Alistan documentos legales para encargar hijos y pertenencias en Estados Unidos
Univision.com
Fecha: 10/10/2011
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Los miedos causados tras la puesta en vigor de la ley migratoria HB 56 de Alabama van en aumento. Una semana después, inmigrantes indocumentados, aterrados ante la amenaza de ser arrestados y deportados, acuden a notarios para dejar a sus hijos bajo la custodia de familiares o amigos, y también sus propiedades y pertenencias.
Entre otras medidas, la severa ley migratoria, considerada la más dura en su tipo en Estados Unidos, permite a las policías locales (estatal y municipal) arrestar a inmigrantes si sus agentes tienen duda razonable que se trata de indocumentados, y a las escuelas a verificar el estado migratorio de alumnos nuevos y padres de familia.
The Associated Press escribió que el paso que están dando los indocumentados “habría parecido inconcebible hace muy poco”, y agregó que además de familiares y amigos, en algunos casos los indocumentados incluyen a compañeros de trabajo en los poderes notariales.
Un reciente informe del Consejo Nacional de La Raza (NCLR) y de The Urban Institute, reveló que en Estados Unidos viven entre 3 millones y 5 millones de niños estadounidenses hijos de inmigrantes indocumentados. En el estado de Alabama viven entre 25 mil y 50 mil extranjeros sin la debida autorización para permanecer en Estados Unidos.
Datos del Instituto Pew Hispanic señalan que la mayoría de los indocumentados son de origen Latinoamericano, principalmente de México.
Clima de incertidumbre
La semana pasada, decenas de residentes indocumentados firmaron documentos en los que autorizan a otros a cuidar de sus hijos de ser necesario, confirmaron grupos de asistencia a inmigrantes.
Una pareja que vive sin papeles en el cercano condado de Shelby logró la promesa del jefe del hombre, de enviar a sus tres hijos -todos ciudadanos estadounidenses- a México si encarcelan a la pareja, reportó The Associated Press.
Uno de los autores de la polémica ley HB 56 de Alabama, el senador estatal republicano Scott Beason, dijo que dichas preocupaciones no se plantearon cuando los legisladores consideraban la medida.
Beason se pregunta si las versiones no están destinadas a suscitar simpatía por los inmigrantes que están aquí sin un permiso de permanencia legal por parte de las autoridades federales.
No tienen a nadie
María Patiño y su esposo son originarios de México, viven en Alabama y no tienen parientes cercanos que los asista en caso de ser detenidos y deportados.
Dijo que cada vez que acude a dejar a sus hijos a la escuela “reza” para que no tenga un encuentro con la policía, la detengan, la arresten y la entreguen al servicio de inmigración, que la pondrá en proceso de deportación.
Un encuentro casual con la Policía podría terminar con sus dos hijos de escuela primaria sin padres, si ella y su marido son repatriados a México o los menores son colocados en adopción, escribió AP.
La pareja está indocumentada en Estados Unidos y no tienen amigos ni familiares como para cuidar de los hijos.
"Cada vez que salgo no sé si volveré", dijo Patiño, de 27 años, llorando. "No puedo dejar de trabajar. Mis hijas necesitan zapatos y otras cosas".
Número de ayuda
Ante tal panorama de incertidumbre o preocupaciones, defensores de los inmigrantes reiteraron la existencia de una línea telefónica gratuita: 1(800) 982- 1620, para reportar los actos de abusos a los que está dando origen la ley migratoria HB 56.
"Nosotros hemos recibido más llamadas de las que hemos podido manejar", dijo una activista del Centro Nacional para Leyes de Inmigración. "Lo importante a saber es que si deja su número de teléfono y un recado, nosotros le devolveremos la llamada".
La información que reciba el Centro durante los próximos días a través de la línea telefónica gratuita 1(800) 982-1620) será vital, ya que la jueza que dio luz verde a la Ley HB 56 de Alabama, dejó la puerta abierta para que defensores de los inmigrantes regresen a su Corte y le soliciten nuevamente que detenga esta ley, si es que llegan a demostrar que ésta está causando daño a la población del estado de Alabama.
