Tyson knows. They couldn't _not_ know. They seem to maintain an acceptable level of "plausible deniability" at least, and I've not seen any evidence that they're explicitly allowing it to happen, or even that it's their preference. It seems more like they _have_ to tolerate it. If they tried to aggressively stamp out their workers using false documentation, they'd lose a big part of their experienced workforce and would incur significant additional labor costs as the market adjusted to the change.
More to the point, those people aren't just going to shrug their shoulders and head back to their home countries. Many of them would just go through more complicated steps to get false documents that passed the increased scrutiny. Tyson would have to pay more to get workers. Much of that money would be spent by the very same employees obtaining and maintaining false identities, and the people they're getting them from aren't exactly upstanding citizens.
If anything, I'd expect a crackdown on illegal labor practices here to result in funneling more money to criminal organizations (i.e., "the cartels") and tying the immigrant community more deeply with them. It really looks like a lose/lose proposition from where I sit.
NOTE: None of the above is a comment on US immigration policy, or indicative of my personal position on how that should be handled.
I obviously do not condone the actions of Tyson here.
I don't see anyone justifying anything here.
I'm probably coming the closest to that, and I'm very carefully only trying to share my understanding that's based on living nearby and having at least some interactions with this community. I'm absolutely not defending or justifying anything; I'm pointing out that there are multiple perspectives here and that it's not quite so clear cut.
> Not to mention that where one finds illegal workers one tends to find child sexual exploitation because illegals don’t tend to report the crimes they’re victims of.
Please consider not using the term "illegals" to refer to people. "Illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants" is at least marginally better, as it at least acknowledges that these are people we're talking about.
I'm not on the same side of this as most of HN seems to be - I hate to even bring it up, but it's relevant here to provide some background on my own views. I'm opposed to illegal immigration, "amnesty", and want to significantly increase border security. I'd summarize my overall position as wanting "A big, beautiful wall with big, beautiful open doors." Anyone who wants to come here should be able to do so, but we absolutely must know who is coming in, why, and be able to prevent known dangerous people from entering the country and disappearing.
None of the above is a reason to marginalize individual people and families. I don't go so far as to insist that people use milquetoast terms like "undocumented people", but I recognize that language impacts how we view things. These are people. Policies are driven by public opinion, and public opinion is driven by the language we use.
As for the point you're making, I agree. Much of these communities are living under the threat of deportation, and the rest inherits that distrust of authority. Crimes go unreported. We should definitely consider that when addressing issues that impact them.
Welcome to capitalism.
> they'd lose a big part of their experienced workforce and would incur significant additional labor costs as the market adjusted to the change
The second statement clearly disproves the first one.
Tyson could get Americans (TM) if they paid significantly more and moved them in to rural areas; but it’s much easier to employ cheap immigrants and act dumb.
Disclaimer: No judgement passed on immigrants, only on capitalism and stupid politicians.
Another potential outcome is that with the price of illegal labor practices increased legal labor would become competitive against illegal labor again. Which would probably increase the price of chicken, but would also mean that those working for Tyson legally would have a living wage again.
they are the best paying in the area because they win over competition by using cheap illegal labour. nobody honest can compete with that, so they break/move.
So naturally we talk about Americans being lazy and racist when they complain.
Many of them testified that Tyson encouraged and coached them, even provided written instructions on how to deal with various employment/taxation things as someone undocumented.
Asked about this at a press conference, and whether there were "any plans to issue fines, or charges/arrests against the company or management at the company who were very much aware they were employing undocumented workers"?
DA / prosecutors: "We have not discussed and do not have plans to do so at this time."
And to no-one's surprise, no "plans to do so" showed up later, or at all, either.