Cattleman Killed

 A lot of folks say we need immigrant workers to help in ag. In Idaho we’ve just been through a big legislative rift over the issue. I’m David Sparks with a story that may affect your thinking. The body of Rancher Rob Krentz and his dog were found shot to death on his ranch. Krentz, who always was good-natured and willing to help people, had called in to police that he had found an illegal alien at one of his watering holes and was assisting him. That was the last word from him before his body was discovered.

Rob Krentz was a lifelong rancher in Southeastern Arizona, 12 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border. He was the father of three children. The ranch has been in his family for three generations, more than 100 years, and sits on about 35,000 acres with 1,000 head of cattle. Here’s Jenna Feusner, Legislative Chair, of the American National Cattlewomen: “He has illegal immigrants on his land all the time and came across one at the watering hole and was gonna help him” Jenna says that illegal immigrants are not: “What we want in this country and that’s why they’re leaving Mexico and that Arizona border is known to be tough, nasty.”

So the question remains. People from other countries seem to be the only ones who are willing to take agricultural jobs  where the work is hard and not particularly high paying. But does the fact that we give these jobs to immigrants encourage illegal immigration. And the fact that immigrants come in illegally means that the first thing they are doing upon crossing the U.S. border is break the law. I’m not smart enough to figure this out. Are you?