Immigrants in Factory Farming

Kharielly Gonzalez June 6, 2010
Eng 103 Professor. Alexander

Throughout this cluster we have been reading a lot about food industry and how they pack there meats or how they even make them. We have also been learning something that caught my attention and it was Factory Farming and the way they treat their workers. Did you know that many of the workers that work in factory farms are illegal? Do you know how they are treated? Do you also know the injuries they suffer? In this essay I would be talking about how unfairly illegal immigrants are treated in factory farms. Something has to be done about these unfair treatments we can’t allow managers to treat their workers like nobody just because they are illegal.
If you were a factory owner how would you treat your workers? Would you treat them unfairly because they’re illegal? Or would you treat all your workers the same? The use of illegal immigrants is very common especially in factory farms. Immigrants are afraid to stand up for themselves thinking they are going to either loose their jobs or get deported back to their country, that they put up with a lot of non sense. It’s not easy as an illegal immigrant to come to a new country where they believe they are going to be treated fairly. Less do they know those people who pretend to help them are the ones abusing their rights, rights they don’t know anything about. We have to find a way to stop this unreasonable treatment against people who come here for a better way of life.
Throughout the years this has been a big problem in the United States and in other countries. This has been a widespread phenomenon. According to a book titled “The New Public Health” by Theodore H.Tulchinsky, Elena Varavikova , Many immigrants and there families move with seasons for farms or other temporary work. Immigrant leave there belongings aside and other things in their country to come work in the United States at factory farms where they don’t even get paid well. Immigrants are often dependent on exploitative employers willing to provide only subsistence wages, and a possibly hostile surrounding community (The New Public Health pg 280). Immigrants do not complain about their wages because they are afraid of being deported to their country. Many of them are spoken in a very nasty way and can’t or even try to defend themselves.
Illegal aliens are easily subject to exploitation since they have no power to assert their rights. They have no way to file complaints against employers who abuse and mistreat them in a manner which violates federal labor law. The ones who do so stand a good chance of being caught and turned over to the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) for deportation. Recognizing that illegal aliens must maintain anonymity employers pay their undocumented workers substantially lower wages and subject them to much harsher working conditions (Ronald Reagan and the politics of immigration by Nicholas laham). Its not right to treat the people who work there butt off like animals without giving them at least the little amount of rights they deserve even if they are here illegally. Many people think that illegal immigrants are here to take away their jobs or steal their health insurance, but in reality most of them don’t even know that they can get help because they are afraid.
Managers at factory farms have the same mentality they have for the animals they kill as they do for workers meaning they treat them with out any type of value. Managers don’t care weather or not their employers ate or cut them selves, all they care about is the job getting done fast for the companies profit to keep going up. They know most of the people, who work their need the job and would do anything to keep it, that they have their rules that have to follow if not your getting fired. According to Food Inc when Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle there was a beef trust that weald in an enormous power, Immigrants from Easter Europe were being abused in the absence of any government regulation. IBP is one of the companies that still uses this bad way of treating workers (Eric Schlosser, Food Inc). When you listen to things like this you wonder well, what has the government done about it? Teddy Roosevelt took on the beef trust and labor unions slowly organized meat packing workers and turned it to the best industrial job in the United States (Food Inc). The government did do something to try and help these workers but unfourtantly wasn’t enough because everything went back to how it was. These companies started getting bigger and in order to serve the need of there meat packing industry they started cutting wages and making sure there weren’t any union and also speeding up production.
The majorities of immigrants that work in these factory farms are from Mexico and had to come to work here because they lost their jobs. Many of them used to work in corn fields but lost their jobs because of NAFDAC (National Agency for FDA control). NAFDAC led to a huge flooding of Mexican corn selling it as cheap American corns which lead to Mexican workers to loose there job (Food Inc). So these companies took advantage and brought many of those immigrants to work for there factories. So when you think about what’s going on you ask yourselves why, why if they bring them to work here when they don’t need them anymore they call immigration on them to take them away. The government should be doing something about this. There isn’t a way that the government doesn’t know what’s happening to these poor working people.
I have always thought of immigrants as the hardest working people in the United States. Many times you see how hard they work and don’t know how much they are getting paid. I have heard people say they would hire a Mexican immigrant to do their yard job or to work at there restaurant instead of an American Citizen because they know the immigrant won’t ask for a raise or more money. It’s sad that even sometimes we as a society think this way towards them, that even we abuse the rights they should have a hard working human beings.
Workers are vulnerable to injury from machinery, illness from constant exposure to fecal bacteria and animal borne diseases. Due to the nature of this work and because it is so low paying, the people performing these duties are mostly undocumented immigrants easily exploited because of their precarious legal status.
Besides the fact that workers in factory farms have to deal with bad treatments they also have o deal with bad working conditions. Immigrants that work in Slaughter houses for example suffer from many injuries and many of those injuries have been loosing their fingers or even there own life’s. According to “The Most Dangerous Job” by Eric Schlosser one of the workers lost two fingers due to one of the machines. When he was back to the following week his supervisor told him “If one hand doesn’t work use the other”. When hearing something like this you wonder if its true, you would never think there are so many cruel people in this world. A supervisors job or even a managers job is to protect their workers to make sure nothing happens to them and if something does happen make sure they get the proper care. Many of these workers get injuries and are sent home just to heal but aren’t able to visit a doctor. Most of the times if the workers are considered useless they a persuade to quit.
There exists a specific law which allows farmers to recruit people in other countries to come to the US to perform farm work. Often referred to as a “temporary worker program,” or the H-2A program, this law provides visas for up to 45,000 agricultural jobs a year. This program protects immigrant workers’ rights to fair wages, benefits and transportation, and regulates minimum-work guarantees, working conditions and housing for foreign workers. It even stipulates that workers who complete a farm season must be provided with transportation back to their home country. While this program seeks to protect both U.S. and foreign workers from abuse, violations of the law persist. Many of the immigrants that are working in these factory don’t know about this law that does protect them from all this injustice.