"Esto, claro, va a acosar y a espantar a mucha gente de que no matriculen a sus hijos, que no los sigan llevando (a la escuela). Así es que esto es lo más peligroso (de la ley migratoria HB 56), en mi opinión", apuntó.
Otras preocupaciones
La HB 56 convirtió en delito criminal si un indocumentado solicita una licencia de manejar o comercial en Alabama, y permite que se anulen contratos hechos con indocumentados.
A finales de septiembre una corte de distrito decretó medidas cautelares para garantizar que no se pueda impedir a indocumentados pedir trabajo, que no se pueda criminalizar a quienes asistan a indocumentados, que los negocios pueden seguir deduciendo salarios de indocumentados de impuestos estatales, y que los trabajadores no pueden demandar a empleadores que contraten a indocumentados.
Empresarios agrícolas de Alabama temen que la HB 56 los impacte negativamente al provocar una grave escasez de campesinos que impida el levantamiento de las cosechas.
© 2011 Univision Communications Inc.
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Farmers: Immigration reform needed for ag workers
By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press
May 9, 2010
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Even during the recession, foreign workers harvested vegetables, milked cows and picked apples on many U.S. farms, doing work that farmers say Americans don't want to do.
Most Americans shy away from jobs such as hand-picking tomatoes or cutting cabbage because the work is seasonal, physically tough, out in the elements and often in remote areas, farmers say. To get the jobs done, many farmers hire foreign workers, including some who are illegal, and they say a crackdown on illegal immigration combined with changes to a visa program for temporary workers could make it even harder for them to find reliable employees.
Farmers want Congress to pass an "AgJobs" bill that would enable those who have worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days in the previous two years to get some kind of legal status. They also say the visa program for temporary workers needs to be simplified. Without those changes, some farmers say they may have to cut back production because of a shortage of reliable labor.
Jim Bittner, who relies largely on migrant workers originally from Mexico, said he cut down a quarter of his cherry and peach trees at Singer Farms in Appleton, N.Y., in recent years because of competition from cheap fruit imports and a lack of workers to hand-pick the fruit.
"We can find tractor drivers, people who apply pesticide and truck drivers, but we can't find people to do the harvest," Bittner said.
California's Imperial Valley used to be a big asparagus producer, but the area planted with asparagus dropped from 786 acres in 2006 to 373 acres in 2008 partly because farms couldn't get enough workers to cut, sort and pack the vegetable — all of which must be done by hand, said Ayron Moiola, the executive director of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association.
"Asparagus in the Imperial Valley is an indicator as to what happens with crops that are labor intensive and what happens when labor becomes unfeasible economically and also just hard to find," she said.
The recession stemmed a flow of workers from farms to construction and other jobs. In 2006, before the economy collapsed, Washington state and its apple growers tried to recruit pickers to fill 1,700 jobs. They set up orientation and training sessions in six towns in eastern Washington and advertised them in newspapers and on the radio, but only 40 people showed up, and just 10 applied for jobs and were hired.
Washington officials say they seem to have enough workers this year, but as the job market slowly recovers, no one expects farmers' hiring to get easier.
"Nobody who is informed on this issue seriously contends that somehow some great societal shift is going to cause a whole bunch of Americans to go back into these jobs," said Craig Regelbrugge, vice president for government relations with the American Nursery and Landscape Association and co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.
More than half of the crop workers hired in the U.S. between 2005 and 2007 were in the country illegally, according to the federal government's National Agricultural Worker Survey.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, thinks the problem is that farmers have become addicted to cheap, foreign labor and haven't been forced to raise wages to attract other workers or consider mechanization.
"No one has really thought about how to change the equation to try to break the cycle of what the growers say is need and what some economists say is really more want," she said.
Jake Guest employs about 20 local workers at his organic vegetable farm in Vermont, but he still relies on two Jamaican farmworkers to spend hours picking strawberries and weeding.
"The problem is that the kind of work that these guy do, people don't want to do it," he said.
But changes to the H2-A program have made it more complicated and costly to legally hire temporary workers, Guest said. The program can't be used to fill jobs that are considered year-round, such as milking on dairy farms.
