in America. All of whom could be in this country illegally.
"Could," because thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1982, Plyler v. Doe, the government is not even allowed to ask parents if they are here illegally before they sign up for the government program.
Children ages 3 through 21 are entitled to a free education just because they are here. Even if the 21-year-old is married. And has children.
Services include tutorial programs, after-school extended hours, summer programs, in-home programs, health and social support services, parental involvement, advocacy, language arts and, of course, enrichment.
What? No frequent-flier miles on AeroMexico?!
The MEP "Artistas del Verano" program is "to increase the self-esteem and cultural awareness of migrant teenagers through the visual arts and academic enrichment. Participants were encouraged to study their own culture and bring to the design of the murals an image or icon to represent themselves."
The College Assistance Migrant Program is "a federally funded program designed for first-year college students from migrant and seasonal farm worker families. Pennsylvania's CAMP program is located at Penn State University. Established in 1972, CAMP has been available at Penn State since 1993. CAMP offers pre-college transition and first-year support services to help students develop the skills they need to stay in college and graduate."
High school dropouts do not fall through the cracks. They are offered alternatives, according to Suzanne E. Benchoff, director of migrant services. She oversees the implementation of the program in 30 Pennsylvania counties.
"We offer Web-based cyber schools to earn a Mexican high school diploma. They are provided with laptop computers, and our centers have high-speed DSL and T1 lines."
Ay caramba.
Apologists for illegal immigration (usually leaders of the two dominant political parties) tell you that foreigners are needed to do the work that lazy Americans will not do.
Well, the American worker is not lazy -- and he is not stupid. The reason low-paying jobs go wanting is that the pay is too low. Am I going too fast for the defenseless-borders crowd?
The more illegals that flood in, the more low-paying jobs there will be because employers will be less inclined to offer good wages. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If there were no illegal immigrants, every job would pay what it would be worth. Prices of some items would increase, but at least then you would know the real cost of a carrot, potato or onion without the de facto subsidization of illegal labor.
Every taxpayer pays for the hidden costs of these illegals so agribusiness and other labor-intensive conglomerates do not have to offer fair wages.
But every once in a while you get a glimpse of the high costs of low-priced produce. Like maybe 21 years' worth of education costs for up to 900,000 foreigners annually. And counting.