In conclusion Immigrants come to the United States to work very hard and deserve the same respect that other workers get. Managers from factory farms and other factories treat there workers just like they treat animals. Workers should stand up for themselves and stop being afraid of what might happen to them . Many of them have been loosing their lives and their family get nothing in return. The government should act and do something more about it before this problem becomes bigger then it already is.

annotated bibliography 2

Thesis: The use of illegal immigrants on factory farms it’s an easy thing to do especially if they can’t stand up for themselves. It’s not easy as an illegal immigrant to come to a new country where they believe they are going to be treated fairly but less do they know those people who pretend to help them are the one abusing their rights.
body1: farmers attempt to hide illegal immigrants from government officials

Body2: immigrants lack stable social environments

body3:.Illegal aliens are easily subject to exploitation

Body4:employers pay their undocumented workers substantially low wages

Body5:immigrants send money to their family


According to Orange coast magazine farmers who hire illegal immigrants and try to hide them from government officials if caught can a five year sentence and a fine for $2000 for each illegal immigrant found(pg136).For the most part,contractors bring illegal aliens to farms for employers who ignore the source of the workers.

immigrants lack stable social environments and support systems and are often dependent on exploitative employers willing to provide only subsistence wages, and a possibly hostile surrounding community (Pg 280). Immigrants are exposed to poor sanitation and poor housing conditions, pesticides, and infectious disease.

Ronald Reagan and the politics of immigration reform by Nicholas laham…….Illegal aliens are easily subject to exploitation since they have no power to assert their rights. They have no way to file complaints against employers who abuse and mistreat them in a manner which violates federal labor law. The ones who do so stand a good chance of being caught and turned over to the INS (immigration and naturalization service) for deportation.

Factory illegal workers are in desperate need for a job when coming to the united state that they accept any wage that is given to them.There are many of them who take this job without being aware of the job condition they are going to be working in (Sun food living:Resource guide for global health pg77). Recognizing that illegal aliens must maintain anonymity, employers pay there undocumented workers substantially lower wages and subject them to harsh working conditions(Ronald Reagan and the politics of immigration reform pg178)

Immigrants come to the united states or other countries in look of being able to send money to there families back at there home countries.(American government and politics today 2008:the essentials pg146).The wages sent home to there family either legal or illegal are the second largest source of foreign income in Mexico.

In conclusion illegal immigrants are treated like they are worth nothing when they come to work for factories in the united states. since they cant fight for there rights they are exposed to a lot of horrible things.

Essay 1

Kharielly Gonzalez April 28, 2010

Essay # 1 Eng 101



Companies should stop advertising junk food to children in schools because they are leading kids to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea, especially when kids spend most of their day in school. Schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids by having vending machines full of junk food in them. Many schools should band bending machines at their schools and promote kids to living healthy by talking to them about the risks they face if they keep eating so much junk food. Schools should be a safe and healthy place for children’s. By banning bending machines schools are giving a positive statement in which they want children to be healthy when at school. Schools should have bending machines with healthy snacks in them such as fruits and UN sugary drinks.