In February, the U.S. Labor Department issued regulations to increase wages and job safety protections for temporary farm workers, reversing Bush-era changes that farm worker advocates said promoted cheap labor and undercut domestic hiring. The changes also require growers to do more to try to fill the jobs with American workers.
For Guest, it means he must advertise the jobs in Vermont, two neighboring states and either Florida or Texas, pay $1,000 for the Jamaicans' transportation to his Norwich farm, pay $120 in government fees for each and provide housing. The law requires Guest to pay the Jamaicans $10 an hour, and he can't pay domestic workers doing the same job less.
It's worth it to have skilled workers, he said.
"If you've got a sink drain that doesn't work, you don't hire a college student to fix it," Guest said. "You don't hire a painter. If you've got strawberries to pick, you hire a professional picker."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7ClwmqgaB_7gXAEpxwpxaMRSSwQD9FJQVH80
Associated Press
May 9, 2010
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Even during the recession, foreign workers harvested vegetables, milked cows and picked apples on many U.S. farms, doing work that farmers say Americans don't want to do.
Most Americans shy away from jobs such as hand-picking tomatoes or cutting cabbage because the work is seasonal, physically tough, out in the elements and often in remote areas, farmers say. To get the jobs done, many farmers hire foreign workers, including some who are illegal, and they say a crackdown on illegal immigration combined with changes to a visa program for temporary workers could make it even harder for them to find reliable employees.
Farmers want Congress to pass an "AgJobs" bill that would enable those who have worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days in the previous two years to get some kind of legal status. They also say the visa program for temporary workers needs to be simplified. Without those changes, some farmers say they may have to cut back production because of a shortage of reliable labor.
Jim Bittner, who relies largely on migrant workers originally from Mexico, said he cut down a quarter of his cherry and peach trees at Singer Farms in Appleton, N.Y., in recent years because of competition from cheap fruit imports and a lack of workers to hand-pick the fruit.
"We can find tractor drivers, people who apply pesticide and truck drivers, but we can't find people to do the harvest," Bittner said.
California's Imperial Valley used to be a big asparagus producer, but the area planted with asparagus dropped from 786 acres in 2006 to 373 acres in 2008 partly because farms couldn't get enough workers to cut, sort and pack the vegetable — all of which must be done by hand, said Ayron Moiola, the executive director of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association.
"Asparagus in the Imperial Valley is an indicator as to what happens with crops that are labor intensive and what happens when labor becomes unfeasible economically and also just hard to find," she said.
The recession stemmed a flow of workers from farms to construction and other jobs. In 2006, before the economy collapsed, Washington state and its apple growers tried to recruit pickers to fill 1,700 jobs. They set up orientation and training sessions in six towns in eastern Washington and advertised them in newspapers and on the radio, but only 40 people showed up, and just 10 applied for jobs and were hired.
Washington officials say they seem to have enough workers this year, but as the job market slowly recovers, no one expects farmers' hiring to get easier.
"Nobody who is informed on this issue seriously contends that somehow some great societal shift is going to cause a whole bunch of Americans to go back into these jobs," said Craig Regelbrugge, vice president for government relations with the American Nursery and Landscape Association and co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.
More than half of the crop workers hired in the U.S. between 2005 and 2007 were in the country illegally, according to the federal government's National Agricultural Worker Survey.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, thinks the problem is that farmers have become addicted to cheap, foreign labor and haven't been forced to raise wages to attract other workers or consider mechanization.
"No one has really thought about how to change the equation to try to break the cycle of what the growers say is need and what some economists say is really more want," she said.
Jake Guest employs about 20 local workers at his organic vegetable farm in Vermont, but he still relies on two Jamaican farmworkers to spend hours picking strawberries and weeding.
"The problem is that the kind of work that these guy do, people don't want to do it," he said.
But changes to the H2-A program have made it more complicated and costly to legally hire temporary workers, Guest said. The program can't be used to fill jobs that are considered year-round, such as milking on dairy farms.
