re: New Iberia car accident results in death of local school Principal.

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AgLogistics say that they are here legally... Nobody else wants to do this work

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(Edit: I am replacing “skilled” with “professional” in my original post to avoid any confusion. I did a stupid and didn’t realize that skilled (ie, licensed and/ or specialized academic training) doesn’t automatically equate to professional outside of economist speak.)

Ah, yes, the old "we can't find professional workers, we need more visas" lie. This "program" needs to end yesterday. No professional domestic worker, from CDL truck driver to computer engineer, can afford to compete with visa holders that will work for pennies on the dollar, and in some cases below minimum wage (this happens when workers are paid in a complex piece-rate manner, under recording the hours workers worked, refusing to pay over-time wages, and making illegal deductions from workers’ pay, like charging them for room and board when the employer is legally required to provide free housing and meals to workers). A lot of times, professional foreign workers never actually make any money because they arrive in debt to recruiters.

Ever wonder why there's wage stagnation in so many professions? This is why. The whole professional visa guest worker program bullshite is a scam and drives down US wages, and is actually bad for the foreign professional workers as well.

Of all the dumb takes in this thread this one might take the cake your opinion is so far from the truth. At the end of the day no Americans want to run crawfish traps and work on the farm period so H2A is the only way

I meant CDL truck drivers. Running crawfish traps and working on farms is not skilled work. I should go back and clarify that. I was wondering what I said that was so upsetting. My bad.

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Our migrant workers aren’t working for Pennies on the dollar. They’re making nearly $20/hr. And we provide housing/utilities at our expense. And a vehicle

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You are one in thousands, and I sincerely applaud you for doing right by your workers. My bad if my post was insulting.

I think I've done one of those stupids where I think everyone knows what a "skilled worker" is (in economist terms, someone who holds a professional license and/or academic training to perform a job). It isn't just someone who is good at their job tasks. Like "human capital" rubs people the wrong way, but it isn't as bad as it sounds.

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It’s more like nobody applies for the positions except through H2A.

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And H1B. In the context of what I meant, a "skilled worker" is someone with a professional license and /or academic training to do a job. Not someone who is merely good at a job. I think I shite what I meant all up.

Edit: But if a job pays less than unemployment, what incentive is there to take the job? If an employer can find licensed/ specially trained guest workers to work for less than what a domestic worker will work for, what is the incentive to raise the offered wage? It's like an ouroboros.

My point is professional domestic workers won’t take a job they will lose money on in the short run. Guest workers will take those jobs, even if they don’t actually make any money in the long run. Employers want to pay less. That’s it. That’s my point.

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Her name was revealed but the driver of the 18 wheeler WAS NOT. Why?

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Because he's neither dead nor under arrest. This is normal.

A friend of mine told me about this post, so I thought I would get on here and clear up a little misinformation. I have lived in the area and know many of the people involved in the situation.

1) The farm equipment in the accident was not a tractor-trailer or 18 wheeler. It was an actual field tractor pulling a field cart loaded with sugarcane, which is used when in close proximity to the sugar mill and is not used on major highways/interstates.

2) The driver of the tractor was not a migrant laborer. He was an American and born and raised in Iberia parish.

3) The driver of the tractor had many years of experience operating farm machinery.

This is not meant to spur argument or taking sides. It is simply to clear a few things up that were posted on this thread. This accident was an absolute tragedy and I can’t imagine what the family must be going through. However, the migrant labor, CDL, and 18-wheeler debate doesn’t relate to this incident.