I talked with farmers recently in Florida who indicated the e-verify program will hurt them. It's the same story I hear in Kansas, Alabama and North Carolina.

They claim that if they are required to use e-verify, without a sustainable guest worker program in place, that agriculture will collapse.

The problem, they say, is that Americans are unwilling to do the job in many cases. And that they need illegals to get the crop in. This is particularly true in places like Florida and Hillsborough County, for example, which has a $1 billion agriculture industry. Farmers there even admit many of the people working in strawberry and tomato fields are probably illegal. Like they don't don't know?

This is also one reason why the Farm Bureau is fighting against laws that would restrict illegal immigration and mandate e-verify laws.

It's time that farmers and people in agriculture take a stand for America and do the right thing.

Small businesses in Kansas also love illegals. They hire them at part-time poverty wages and then pass on the health care and social welfare costs to the state.

Our nation must address the illegal immigration issue -- which means we need to address the issue, as well. It should be mandatory that all businesses in Kansas use e-verify.

It only costs a little time on a computer to check a person's Social Security number against the database.

Why small business and farm organization in Kansas and Florida persist in bucking the system on e-verify is beyond me.

We also need to stop blaming the feds and assume some personal responsibility. We should look at what we can do as individuals to help people out in the local community.

With respect to jobs, many farm operations can hire someone in their community right now to help them. We all know someone who is out of work.

I know a half dozen or more young people in Rush County who desperately need work. Yet farmers won't hire anyone. They have many reasons why they won't do it. None of it makes much sense to me. Not when they moan and complain about all the work they need done all the time. If that is the case, hire someone who needs a job.

It begins where you're at.

In Rush County some businesses recently advertised for job applicants, then for whatever reason wound up not hiring anybody. Look, if you got a job that needs filled, for Pete's sake, give someone a chance to work. It's something that will benefit you and the local community.

Moreover, make sure that person is legal and is here in our country legally.

The real jobs program for America is local. Why look to the federal government to decide this?

The tendency now is for business to scale back employment, cut benefits and make the people they have employed work harder. What we need to do is hire people and put them back to work. It's good for them, the community and the entire nation.

Robert Tilford

La Crosse