DeFazio questions use of foreign workers on forest-thinning projects
John Sowell, Douglas County News-Review, September, 8 2010 [here]
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio says he wants a federal agency to scrutinize companies that employ foreign workers on Oregon tree-thinning projects financed by federal stimulus funds.
DeFazio sent a letter last week to the Department of Labor’s acting inspector general, Daniel Petrole, asking him to investigate. The Springfield Democrat said foreign workers should not be hired at the expense of qualified Oregonians.
“Rural Oregon has suffered from long-term unemployment of well above 20 percent,” DeFazio said in a written release Tuesday. “There is no excuse to not be hiring these hard-working Americans in the current recession. We cannot allow U.S. companies to abuse immigration laws to undercut American workers.”
Last month, The Bulletin newspaper in Bend reported that several companies awarded U.S. Forest Service contracts funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act filed applications to use foreign workers. Four companies that sought permission to employ 300 foreign workers in Oregon received a total of $10 million to thin forests. … [more]
Note: Campaign ploy. The hiring of illegal aliens by the USFS has gone on for 35 years that I know of. Pete has never done jack about this problem during his previous 24 years in Congress. Now he writes a letter. Big deal. Business as usual.
by BeckyJ
Nothing like having a fire crew parked out front that doesn’t speak English and not being able to find out what is going on in the middle of a fire in the neighborhood.