As has now become my tradition for Thanksgiving Day ever since Donald Trump made it acceptable to demonize Mexicans and Mexican immigrants, I want to remind all of you reading this today that you must include a big thank you to all the immigrants, especially the Mexican ones that made today’s meal possible. Although hate politics makes it fashionable to argue that immigrants are bad for the country, the reality is that immigrants make America great each day.
Many of today’s readers are eating turkey today. It’s the traditional dish for Thanksgiving. According to the National Turkey Federation, an advocacy group for the U.S turkey industry, about 16% of meat consumed in the country is turkey. Turkey consumption has grown from less then 10% in the 1970’s to 16% today. Now this is where things get dicey for the immigrant hatemongers.
The turkey industry exports about 16% of its total production to other countries. Guess where most of the export turkey goes to? That would be México. Almost 70% of U.S. turkey exports went to México in 2016. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to readers that the National Turkey Federation is asking its membership to “take action now and tell Congress to protect NAFTA and re-establish exports of U.S. turkey to China.”
But it gets worse for the immigrant bashers chowing down on turkeys today. The low-price they paid for their turkey dinner today is the direct result of the immigrants, many of which are Mexican, that are willing to do the back-breaking labor necessary to ensure your turkey ends up on your dinner table. Unfortunately, many of the Trump supporters truly believe that the plump and juicy Butterball turkey from Costco’s is only 99 cents per pound because U.S workers lined up to prep the turkeys at the local turkey farm for pennies per turkey.
As if this isn’t enough to give Trump turkey eaters heartburn today, they must also raise a glass of thanks for the fruits and vegetables gracing their Thanksgiving tables today because they were made possible to them thanks to the immigrants toiling the fields, many of which are Mexican.
I better stop because if I continue I might cause some poor Trump sap to choke on a turkey bone with my post today.
As for me, I’ll gobble up some turkey and be thankful for the people willing to do the hard work to bring the turkey and vegetables to my table today – the immigrants!