In February, the U.S. Labor Department issued regulations to increase wages and job safety protections for temporary farm workers, reversing Bush-era changes that farm worker advocates said promoted cheap labor and undercut domestic hiring. The changes also require growers to do more to try to fill the jobs with American workers.
For Guest, it means he must advertise the jobs in Vermont, two neighboring states and either Florida or Texas, pay $1,000 for the Jamaicans' transportation to his Norwich farm, pay $120 in government fees for each and provide housing. The law requires Guest to pay the Jamaicans $10 an hour, and he can't pay domestic workers doing the same job less.
It's worth it to have skilled workers, he said.
"If you've got a sink drain that doesn't work, you don't hire a college student to fix it," Guest said. "You don't hire a painter. If you've got strawberries to pick, you hire a professional picker."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7ClwmqgaB_7gXAEpxwpxaMRSSwQD9FJQVH80
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Immigration reform critical to state's farms
By JAMES S. ALLEN
The Times Union
April 6, 2010
Now that health care reform is on the books, it's time for Congress to get on with immigration reform, especially as it relates to the needs of agriculture.
Specifically, the apple industry, along with most other New York commodity groups, is looking for immediate consideration from Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, and Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, of the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act.
The bill proposes to create a stable guest worker program to allow migrant laborers to continue to work in our orchards and other farms throughout their districts.
We're grateful Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have already signed on to the Senate version of the bill. Several members of New York's House delegation are supporting the measure as well.
But we need Rep. Murphy and Rep. Tonko, who collectively represent close to 3,000 acres of apple orchards. In order to bring this bill to the floor, their support with a signature is critical, especially too since Murphy sits on the House Agriculture Committee.
The legislation restructures and reforms the federal government's H-2A temporary agricultural worker program by substantially streamlining the program's administrative procedures. The program currently is awash in red tape and extremely difficult for farmers to navigate.
Over the past three years, immigration raids throughout the state have left apple growers with tremendous uncertainty over their labor supply. These raids would cease if there were a solid immigration policy coming out of Washington.
The AgJOBS legislation will ensure labor-intensive industries like agriculture have access to a legal and predictable supply of skilled labor. New York farmers do not support illegal workers, they support legal immigration.
Our preference would be to have local folks working in our orchards. And many do. In fact, apple growers are required to recruit local workers as much as possible before we can access foreign workers through the H2A program.
The problem is that there are not enough local workers available to meet the demand in the fall. It takes more than 8,000 workers to harvest more than 3.4 billion apples in New York.
Even in this down economy, most domestic workers are not interested in physical labor and don't have the necessary skills to do the work anyway.
So we are wholly reliant on a work force of foreign laborers to get the apples off the trees each fall.
Meanwhile, consumers have a major stake in this issue. Without immigration reform, many of our farms will go out of business. That will lead to higher food costs, lesser quality and lower regulatory standards. New York farms are the backbone to the local economy across the state.
We urge the public and our members of Congress to support us in this fight. This is a fight to not only protect local food production but also to help preserve the overall agricultural heritage and economy of upstate New York.
James S. Allen is president of the New York Apple Association, Inc. His e-mail address is jimallen@nyapplecountry.com.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=918764&category=OPINION
The Times Union
April 6, 2010
Now that health care reform is on the books, it's time for Congress to get on with immigration reform, especially as it relates to the needs of agriculture.
Specifically, the apple industry, along with most other New York commodity groups, is looking for immediate consideration from Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, and Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, of the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act.
The bill proposes to create a stable guest worker program to allow migrant laborers to continue to work in our orchards and other farms throughout their districts.
We're grateful Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have already signed on to the Senate version of the bill. Several members of New York's House delegation are supporting the measure as well.
But we need Rep. Murphy and Rep. Tonko, who collectively represent close to 3,000 acres of apple orchards. In order to bring this bill to the floor, their support with a signature is critical, especially too since Murphy sits on the House Agriculture Committee.
The legislation restructures and reforms the federal government's H-2A temporary agricultural worker program by substantially streamlining the program's administrative procedures. The program currently is awash in red tape and extremely difficult for farmers to navigate.
