Brush fires & illegal immigrants

I recently read a news article over at ABC News, that brought to light another group of people that a greatly suffering thru these brush fires. According to the article:

"An estimated 2 million illegal immigrants live and work deep in the burning California hills. Many of them have no homes to lose — their nights are spent in sleeping bags adjacent to the fields they pick when the sun rises.

It's their lives that are in danger."

The story goes on to describe how at one farm, the owner was forcing the immigrants to continue working even though the smoke was getting thicker and it was hard to see and breath. The farm owner did not care that the other side of the road had been evacuated.

"At a tomato field in rural Rancho Santa Fe, on the border with San Diego, Morones found himself in the middle of a dilemma. The homes on the city side of the street were under mandatory evacuation orders, but the farm just across the street was not. Because of that, the owner of the field wanted his workers to keep picking.

Lives in the Balance

"Why are these guys that own this land making these guys still work?" Morones said. "It's inhumane, these conditions."

The workers were afraid that if they left, even for their own safety, they would lose their jobs when the fire threat is over."

At the end of the article we learn that the farm owner finally agrees to let them go, and the workers are finally convinced that it is safe to go to the shelters.

This story is something that affects us all. Imagine if all our farm workers, even just half of them, were deported. Say good by to your precious fruits and vegetables Californians. I have not heard one report about what's happening all the farm workers in the San Diego county. Can you imagine how much fear they are experiencing right now. Not knowing whether to risk their lives and stay at the farms they work at, or risk being deported when arriving at a shelter. There were rumors that the border patrol was checking for identification at shelter. It was also reported that many immigrants turned themselves in a the Otay border when the fire began to grow.

This article really spoke to me today and I had to share it with my readers. Click on the link below to read the entire article. My crappy paraphrasing doesn't do it justice.

Click here to read the entire article.