Kids should also do exercise while at school. Gym teachers should make working out fun for kids so kids can be motivated to do exercise and start getting into shape. Fast food advertising should without doubt be excluded from schools. The only reason why schools allow this type of advertising is because most advertising companies provide things to the school. W e aren’t realizing that advertisement has a huge impact on our children and most of the time even us there is something we have to do to protect our children’s health and one of them is banning junk food.

This problem has been taking place for a very long time. On April 22, 1999 the Daily News published an article named “Suit to trash junk food in schools”. The article mentioned that more than half of city schools illegally sell junk food to students; nutrition advocates charged the board of education in a lawsuit. It also mentioned that principals readily admitted that they sell candy from vending machines to raise money for sports and other extras cut from their budgets. Knowing that this is a problem that has been going on for a long time and hasn’t been able to stop is upsetting because in the long run our children are the ones that suffer.

Most advertising companies use cartoons to target kids. Having favorite cartoons such as SpongeBob, Dora the explorer and many other Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons placed on all these junk food lead kids to believe they are healthy or good because their favorite characters are on them. According to an article published on The New York Times in January 12, 2005, some countries have banned advertising and marketing food products to children, but there are no such federal restrictions n the United States.

The article mentions that marketing bombards children not only through television but also in schools, in movies, video games, websites, books, and even in textbooks. Because the government isn’t expected to ban it any time soon, the center for science in the public interest has turned to cajoling instead of demanding some changes. Some countries have imposed stricter nutritional standards. Other countries have gone further. Sweden, Norway, Austria and Luxembourg have all banned television advertising to children.

When I was a little girl and even sometimes at my age now I see a favorite character on something and I automatically want to buy it for me or even my younger siblings. I remember my 5 year old brother one day wanted this candy because it had spider man on it. Advertising this type of way to kids isn’t a good way to do it because advertising companies know that kids will persuade their parents to buy it for them.

One other thing that can be done in order to prevent kids from buying so much junk food in schools is allowing junk food to be sold only on lunch time not after or before lunch. By doing this schools are helping children to eat junk food in a moderate way, meaning not as much as they used to. Another thing we should be thinking about its how to decrease the number of advertising that is done in our children’s schools. In Your trusted friend by Eric Schlosser he mentions how the explosion in children’s advertising has occurred during the 1980s.

So the question is how can something like advertising that is so big not be allowed in public schools? The answer to that question is the principles and the board of education. They can find other ways to raise funds for the schools or to get equipments for their classes, football fields etc. By doing this they give a positive message they can allow other types of advertising in their schools but healthy ones.
The only reason to why fast food advertises to children is because they are easy to control. Children are at risk of getting diabetes because of all these junk foods. These types of advertisements don’t realize the damage they are causing to kids even their own ones all they care about is the money they are making due to all this advertisement.

We should do something about these advertising in schools. We have to start informing our kids when they are young that advertising is a fake way to persuade people to buying their products. Companies only do it for their benefit not for the benefits of others. Fast food advertising should definitely be banned from schools.

Marketing to Children

Marketing to Children
Thesis: Companies seek to advertise to children because they are the easiest target they have.
Body paragraph 1: Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea; schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids.

Body paragraph 2: Advertising by using cartoons or favorite children programs on cereal boxes and other junk food products.

Body paragraph 3: Allowing junk food to be sold only on lunch time not after or before lunch time.

Body paragraph 4: Children are at risk of getting diabetes because of all these junk foods.




Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea, especially when kids spend most of their day in school. schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids by having vending machines full of junk food in them. Many Schools should band bending machines at their schools and promote kids to living healthy by talking to them about the risks they face if they keep eating so much junk food. School should be a safe place and also a healthy one where children are safe and healthy as well.

Most advertising companies use cartoons to target kids. Having favorite cartoons such as spongebob,dora the explorer and other nickelodeon or Disney cartoons placed on all these junk food lead children to think they are healthy or good because their favorite character is placed on it .Some countries have banned advertising and marketing food products to children even in public schools.

