Page 27 - H 2a News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

After an incredibly long day picking oranges, i can't wait to go to bed. but it's friday, and that's payday. so the bus makes a last stop at plaza mexico. plaza mexico is a one-stop shop for h-2a workers. it's a shopping center, and bank all rolled into one. this place is busy. how many guys come into and cash their checks? >> about 600. about 200 are from our company. >> okay. they wire money home as well? >> yeah. over there. sigue. >> how much do most guys send home? >> he would have to leave 50 for groceries and 20 for like laundry. >> guys are usual i will only keeping back 60, $70? >> ye...

Participating with the h-2a program. >> like many business as they find the regulations that come with h-2a burdensome. >> the housing is a cost. the transportation to get them to and from, and sometimes they don't stay. i think it was noble effort, but we need to recognize that it's a much broader issue. we don't really know the level of illegal immigrants working here. do we have everybody here properly documented? and do we meet the letter of the law? absolutely. but as i was told once when i asked this question at a seminar, well, what if i see a document that i'm not sure is legal. the qu...

So far i've been picking oranges for three hours. i can honestly tell you it does not get easier as the day goes on. for so-called unskilled labor, it's a lot tougher than it looks. that's two down. lots more to go. i'm not just the worst picker in the field today. i'm also the only american citizen. every single worker here with me today is a foreign citizen on an h-2a visa. but h-2a is unpopular with most employers. in fact, only 4% of businesses that can use it do so. riverfront packing is the largest grapefruit distributor in florida, and they don't participate in the program. >> we have a...

Just see how difficult and strenuous it is and try and get a better sense of why people aren't taking these jobs. of course, some people are taking these jobs. immigrant laborers. there is maybe two ways that farms and citrus groves find workers. one way is the h-2a guest worker visa program, a sort of stopgap measure designed to get immigrant workers in the field without granting them permanent residen residency,. it's neither a path to citizenship nor particularly popular with the agriculture industry. so that leaves undocumented immigrants. after surviving a dangerous border crossing, they ...

I'm on my way to meet the crew i'll be picking with tomorrow. after my lesson with carlos and pascual, i'm feeling pretty confident. luckily for me, i'm a good foot and a half taller than carlos and pascual. i have a little bit of reach. i might be able to get the hard to reach oranges. >> the workers i'm picking with are all here legally and temporarily. h-2a visas require the employer to provide housing and transportation for the guest workers, so workers have virtually no expenses while they're here. they send most of the money they make straight back to mexico. and when the picking season ...