Federal immigration authorities had alerted Gebbers Farms that a number of its employees' hiring forms were suspect. Unless those employees could prove they were in this country legally, the company would let them go.
Many couldn't. Like the vast majority of America's agricultural work force, they were illegal immigrants who used fake documents to get jobs picking and packing fruit, in this case in and around this small town on the Columbia River north of Wenatchee.
The unemployment rate among immigrants in the U.S. outpaced that of native-born workers last month, with the gap particularly pronounced among women.
Some 11.8% of foreign-born workers were unemployed in January, compared to 10.3% of native workers, the Labor Department said Friday. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703894304575047321179743554.html
By Sara Murray and Miriam Jordan -- The Wall Street Journal
Allegations that illegal immigrants were working on the $63 million courthouse project came to light last week when a bricklayers union organizer questioned the county.
A Novato-based group advocating the employment of documented American workers in Novato has collected more than half the required signatures to place an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to force employers working with the city to verify the citizenship of workers. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14336685
By Brent Ainsworth -- The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
A Novato-based group advocating the employment of documented American workers in Novato has collected more than half the required signatures to place an initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to force employers working with the city to verify the citizenship of workers. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14336685
By Brent Ainsworth -- The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)