Over the past three years, immigration raids throughout the state have left apple growers with tremendous uncertainty over their labor supply. These raids would cease if there were a solid immigration policy coming out of Washington.
The AgJOBS legislation will ensure labor-intensive industries like agriculture have access to a legal and predictable supply of skilled labor. New York farmers do not support illegal workers, they support legal immigration.
Our preference would be to have local folks working in our orchards. And many do. In fact, apple growers are required to recruit local workers as much as possible before we can access foreign workers through the H2A program.
The problem is that there are not enough local workers available to meet the demand in the fall. It takes more than 8,000 workers to harvest more than 3.4 billion apples in New York.
Even in this down economy, most domestic workers are not interested in physical labor and don't have the necessary skills to do the work anyway.
So we are wholly reliant on a work force of foreign laborers to get the apples off the trees each fall.
Meanwhile, consumers have a major stake in this issue. Without immigration reform, many of our farms will go out of business. That will lead to higher food costs, lesser quality and lower regulatory standards. New York farms are the backbone to the local economy across the state.
We urge the public and our members of Congress to support us in this fight. This is a fight to not only protect local food production but also to help preserve the overall agricultural heritage and economy of upstate New York.
James S. Allen is president of the New York Apple Association, Inc. His e-mail address is jimallen@nyapplecountry.com.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=918764&category=OPINION
Monday, October 19, 2009
Farmers, critics divided over proposed migrant workers bill
JENNIFER YOUSSEF
The Detroit News
October 17, 2009
Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that proponents say would help to stabilize the migrant work force on which Michigan agriculture depends.
The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2009 grants undocumented, foreign migrant farm hands temporary resident status, giving farmers peace of mind knowing their employees won't be subject to raids and deportation, proponents say. Supporters also argue that with legal status, migrant workers would no longer have to suffer unfair treatment for fear of being deported.
But critics say granting undocumented migrant workers legal status won't solve the problem of work force instability because if farm hands choose to pursue more lucrative work, growers will be left in the lurch. They also argue the bill grants illegal immigrants amnesty.
"For farmers, this is a burning issue, especially at harvest time," said Vera Bitsch, who specializes in human resources in agriculture at Michigan State University.
Farmers say they live in fear of raids and worker deportations, which can create labor shortages and result in crops going unharvested. In Michigan, where agribusiness generated $71.3 billion in 2008, that instability can be costly.
If it passes, the bill will legalize about 1.5 million undocumented agricultural laborers over five years. The bill also proposes making the federal H-2A program that gets foreign workers into the country legally less burdensome. It would allow illegal workers to apply for a blue card (temporary residency) and eventually get a green card (permanent residency).
Immigration reform is a priority for the Obama administration, but with so many other issues on the table, it's unclear when lawmakers will get to it. And, if a comprehensive reform of immigration is not reached, it's unknown if Congress will vote on the piecemeal bill, experts say.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees had scheduled a hearing on the bill, supported by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, for Sept. 22, but it was delayed.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, while acknowledging migrant workers' contributions to agriculture, said he's "very nervous" about giving workers who got here illegally permanent residency.
"I just think it's fundamentally wrong," said Hoekstra, who is running for governor.
More than 200 groups and agencies support the bill, touting it as the best compromise between workers and employers to reach Congress in several years.
Impact on agribusiness
The loss of migrant workers would have a significant impact on Michigan's agribusiness industry, a 2006 report by Michigan State University found. If there were no migrant workers, the state would stand to lose about $272 million in the first year and up to $362 million over time in unharvested crops, decreased production and other problems that arise from a smaller work force, the study said.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture likes the bill because it will "provide stability" to the agricultural work force, Director Don Koivisto said. Michigan has about 45,000 migrant workers annually to fill about 87,000 agricultural jobs.
A majority of the migrants -- up to 80 percent -- are from Mexico, said Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform. The rest are from Central America and other countries, he said.
The jobs migrant workers do are vital to fruit and vegetable growers, said Denise Donohue, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee, which likes the bill. They're needed to handpick 1 billion apples off trees in Michigan orchards; at least 90 percent of the 950 apple-growers in the state use migrant labor, she said.
