Contemporary Connection: Farming of Bones- Illegal Immigration

     In the novel "The Farming of Bones", there is a mention of a very relative topic that is still an issue here in the United States. That is the hiring of illegal immigrants that have no papers, by large company contractors that hire migrant workers off the books for agriculture. If they do not follow the set rules that the company that hired them have given, they can easily be deported out of the country. This can be seen through the border issues America has with Mexico. The first wave of migrant workers can be seen hired during the 1940's, the time of World War 2. The labor demands of the U.S and the political unrest in Mexico, brought a wave of illegal, cheap and willing migrant workers. One major company that was caught hiring and then deporting workers as they  weren't need is Tyson Foods, which is a meat industry through IBP, Monfrot and Smith-field. They would smuggle illegal immigrants over the border to work in the meat processing plants giving them hazardous jobs with no protection, and make them feel protected through faulty paper work that makes them out to be a citizen of the united states. Some illegal immigrants come here due to false promises of becoming a full time citizen. When the non immigrant movement that started, it was the workers that would go under and be fined and deported, not the companies.

          With this book being based in around the time period of 1937, it was around when Haitians would emigrate from their countries to find a better like and work in the Dominican Republic. But the issue is that many Haitians will come either illegally or over stay their visa, so they are in the constant worry about deportation. On page 69 and 70 (which is chapter 14) we will find examples of this. "This makes it easier for them to push us out when they want to... They say anyone not in one of those Yanki cane mills will be sent back to Haiti" (69). If anyone wishes to go against the labor that the Dominican Republic is asking for, they can easily deport the person and bring in another illegal immigrant to take their place. In the eyes of D.R, if they have dark skin; whether they were born there or not, every one is considered a foreigner. They are not given proper birth papers so the children cannot receive a proper education, nor can the parents go and complain about it to get it changed.
"Those who work in the cane mills, the mill owners keep their papers, so they have this as a rope around their necks... You have no papers in your hands, they do with you what they want" (70). As the company holds on to your paper work, if you were asked for signs of identification of being a Dominican, no one would have the proper papers to back them up. So until they get their papers the company can control every move they make and deport them at their own whim. It puts Amabelle in trouble and some of the people she works with in great danger of loosing everything and getting forced back to Haiti


(1) http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states
(2)http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/us/tyson-foods-indicted-in-plan-to-smuggle-illegal-workers.html
(3)http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/dr/labor.html