GRAND RAPIDS (Michigan) PRESS

July 25, 2010

Downpour washes out migrant farmer's Take Our Jobs challenge

Kaitlin Shawgo/Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS — State House candidate Frederik Fleischman, R-Caledonia, arrived with his wife and son at a convenience store early Saturday, ready head out to the blueberry fields.

But a downpour prevented Fleischman and a handful of others from taking part in the Take Our Jobs challenge, in which organizers invited local and state politicians to do migrant workers’ jobs for a day.

The group had planned to meet at the La Familia Stop-N-Shop, 1066 Grandville Ave. SW, and head to a local farm to pick berries.

“When it rains like this, they don’t want to let you in the fields to pick,” said Jose Flores, who organized the challenge in Grand Rapids.

Rep. Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids, a candidate for state Senate, was supposed to attend but did not because of the rain, Flores said. Other representatives told him they supported the challenge but had other commitments.

As the rain came down, the group moved inside La Familia to talk about migrant workers’ wages and treatment, as well as potential legislation that would make it illegal for immigrants to not carry documentation and allow police to detain people they believe are in the country illegally.

Flores expressed frustration with the bill, which mirrors one recently passed in Arizona. He fears such a law would cause all Hispanics to be treated as immigrants — even if they were born in the U.S.

“I don’t know if I look like a migrant today,” Flores said, looking down at his white Nike polo shirt and jeans.

“But I look like a Mexican every day.”

Fleischman said he came out to learn about the issue and remembered picking cherries and onions while working on a farm in high school.

“Anyone who does hard work, I’m willing to sympathize with their labor,” he said.