Salma Hayek’s new movie, How to be a Latin Lover, looks really dumb. But that’s what she’s promoting these days, so we’re getting a fresh promotional tour from Salma. Instead of just talking endlessly about how she doesn’t believe in Botox, Salma has decided to use her position as Mexican-American woman to talk sh-t about Donald Trump. I’m here for it, honestly. During the campaign, Salma openly despised Trump to the point where she didn’t even want to say his name. Nowadays, she’s focused on Trump’s wishy-washy desire to build a bigly, beautiful border wall. She gave an exclusive interview to People Magazine about just that:
The border wall: “It’s a dumb solution and proposition. Whether it gets built, whether it doesn’t get built, nobody has given you a real budget on it — we do know it’s billions and billions of dollars. We’re talking about who’s going to pay for it and the wall is not the solution. How is this wall that is immense going to go through the many rivers? Are you going to build dams? Are you going to go up and down the mountains?”
The real issue is immigration reform. “Sometimes we talk about the wrong part of the issues. And that can be a trick, talking about the wrong part of the issue and not dealing with it, or talking about the wrong issues, which distract from other issues — we have to be careful not to fall in that trap. We have to talk about smart reforms because it’s very necessary. There are smarter ways we can come up with to control immigration, and do immigration reform that is much more beneficial for America. For example, there’s a lot of work for farmers in this country and there are not enough farmers for all the work there is. A lot of the people that do not want to be involved in the drug industry of Mexico are very skilled farmers; they do not want to participate in that so some of them are here. The people that come, they don’t necessarily want to stay — they would be happy to come and work at the time of the harvest and go back to their country. America can benefit from these expert workers and they can pay taxes that can benefit America.”
I mean, obviously I agree with what she’s saying, although I’m sort of confused by the idea of migrant workers who will happily leave the US when the harvest season is over. Perhaps I don’t fully understand the economics and reality of seasonal migrant work, but Salma seems to be oversimplifying? I wish she would also talk about the utter inhumanity and stupidity of the Attorney General’s war with sanctuary cities. Or she could talk about Ted Cruz’s El Chapo Act, wherein the US would use drug cartel money to build the border wall. Salma should give more political interviews, basically.
Also, have you seen the trailer for Beatriz at Dinner? I think this looks so good.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
In Los Angeles she has been incredibly active with grassroots political action regarding immigrant rights, so I am okay if she doesn’t talk about the specific issues you want. She does the work on the ground, where it really needed. I say this because I have actually seen her at local community action meetings in local communities that typically only involve community organizers and invested members of those communities. We don’t have to agree on everything she says, but she is engaged and makes it habit to be informed.
Agree
…some people cant understand bc they don’t witness with their eyes.
Wow, I didn’t know that about her. She probably gives more money than we realize, too.
@lucytunes
thank you for mentioning this!
Beatriz looks really good; *great* cast! I’ll pass on the Latin Lover film though.
I like what’s she’s saying here, but her shutting down Jessica Williams left a really bad taste in my mouth.
That and other feminist issues I have with her.
Same. I just can’t seem to shake that.
Yeah, she’s cancelled for me after that.
Co-sign.
Although this idea about seasonal immigration is not new, it is very doable: just ask Germans who picks their asparagus and apples (hiint:migrant, seasonal workers. My friend paid his doctorate that way), to name a few.
Seasonal migrant labor is how many crops are picked in the US too, but most people aren’t aware of it.
Yes that really was so awful.
When its not ME ME ME Salma Hayek can be interesting
I try to give her a pass because I say a lot of dumb sh*t sometimes too… and these people are interviewed a lot… so just a matter of probabilities
Her comments about politics seem to be constructive pragmatic and measured… but then she says something about her priviledged marriage or wathever such difficult time she had just one day in her life and its a NO
This happens in Canada and has for decades. Seasonal workers come to certain areas and are provided housing and income for the harvest season and most go home in the winter. The government subsidizes the farmers who do this to ensure they are paid decently and provided proper housing.
And before you say that Canada is cold and that is why they go home, the areas they go to for farming are in southern Ontario and no cooler than the northern parts of California and southern Michigan.
I live in Southern Michigan and there have always been migrant workers. A few years back when they tried to crack down on migrant labor, the farms had produce rotting in the fields because they couldn’t get American workers to sign up for the jobs. The migrant workers in our community have traditionally been well paid, their children integrated into the schools, etc. They can make a great deal of money during the season (although lets not fool ourselves, the work itself is backbreaking labor). I know many people who only work during the growing season here and live in semi-retirement in Mexico. And others who work here, sending everything they make back home. It’s a vital part of an agricultural economy.
I know, it has been working very well through the years in Canada. The employers are very satisfied with the workers and the results and the workers arrive and leave by a very well organized program that even grant them access to airfare. After the season, they happily go back to their homes to invest their well earned money.
