How The Haitian Immigrant Lies Landed In Roll Tide Country

Will the fever ever break?

When lies roll from the MAGA Trump corter of the Nation. Those same Tide of lies Roll even faster to the state of Alabama. What is the hullabaloo here in the ruby red south? Well recently at a town hall meeting in a small rural Alabama town, the lovely citizens were angry about the Haitian Immigrants working at the poultry plants. Forget about the facts. Forget about what the local representatives, mayors, county commission or even the your Mom is telling you. Let’s just go with what we see from a loud lying bully pulpit of DJT, social media, and the radically right leaning broadcast networks. They are saying that the Haitians are illegal and are taking all the resources from this clean cut all American Town. Yep! The “Red Hat” propaganda has come to town. What the good people of Albertville and Marshall County fail to realize is that due to a shortage of labor in the poultry plants of their little towns, they had to find workers. So, like any good Capitalistic company, Pilgram Pride outsourced. How did they out-source you ask? They hired migrant workers. What migrant workers were hired? We ran all the illegal mexicans off. Why, Haitian Immigrants of course. Legal Haitian Immigrants!

Facts:

In June of 2024, the Biden Administration announced temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants, which was expected to keep about 309,000 Haitians living in the U.S. from deportation, according to the Department of Homeland Security. According to the United States Census Bureau Alabama has 2,569 Haitian residents. 

It should be noted that the Pilgrim Pride Poultry plant is all over rural Alabama. Pilgrim Pride is located in Albertville, Boaz, Cullman, Falkville, and Lake Guntersville. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is an American, multi-national food company (Is it through-I thought it was owned by two Brazilian billionaire brothers!), and is currently one of the largest chicken producers in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico. Pilgrim's Pride is a multi-national corporation and employs about 38,000 people with sales of $8.1 billion in 2012, and has operations in 12 states, Puerto Rico, and the Country of Mexico.

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Pilgrim's Pride is a supplier of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Walmart, Publix, and Wendy's. By 2012, Pilgrim's was the exclusive rotisserie chicken supplier for Costco.

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On September 17, 2009, JBS USA Holdings, Inc. announced the purchase of 64% of the shares of Pilgrim's Pride. JBS USA. is a subsidiary of Brazilian multinational JBS S.A., the largest meat processor in the world, and the largest by revenue. Currently JBS USA Holdings, Inc. owns 78.5% of the company.

Here is a little historical fact about Cullman, Alabama. From the 1890s to the 1950s, Cullman is what the Good Old Boys use to call “sundown town”. It prohibited Black people from residing within its limits and was also known for a visible Ku Klux Klan presence during the civil rights movement.

The Controversy in Albertville, Alabama

 Albertville is a Marshall County, Alabama city of almost 23,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, lists four poultry processing businesses on its city website as its largest employers, with almost 4,000 workers total among them. 

Officials in north Alabama had to respond to the fallout from social media posts claiming migrants are being secretly bused into cities in the area. The posts and comments mostly on Facebook, touched off a series of public statements from officials attempting to answer questions and allay fears. The Officials called a townhall. 

Attendees expressed contempt for the federal government in facilitating the nation's perceived immigration crisis. However, there was a noted lack of vitriol directed towards the immigrants themselves, although everyone attending made it clear they did not want Haitian migrants in their town.

"I hear you keep saying that the federal government has sovereignty over this state; I don't buy that," one attendee said. The federal government right now has committed treason against we the people. We in the state of Alabama cannot allow the federal government to control us like this. If it keeps happening, we're not going to have a country."

Robbins suggested a series of state interventions that could both disincentivize further immigration and make the area "unhospitable" for immigrants seeking lodging and occupation. He also proposed state taxes on sponsors and penalties if an immigrant engages in criminal activity.

"We have code enforcement; we need to use those," Robbins continued. "If you have too many people in one house, you can enforce the code. If you make it unhospitable to live there, they will not live there. But we are not currently using all of the tools at our disposal and there are plans on how we do, in a coordinated effort, enforce human trafficking laws, enforce code, enforce the laws that we already have."

The Albertville city leaders said in a statement that they had been in contact with Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, Congressman Robert Aderholt, and various state and local officials.

The statement said it had been a “challenging week.”

“It is deeply unfortunate that as our students returned to school this week, they did so amidst a climate of controversy, baseless accusations, and hurtful rhetoric toward the families of some of their classmates. It is your right to ask questions of your elected officials and hold them accountable and Albertville city leaders will always work to be as transparent and diligent as possible in addressing your concerns,” the statement reads.

“We will not support or condone any narrative or discourse that seeks to marginalize individuals in our community based on their race or ethnicity.”

Migrants must have a financial sponsor in the U.S. who can fly them into an airport at their own expense.

The program was briefly suspended for suspected fraud, but the Biden Administration reinstated it last month, announcing a series of changes to improve vetting.

 Jeff Lamour, is a businessman and a Haitian immigrant who has lived in Albertville for several years, say Haitians who have come to north Alabama are being exploited for labor and forced to live in inhumane conditions. Lamour said some migrants are being trafficked for labor - charged exorbitant fees to come to the U.S., and after finding a job, most of their pay going toward reimbursement.

“People are getting rich off of this thing, and the Haitian people aren’t seeing any of the money,” he said. “You’ve got guys who contract with those companies who can hire somebody for barely anything.”

Jeffrey Lamour - Haitian Businessman and Resident of Albertville, AL

“You go to a house with no plumbing, no air conditioning, that’s run down, and then you take a Haitian newcomer, and you put them inside that house, and you charge them $2,000 a month, and if they report you, you tell them you’re going to kick them out. We’re dealing with situations like that.”

”At the end of the day, most of the people are fleeing Haiti due to gangs,” Lamour said. “But it seems like everybody is wanting to use these people for their own benefit.” He also feels U.S. policy which allows up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti and three other countries to immigrate for work is being abused.

Finally – While I know I am preaching to the Choir – I Do Know This!

Immigrants are the cornerstone of what makes America work. America was not found as it was never lost; it was here and has been for thousands of years. The only Americans Native to America are the First Americans, the indigenous men and women and their ancestors. One is considered Indigenous to a certain place when their ancestors existed and thrived in that place since time immemorial  for longer than anyone can remember, or before people started keeping written historical records.

The lies that divide us. Are the ones made to keep us divided. The petty, vindictive and cruel remarks and the assine behavior of a 78 yro man who obviously has some cognative behavioral issues is one sad state of affairs. The only good factor he has going for him is that he breathes. He lacks morals, values, character or consciousness. The manic crowd that follows along behave like they drugged up on an acid trip. They clap and laugh at the most heartwrenching statements brining their children with them so the indoctration can continue.

How easy it is to make one the other through the isms that keep us so schizo. Will the fever ever break? Only time will tell.

CellyBlue – I Do Know This!