Tyson Foods has come under criticism for offering employment to legal asylum seekers for open positions. The company is a participant in the Tent Partnership for Refugees that has as its goal, placing in employment 181,000 migrants sent to New York City. Tyson has pledged to hire 2,500 refugees over a three-year period.
The Tyson workforce of 120,000 currently includes 35 percent non-native born legal workers. Tyson Foods along with other packers and integrators encounters a 40 percent turnover of line workers each year necessitating recruitment and hiring of about 50,000 people to fill vacancies.
Garrett Dolan, Associate Director of Human Resources, for Tyson Foods pointed to the need to employ migrant labor despite the search for qualified domestic candidates.
The company offers a $1,000 initial relocation bonus, six days of temporary housing and a $4,000 payment after permanent housing is obtained, Spanish-speaking community liaison, assistance with enrolling children at school and other needs are provided. Tyson Foods has committed $1.5 million for legal and citizenship service to immigrant workers.
Criticism of Tyson Foods and other companies participating in the Tent Partnership for Refugees is based on xenophobia. The U.S. needs immigrants to fill available positions. More important will be the second generation who will benefit from U.S. acculturation, schooling and universities to become productive members of society. Our nation is aging and requires a large and active young workforce to sustain social security programs.
It must be remembered that irrespective of our heritage, we all have immigrant antecedents, even those who walked across the land bridge over the Bering Strait millennia ago.