The majority of farmhands in South Dakota’s booming dairy industry are foreign-born. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a confirmation request about the audit history. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Many instructions are translated to Spanish, and the farm has translators available for workers as well. “That is case in point how screwed up our system is.” Spanish is the native language for a majority of the workers at Boadwine Farms. The same people we just let go,” Bones said. At the same time, Bones couldn’t find new employees to hire as dairy workers – a near constant problem in the agriculture industry – so he contracted with another firm to temporarily fill in the gaps. Some of them had been working for years with Bones, who said he did not know their actual legal status he’d invested in them and trained them. Walt Bones, who co-owns the dairy and was the state secretary of agriculture at the time, complied with the obligation, sending the official documents employers must have on hand for employees: driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, or migrant-worker visas.Ībout 10 employees had falsified documents, the audit found, and were working illegally. The Department of Homeland Security wanted to do a routine work authorization audit of the Turner County Dairy more than a decade ago. The first story examined problems in the tourism industry. EDITOR’S NOTE: This story on dairy farmers is the second of two examining the challenges some South Dakota businesses face as they attempt to hire international workers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |