Dorchester Times: Report: Farmland Foods Cracks Down On Illegal Workers, Finally

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Report: Farmland Foods Cracks Down On Illegal Workers, Finally

We were shocked to read that this past week, a Democrat state representative in next door Iowa, who happens to also be running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said if the underage migrants who have come to the U.S. from Central America aren’t given a “pathway for citizenship” they could become terrorists. The candidate, Pat Murphy, said if illegal immigrants aren't provided benefits from taxpayers today, "they’ll be terrorists a generation from now."

If that's the case, we have a problem in every corner of America -- especially meatpacking towns like Crete -- since America's political leaders have shamefully turned a blind eye to immigration enforcement and border security.

We have often wondered how many people in our own county are here illegally -- or "without documentation," as some would want us to say. (The Times is on record as a longtime critic of our nation's poor enforcement of immigration across our southern border.)

At last check, unofficial census counts estimate the city of Crete is about 40-45% Hispanic or other minority. That is a staggering (dare we say unhealthy?) rate of change experienced by Saline County's largest community over just 15 years. We've been told by a Crete leader of respected stature that he estimates that as much as 35%-40% of Crete's Hispanic population is here illegally.

Recently, the Times was informed that Farmland Foods of Crete, owned by Shuanghui International Holdings of China, has cracked down on employment of those who cannot prove they are in the country legally. According to inside reports, the new enforcement guidelines were implemented earlier this summer. As soon as they were, more than 200 employees walked off the job, presumably because they are in the country illegally.

Those 200 are now "lurking in the shadows," as some politicians have said.

We wonder when other businesses and entities -- such as landlords, school administrators, realtors, social welfare organizations receiving state dollars -- catering to individuals who are "without documentation" will step up and demand to see proof of citizenship? Even if they aren't required to, don't they have an obligation to inform their fellow residents and taxpayers?

4 comments:

David the BohunkAugust 26, 2014 at 3:09 PM
And, the solution is....?

(I mean something real and doable. Not just bitching about it.)
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AnonymousAugust 26, 2014 at 10:04 PM
David - Why not a solid fence from Texas to California? I mean, really? Middle Eastern terrorists read our news too, and it's not all that tough to fly or sail to mexico and sneak across the border. If fences don't work, why don't they just tear down the one at 1600 Penn. Ave.?
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AnonymousAugust 27, 2014 at 9:35 AM
ost of us do not have a problem with those who come here leagally, get their papers and help support this country with their tax dollars. It is those who come in and rape us of taxpayer supported programs. They drive on roads they do not help pay for, send their children do schools they do not help pay for, tell lies about being a single parent to get benefits the do not pay for, rent property they do not take care of, and lets not even mention their driving habits, plus many other negative things they do. Maybe negativity is the taxpayers way of saying, we are fed up with them.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."