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Meatpacking groups say ICE arrests could lead to higher prices and revenue loss (apnews.com)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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[–] 7 points 2 days ago (6 children)

My first thought again: why aren't they arresting business owners and hiring managers, alongside immigrants?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

    yep, been saying this since I was in high school.

    think how inefficient it is identify, track, investigate, monitor, apprehend, imprison, transport, feed, deport and terrorize millions of people who by definition are undocumented (as in, hard to find or process)... compared to a much smaller number of US registered companies with physical addresses and org charts and the names of their owners or boards easily obtainable.

    the budget for ICE is now larger than the entire US Marine Corp (citation missing). we could solve the problem of companies knowingly abusing migrants labor in no time with a few thousand federal inspectors/agents/investigators assigned to shutdown known hirers. with a fraction of the budget. but expecting corporations to take responsibility for knowingly breaking the law isn't allowed in America any more, I guess.

    tldr we shouldn't be punishing individual people trying to work to feed their families (and in the process actual feeding American families). we should be holding abusive employers accountable and also making a path to citizenship (or at least the ability to freely cross borders under a work permit, without fear of deportation while working).

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  • [–] 6 points 2 days ago* (2 children)

    This misunderstands the purpose of ICE, I think.

    They're helping intensify the abuse of migrant labor, not trying to reduce it. Their purpose is to terrify migrant workers into compliance and obedience and silence. The problem, of course, is that this can only be pushed so far - like squeezing blood from stone. Eventually, no amount of additional terror will result in labor intensification because it can't actually be intensified further.

    The next step would be labor camps.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 days ago (1 child)

    which is precisely why ice must be abolished. and the laws must be changed.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago

    They can't, really. The labor intensification is happening because they need to constantly increase profits YoY, and labor costs are often the largest expense of any industry. If the laws were changed and migrant labor was treated like all other labor, they'd have rights and benefits and minimum wage and legal protections. Those are all things the meatpacking industry can't allow.

    This is just the contradictions reaching a tipping point. They either have to accept lower profits or build labor camps.

    They're going to build labor camps.

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