We always had what we called 'pickers'. They were seasonal and followed the harvest so they weren't in an area long. After Hurrican Ivan, we had a huge influx of Mexican workers. Many never left. They came here and worked as roofers, cleaned up the trees, limbs and other debris on the roads and in yards. Quite a few live here now. No one knows if they are legal or not. No one ask if they are legal or not. There was so much work after Ivan no one even thought to ask. People had old billboards on their roof for a year before they could get a new roof put on. I sort of like the Bon Jovi one but it was replaced with shingles. After a while the insurance checks started coming in and the FEMA money and we believe many of those workers were paid under the table.
Two years after Ivan an new house went up behind me. When the roof was going on, I heard them talking and their music playing. It wasn't English.
Every Friday, one can go to the local grocery store and at customer service, they are lined up wiring their pay to Mexico or Guatamala. They have a 6 pack of beer, cans of viennas or potted meat and a loaf of bread. They have wallets chained to their belts and they have knives out in the open.
To this day, we still do NOT know if they are legal! They have moved into an area with a high gang/drug crime rate and the LEO's are too busy busting Tyronne to see if Juan has a green card.
It does seem as if they are being used, as the Chinese Coolies were, but David's right. They do not care. Many of the debris clearers are with landscaping companies now. How they get paid I do not know. I do believe they are willing to do this. They aren't 'bound' by a paper or a law. I think these are a newer breed, for lack of a better way to put it. The old 'Migrants' did and still do have a hard life. They can be used and they cannot complain because they fear deportation. The new 'workers' don't care. They know they can recross the border and go somewhere else. It is a puzzle. They still go by the 'old'(Migrant) and 'new'(Roofer) ways. We just want em gone unless they have the proper paperwork.
That's where the difference comes in. The Migrant vs the 'Roofer'. The Migrant could be compared to slave in many ways but the roofer is on his own, such as a 'free man of color'. As for those 'Wingnuts' in LA using the Arizona law as a modern comparison to slavery and all manner of evil, consider the source. The illegal jumped the border, the slave did not come on their own free will. There are parallels in the 'old' and slaves. There aren't any with the 'new'.

Pam