I liked Beatrice’s dinner trailer. I would have thrown my wine on the face of the Trump follower at the first racist comment.
Stupid question–where do migrant farmers come from for Canada?
In BC, the migrant workers come from Mexico, approximately 3000 of them, and a lot of the workers in the Okanagan valley are from Quebec, too .
Yes, very few people know this though. Ontario alone brings in 50,000 seasonal migrants yearly, they have to be paid at least minimum wage and all of their food and shelter must be provided by the farmers, they also get health and WSIB coverage. Minimum wage may seem low, but they have no expenses and it’s sometimes 10x more money then they would make in a full year back in their home countries. I like this idea a lot, we get the skilled labour we need but at the end of the day there are no broken families for months at a time, these workers can go back to their spouses and children and they have a good income to provide them with.
I was ready to roll my eyes at her BUT she actually used her common sense and said something smart and sensible.
I am from Mexico, and the comings and goings of seasonal migrant workers have been happening for many decades. There used to be strong legal programs for them. The economic situation worsened during some economic crisis we had, but I think the turning point was the war on drugs, which has made a lot of places become ghost towns. People who have been harassed by drug industry and the delinquency that comes along ( kidnappings, extortion, people trafficking) have scared people to the cities and many have chosen to go north, particularly if they feel threatened.
I think that still with that, economically we are not in a terrible shape, but drug dealing makes more money, and that is what is being used to lure young people to turn to cartels.
Before all this, and before the educational “reforms”, summer vacations were longer, and this allowed many people to go and work in farms in Mexico and the US picking fruit, and then come back for school in september. I reccomend you to look up astronaut Jose Hernandez’s biography for a look at the life of an exemplary migrant farming family.
Hey, I’m Mexican too, and yes you are right, there used to be legal season programs that were beneficial to both sides, and tbh the US has always taken advantage of Mexican workers.
I have to say I really resent how after the US pushed Mexico into the war on drugs and armed some cartels with the Fast&Furious Operation, they became completely super strict about the border.
So many people in Mexico and the US pushing for legalising drugs. In general, easy access to drugs have meant higher levels of robberies because drugs are not free, and many drug addicts cannot hold a job for long, or many are not skilled either.
Maybe legalising marijuana would work in the US if all the people would buy it from legal producers or grow it themselves, but here in Mexico the same dealer who gets you weed, will sell you meth or worse to get people hooked. It’s a never ending slippery slope where teens are seeing drugs as the new normal, thanks also to social media, music videos, etc.
She is right.
Sorry to break your bubble but it is a myth that most immigrants want to go to the US because of the US itself.
Most Mexicans immigrants just want to have work to support their families or they are escaping from violence. They always talk about returning to Mexico and for some years now there are more migrants leaving the US than getting in.
Also, seasonal work has been a thing since 19th century, and would actually be beneficial for both parts if planned properly.
You’re right. I read somewhere that Canadians and Mexicans immigrants to the US have the lowest rates of naturalization, they difer and difer becoming US citizens, being part of a region maybe they wish to go back to their homeland at the end of their lives?
I listened to a great podcast Vox’s The Weeds on this topic not to long ago. Apparently prior to the 50s and 60s Mexicans could work in the US seasonally fairly easily and cross the border for work while remaining residents of Mexico . Then through policy changes the choice became staying in the US illegally or losing the seasonal income so many chose to stay as undocumented laborers.
My grandmother was a seasonal migrant worker in the 60’s and 70’s. She would work for the season and go back to Mexico. A lot of Mexican immigrants want to go back home, it’s a myth that they all want to stay.
True, I am Mexican, living in a border state, and just before the 90’s seasonal work was a very common thing. People in fact went and came back because for them it was all about the money and returning to their families. There was even programs to offer a residence to workers that have been doing this for years and have children in the US educational system. Now they are all legal citizens. So yeah, plenty of the issues for Mexican people came after the fall of the Colombian cartels and the development of drugs in our country. But mostly after the cartels can provide themselves with guns that come from the US and the never ending war against them. To me, that’s Mexico’s major negotiation point. Stop the war and let the US deal with their drug consumption troubles.
I live in Wisconsin and the dairy industry uses a LOT of migrant workers like this. To the point where they rely on them. I’m with Salma – shouldn’t we be giving these people paths to citizenship? Guess what, they already make your milk and cheese.
If they really want to go home, why would you give them citizenship? There are several rocket scientists and people that literally built Silicon VAlley, that waited 10-15 years, if not more to become a citizen. What makes the migrant workers more special than others???
the thing is they don’t have a path at all right now.
I get entirely what she is saying but she doesn’t articulate it very well and the main idea was over shadowed by too many words, state it plain and simple . Basically what she is saying is Mexican farmers need the seasonal work so they can stay Mexican farmers and small holders and not have to turn to the drug trade to make a living, which is a much bigger problem for the US than migrant workers.