Annotated bibliographies

The Post Standard (Syracuse, NY)
April 5, 2010
Sugar tax is win-win situation
By: Sandra D. lane
Section: opinion; page. A11
New York is facing two crises, a fiscal one and a health one. The much discussed penny-per-ounce “soda tax” under consideration in Albany will help confront both of them by combating childhood obesity while raisin $ 1 billion annually to prevent devastating cuts to health care. Daily per-person soda consumption has almost tripled over the past four decades from calories in the late 1970s, to 190 calories today. Today, obesity is a public health crisis in New York states an incredible 60 percent of adults and one third of children are either overweight or obese. Soda tax will help reduce new Yorkers consumption of exceptionally unhealthy drinks that have been identified as one of the top causes, more so than any other food group of diabetes and obesity.
The New York Times July 15, 2005
Food industry defends marketing to children
By: Melanie Warner
Section: section c; column 2; business/financial desk; media; advertsing; page 5
The Federal State commission’s office discussed world wide a range of issues on marketing food to children. Food companies have often expressed the view that they would be better off regulating themselves than having the government intervene. The chairwoman of the federal trade commission, Deborah Platt majoras, said that having the government ban the marketing of certain types of foods was “neither wise nor viable.” “Under the right circumstances, industry generated action can address problems more quickly, creatively and flexibly than government regulation,” she said. Senator Harkin said the F.T.C (federal trade commission) has authority over ads to adult but not for children.” Food company executives emphasized their efforts to sell healthier food and to provide more education to consumers about healthy eating and regular exercise.
The New York Times January 12, 2005
It’d be easier if SpongeBob were hawking broccoli
By: Marian Burros
Section: section f; column 1; dining in, dining out/style desk; Eating Well; page 5
The Center for Science in Public Interest, a group often critical of the government and the food industry, displayed the packages to show what children are exposed to in a barrage of food marketing. The boxes and containers lined up in a conference room looked like a collection of toys and games, each bearing the likenesses of characters from Shrek to SpongeBob Square pants. The packages contained food: cereals, ofcourse, but also candies, pizza and pancake syrup. Nickelodeon, the children’s cable network and home of spongebob, has been sunning public service announcements to encourage exercise and promote healthful foods.
The New York Times August 12, 1992
Eating Well
By: Marian Burros

Section: section c; page 3; column 1; living desk
The center for science in the public interest the consumer advocacy group in Washington has just released a report on the state of processed foods for children and it doesn’t like what it found. Only seven cereals and one cheese, for example, were included in the top category of foods, those that met all the nutritional and food safety criteria; not one frozen dinner or fast food meal was included in that category. Food safety criteria were also included: no foods could be included among the best if they contained artificial colors, aspartame, caffeine, monosodium glutamate, saccharin, sodium nitrite, sulfites or the antioxidants BHA and BHT. The right thing is to feed children fresh food.
Daily News April 22, 1999
Suit seeks to trash junk food in schools
By Joanne Wasserman
Section: news; page 9
More than half of city schools illegally sell junk food to students, Nutrition advocates charge in a lawsuit filled against the board of education. The group wants the machine removed or a timer placed on them to lock them until after lunchtime. Principles admitted that they sell candy from vending machines to raise money for sports and other extra budgets. Under board of education regulations, junk food such as soda, ices, gums, lollipops etc may not be sold in schools.

Overweight Problem

Today I was reading “The consumer: A republic of fat “by Chevat Richie and Michael Pollan, while reading it I ran into something that really caught my attention. What caught my attention was something that a surgeon general said,”obesity today is officially an epidemic”. The fact that obesity is being compared to an epidemic is a very huge problem because to me it is being said that obesity is an outbreak of disease. Obesity has been a very huge problem in the United States for years and it’s getting to a point where it’s affecting our new generation.

According to the reading “children may turn out to be the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than that of their parents,” it is very sad to hear something like that because I believe parents are a very huge influence in their kids life an health and if you are an unhealthy parents there is a 90% chance your child is going to be unhealthy as well. An example I have with that is about my brother. My stepmom is unhealthy and so is my dad, they eat at all hours and don’t really watch what they out in there mouth. My 5 year old brother is adapting to that same habit of eating late and eating a lot of sweets. The other day my stepmom took him for a check up and the doctor told her that he’s at risk of getting diabetes if she doesn’t watch his weight closely. After reading that little passage it really scares me to know that my brother might be one of those children mentioned of living shorter than their parents.