Regelbrugge, also vice president of government relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, praised the bill.
"If we screw this thing up, it will be a tremendous blow to Michigan's economy," he said. "If Michigan (farms) have a stable labor supply, it will create economic activity."
Critics say bill problematic
But, opponents say the bill will create more problems for farmers by allowing workers to move on to better-paying jobs once they become authorized.
"It's an amnesty," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "Granting green cards to workers won't help because once they get legal status, they won't stick around to do farm jobs."
"(The bill) allows the agriculture industry to continue the practice of hiring people at exploitive wages," Mehlman said.
All farm hands get paid an average of $10 an hour and the current law requires foreign workers to be paid more than U.S. citizens to ensure American workers get first dibs on jobs.
The bills are a farce, said Rick Oltman, national media director for Californians for Population Stabilization, a Santa Barbara-based agency whose purpose is to get the government to enforce immigration laws. He called them a "window dressing" on behalf of politicians who want to appear as though they want reform, but, he pointed out, the bills have never passed both houses, even after several attempts.
"I view this as nothing more than Congress pandering to agribusiness," Oltman said. "The authors (of the bills) do it so they can say they supported this."
Growers depend on migrants
Michigan growers say they depend heavily on migrant workers. Without his migrant work force, Fred Leitz of Leitz Farms LLC near Benton Harbor says he probably wouldn't be in business. His staff of 225 includes 200 migrants.
All his employees have documents and, although he knows some may not be here legally, he said he will hire them if they are willing to do the job. Employers are required to review workers' documents, but discrimination law prohibits them from questioning the documents' authenticity.
When Leitz advertises job openings to U.S. workers, they only want to drive tractors; no one wants to work in the fields, he said.
"If (migrant workers) aren't here, there are no replacements," he said. "I have no domestic workers willing to come in and pick this stuff. I would be bankrupt."
Two years ago, even though thousands of Michigan residents were out of work, 15 percent of the state's asparagus crop, or about $2 million worth, had to be destroyed because growers couldn't find enough workers to pick it, said John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. The asparagus board is not taking a stand on the bill because it is a quasi-governmental entity, Bakker said.
"It doesn't matter what the unemployment rate is, harvesting asparagus is not the type of work Michiganders are looking for," he said. "We need migrant workers."
Legalizing the migrant work force would solve a lot of problems, said Virginia Ruiz, senior attorney for Farmworker Justice, a national advocacy organization. Because 50 percent to 75 percent of the workers are unauthorized, many are reluctant to speak up when they run into issues like unfair wages and poor working conditions, she said.
"We feel (the bill) is a reasonable compromise to resolve the problems with agricultural labor," Ruiz said.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091017/BIZ/910170361/1001
The Detroit News
October 17, 2009
Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that proponents say would help to stabilize the migrant work force on which Michigan agriculture depends.
The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2009 grants undocumented, foreign migrant farm hands temporary resident status, giving farmers peace of mind knowing their employees won't be subject to raids and deportation, proponents say. Supporters also argue that with legal status, migrant workers would no longer have to suffer unfair treatment for fear of being deported.
But critics say granting undocumented migrant workers legal status won't solve the problem of work force instability because if farm hands choose to pursue more lucrative work, growers will be left in the lurch. They also argue the bill grants illegal immigrants amnesty.
"For farmers, this is a burning issue, especially at harvest time," said Vera Bitsch, who specializes in human resources in agriculture at Michigan State University.
Farmers say they live in fear of raids and worker deportations, which can create labor shortages and result in crops going unharvested. In Michigan, where agribusiness generated $71.3 billion in 2008, that instability can be costly.
If it passes, the bill will legalize about 1.5 million undocumented agricultural laborers over five years. The bill also proposes making the federal H-2A program that gets foreign workers into the country legally less burdensome. It would allow illegal workers to apply for a blue card (temporary residency) and eventually get a green card (permanent residency).
