Illegal immigrants and farm work and Stephen Colbert

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"John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, asked him to leave. Conyers said the committee had not seen so many reporters at a hearing since presidential impeachment proceedings in the late 1990s, and he wanted Colbert to leave so that the committee could carry on with its work.


Colbert, however, did not budge, saying that he was present at the invitation of the hearing chair, US Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California. But Colbert said if Lofgren wanted him to leave, he would.


Lofgren said she wanted him to stay, and a good portion of Capitol Hill was glued to broadcasts of the hearing." Source 

Colbert:  "America's farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables," 
"Maybe we could offer more visas to the immigrants, who lets face it, will probably be doing these jobs anyway."
 
"Now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. And if you look at the recent obesity statistics, many Americans have already started."


..."we all know there is a long tradition of great nations importing foreign workers to do their farm work."


"After all, it was the ancient Israelites who built the first food pyramids. But this is America. I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian."


"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants.  He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."



"I'll admit I started my work day with preconceived notions of migrant labor; but after working with these men and women ... side by side in the unforgiving sun I have to say -- and I do mean this sincerely -- please don't make me do this again. It is really, really hard."

The brief experience, he said, "gave me some small understanding why so few Americans are clamoring to begin an exciting career as seasonal migrant field workers."


Colbert appeared alongside, among others, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, whose group over the summer launched "Take Our Jobs," a campaign that challenged U.S. citizens to replace immigrants in farm work.


"Maybe we should be spending less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there -- ones that require real hard labor and ones that don't involve sitting behind a desk," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.