I think it’s about time that Americans realize that obesity is killing us and they should take action and start eating healthy for the sake of their health and their kids health.

Fat or Taxed ?

Is taxing soda a great idea? How many of you really think it would make a change ? well to tell you the truth i personally disagree. i believe that no matter how much tax the government wants to put on soda it isn't going to make a difference. Many of you may ask why i say that ? lets see cigarettes were taxed a few years ago and even after they were taxed people kept buying them. That's going to be the same with soda people know that soda isn't good for them because of the many disease they can get but they still drink it.
According to the magazine Advertising Age"soda,by itself,isn't a silent killer.And soda taxes aren't a miracle cure for anything other than budget gaps ", I believe the government is trying to find something to hold on to in order to get more money in there pockets. America has been going threw obesity for over years and nothing of what they have done has made any difference,people are still doing what they aren't supposed to and many of them are still obese.
According to letter by Charles M slevin " A soda tax wouldn't stop a single child from buying a soda".I agree with slevin i think that no matter what the government tries to do with soda people are still going to buy it.Raising things is just a way to try and scare people from not buying certain items.
Just because we are going threw bad economic times it doesn't mean people aren't going to do whatever it takes from getting or buying what they want. Many of the people that are addicted to drugs or alcohol and don't have money to buy it find a way to do it ,that's the same thing with people that like to drink a lot of soda. The government can try imposing many laws or bringing up tax as much as they want but do you really think people are going to stop buying them? ask your self that little question.

Low Paying Happiness

I THINK THAT MANY OF OUR FAST FOOD RESTUARANTS LIKE MCDONALDS PERHAPS HAVE OR SHOW A IMAGE OF A PLACE WHERE CHILDREN GO AND ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPY AND FEEL AS IF THEY ARE IN A FAMILY ZONE, BUT WHY DOES A PLACE WHERE THE IMAGE THEY PRESENT IS ONE HAPPY ZONE IN REALITY HIRE CHILDREN OF SUCH YOUNG AGE AND HAVE THEM WORK FOR SUCH LONG HOURS MAKING THOSE CHILDRENS THEY ONCED TARGET UNHAPPY? I THINK IS IRONIC HOW THEY HAVE SUCH A HAPPY IMAGE BUT THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUNG KIDS WHO WORK THERE. KIDS AND EVEN ADULTS WHO WORK IN FAST FOOD PLACE ARE TAKEN ADVANTAGE WITH THE WAY THEY GET PAYED EVEN WITH THE LONG HOURS THEY WORK AND ARENT SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING.


IN THE TEXT, "BEHIND THE COUNTER"BY SCHLOSSER HE STATES “ALTHOUGH PICKING STRAWBERRIES IS ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE MORE THAN COOKING HAMBURGERS, BOTH JOBS ARE NOW FILLED BY PEOPLE WHO A GENERALLY YOUNG, UNSKILLED, AND WILLING TO WORK LONG HOURS FOR LOW PAYS”. I CHOSE THIS QUOTE BECAUSE I THINK IT TELLS US HOW YOUNG UNEXPERIENCED KIDS GET INTO PLACES TO WORK WITHOUT HAVING EXPERIENCE WHERE THEY ARE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF AND WORK SO MANY LONG HOURS FOR SUCH A LOW PAY. THIS QUOTE RELATES TO MY POINT BECAUSE IT MENTIONS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH OUR FAST FOOD RESTUARANTS WERE KIDS ARE GETTING HIRED AND ARE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF.


I DON’T HAVE A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FROM WORKING IN A FAST FOOD RESTUARANT BUT I DO WORK FOR A RETAIL STORE AND I WORK LONG HOURS AT TIMES AND STILL GET PAYED THE SAME. IF THEY DON’T HAVE ANYONE TO GIVE YOU YOUR LUNCH OR BREAK AND ITS BUSY YOU DON’T TAKE NOT EVEN ONE NO MATTER HOW TIRED YOU ARE AND THEY STILL TAKE THAT FROM YOUR PAYCHECK, IF THEY ASK YOU TO STAY AND YOU DON’T THEY START PICKING ON YOU AND CUTT YOUR HOURS A LOT AND GIVE YOU MAY DAYS OFF. I THINK THIS FITS WITH MY POINT BECAUSE IT SHOWS HOW SOME PLACES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU AND THERE ISNT ANYTHING YOU CAN DO BECAUSE YOU CAN GET FIRED AND MOST OF US NEED THE JOB.