Immigration reform is a priority for the Obama administration, but with so many other issues on the table, it's unclear when lawmakers will get to it. And, if a comprehensive reform of immigration is not reached, it's unknown if Congress will vote on the piecemeal bill, experts say.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees had scheduled a hearing on the bill, supported by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, for Sept. 22, but it was delayed.
U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, while acknowledging migrant workers' contributions to agriculture, said he's "very nervous" about giving workers who got here illegally permanent residency.
"I just think it's fundamentally wrong," said Hoekstra, who is running for governor.
More than 200 groups and agencies support the bill, touting it as the best compromise between workers and employers to reach Congress in several years.
Impact on agribusiness
The loss of migrant workers would have a significant impact on Michigan's agribusiness industry, a 2006 report by Michigan State University found. If there were no migrant workers, the state would stand to lose about $272 million in the first year and up to $362 million over time in unharvested crops, decreased production and other problems that arise from a smaller work force, the study said.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture likes the bill because it will "provide stability" to the agricultural work force, Director Don Koivisto said. Michigan has about 45,000 migrant workers annually to fill about 87,000 agricultural jobs.
A majority of the migrants -- up to 80 percent -- are from Mexico, said Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform. The rest are from Central America and other countries, he said.
The jobs migrant workers do are vital to fruit and vegetable growers, said Denise Donohue, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee, which likes the bill. They're needed to handpick 1 billion apples off trees in Michigan orchards; at least 90 percent of the 950 apple-growers in the state use migrant labor, she said.
Regelbrugge, also vice president of government relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, praised the bill.
"If we screw this thing up, it will be a tremendous blow to Michigan's economy," he said. "If Michigan (farms) have a stable labor supply, it will create economic activity."
Critics say bill problematic
But, opponents say the bill will create more problems for farmers by allowing workers to move on to better-paying jobs once they become authorized.
"It's an amnesty," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "Granting green cards to workers won't help because once they get legal status, they won't stick around to do farm jobs."
"(The bill) allows the agriculture industry to continue the practice of hiring people at exploitive wages," Mehlman said.
All farm hands get paid an average of $10 an hour and the current law requires foreign workers to be paid more than U.S. citizens to ensure American workers get first dibs on jobs.
The bills are a farce, said Rick Oltman, national media director for Californians for Population Stabilization, a Santa Barbara-based agency whose purpose is to get the government to enforce immigration laws. He called them a "window dressing" on behalf of politicians who want to appear as though they want reform, but, he pointed out, the bills have never passed both houses, even after several attempts.
"I view this as nothing more than Congress pandering to agribusiness," Oltman said. "The authors (of the bills) do it so they can say they supported this."
Growers depend on migrants
Michigan growers say they depend heavily on migrant workers. Without his migrant work force, Fred Leitz of Leitz Farms LLC near Benton Harbor says he probably wouldn't be in business. His staff of 225 includes 200 migrants.
All his employees have documents and, although he knows some may not be here legally, he said he will hire them if they are willing to do the job. Employers are required to review workers' documents, but discrimination law prohibits them from questioning the documents' authenticity.
When Leitz advertises job openings to U.S. workers, they only want to drive tractors; no one wants to work in the fields, he said.
"If (migrant workers) aren't here, there are no replacements," he said. "I have no domestic workers willing to come in and pick this stuff. I would be bankrupt."
Two years ago, even though thousands of Michigan residents were out of work, 15 percent of the state's asparagus crop, or about $2 million worth, had to be destroyed because growers couldn't find enough workers to pick it, said John Bakker, executive director of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board. The asparagus board is not taking a stand on the bill because it is a quasi-governmental entity, Bakker said.
"It doesn't matter what the unemployment rate is, harvesting asparagus is not the type of work Michiganders are looking for," he said. "We need migrant workers."
Legalizing the migrant work force would solve a lot of problems, said Virginia Ruiz, senior attorney for Farmworker Justice, a national advocacy organization. Because 50 percent to 75 percent of the workers are unauthorized, many are reluctant to speak up when they run into issues like unfair wages and poor working conditions, she said.
"We feel (the bill) is a reasonable compromise to resolve the problems with agricultural labor," Ruiz said.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091017/BIZ/910170361/1001
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