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Farmers fear impact of illegal immigrant crackdown
By: JULIANA BARBASSA - Associated Press | ∞
SAN FRANCISCO -- Fruit rotting in fields, unmilked cows suffering in barns, shuttered farmhouses -- growers are painting a bleak picture of their industry under new federal regulations that pressure employers to fire illegal immigrants.
Although other industries hire workers without proper authorization, growers acknowledge they make up a majority of farm hands in any field. Following the Bush administration announcement that employers who knowingly keep undocumented workers will be held liable, many growers said their businesses would be hard hit.
Particularly vulnerable would be fruit operations that are now hiring thousands of seasonal workers in preparation for the peak harvest months of July through September, they said. The measure is to take effect in mid-September.
Andy Casado Jr. is a California farm labor contractor with nearly 800 workers who also grows and packs fruit himself.
"I'm guessing 80, 90 percent of the ag work force is illegal," he said. "Implementing this rule will be catastrophic."
The pronouncement doesn't change the law, it just adds a promise of enforcement that alters the odds of the gamble farmers take whenever they hire a new worker, said Howard Rosenberg, a farm labor management and policy specialist at the University of California, Berkeley Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
It's long been illegal to hire and retain anyone not authorized to work in the United States. Farmers take their chances that documents presented by the 1.6 million farmworkers hired around the country are valid or won't be closely examined, Rosenberg said.
Until now, employers who received one of the approximately 130,000 letters sent by the Social Security Administration telling them a worker's identification number didn't match government records didn't fire the employee, as the discrepancy could result from a misprint, or woman's failure to inform the government of her new married name.
Now these so-called "no-match" letters will be accompanied by a letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reminding employers of their obligations under immigration law.
Farmers will now ask the employee to fix the discrepancy. If the difference isn't explained in three months, the employer must fire the worker or face criminal liability.
Think tanks that oppose illegal immigration praised the move, hoping it will turn off the job magnet has attracted new immigrants. Other vocal opponents of illegal immigration, such as Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, said his optimism was tempered with a wait-and-see attitude.
"It's not that we don't trust them, it's just that well, we don't trust them," he said of the Bush administration. "It seems to me that many of these tough on illegal alien programs have existed for some time and this may simply be cover for the White House to bring back their amnesty push next year."
Farm labor experts like Rosenberg believe much of the provision's impact hangs on the vigor and resources the government allocates to its implementation. But farmers' concerns are justified, he said.
"The risks (of hiring illegal immigrants) have been getting higher, and if the pronouncements that accompanied this rule bear out, then they become higher yet," Rosenberg said.
To farm workers, it's just another effort by the government to look good at the expense of the people who hold down the hardest and lowest paid jobs in the country.
"There's always more pressure on the immigrant community," said farm worker Gerardo Reyes of Immokalee, Fla. "We're making sure food gets to everyone's tables."
Farmers and farmworkers agreed raising the stakes could hurt everyone.
"We're going to face firing employees whether the documents are wrong or right with no one to fill those positions," said J. Allen Carnes, president of Winter Garden Produce in Uvalde, Texas.
Carnes said he's already suffered worker shortages during the last few years because of tightened border security.
Steve Pringle, legislative director for the Texas Farm Bureau, said the administration's move forces employers into an impossible position.
"Either you obey the law and you watch your crop rot in the fields or you attempt to try to get the crop out and run the risk of being hit by the federal government," he said.
Because tighter enforcement could hurt agriculture, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the Labor Department would work to streamline the existing temporary worker program, which allows farmers to apply for foreign workers.
But farmers were skeptical of what could be achieved under a program they consider bureaucratic and expensive.
Casado, the California contractor, recently took a seminar on the program.
"I learned a lot, but one of the things I learned is that I can't do it myself," he said.
About 70 growers gathered this week in Fresno, deep in California's agricultural Central Valley, to discuss options, share doomsday scenarios, and shake their heads in frustration.
The state picks, packs and ships about half of the vegetables, nuts and fruits grown in the U.S. every year. Growers rely on 225,000 year-round employees, and twice that many in summer.
Keeping track of people who presented questionable papers weeks or months earlier in an industry where there's much worker mobility is beyond the scope of what farmers should be expected to do, they said.
"We're being charged with having to be the policing agent," said Russel Efird, who grows almonds, walnuts, grapes and fruit and heads the Fresno County Farm Bureau. "This will make it very hard for us to do our jobs."
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Maybe They'll Learn! wrote on Aug 16, 2007 12:53 AM:Slavery ended in the 1800's. But some of these farmers including Nancy Pelosi are addicted to cheap foreign and often illegal alien labor to make their million$. Modern day plantation owners. All workers including seasonal migrant workers must be treated properly and that means bringing them here legally on the proper VISA. This scam has gone on far too long.
There are 8 government programs wrote on Aug 16, 2007 2:59 AM:that allow farmers to hire farm workers. If the truth be known, the farm workers leave almost as soon as they get to the fields. They can make more money "doing the jobs Americans won't do" such as construction, roofing, drywalling, Federal jobs, etc. I have never heard of an American turning down these jobs, but I have heard of contractors paying less money, no workers comp, no benefits,ect. to put more money in their pockets. So I don't mind paying a little more for my produce and fruit to know that the farm workers here, temporilty, will return to their own country, and have been screened and health checked before picking my food.
Pastures of Plenty wrote on Aug 16, 2007 6:29 AM:We desperately need comprehensive immigration reform. It is irresponsible to allow simplistic racist jingoism to dictate our immigration policy. Politicians, like Bilbray, who pander to prejudice to secure their base, are selling out America. They are UnAmerican. We have always relied on immigrant labor to work our fields--I am well over 65 and the terms, [deleted], deportees, migrant workers have always been part of the language. Woody Guthrie sang about them back in the late 30's and 40's. "My father's own father he waded that river, they took all the money he made in his life, My brothers and sisters came to work in the orchards and they rode the trucks till they took sick and died." They also the story of exploitation..but thats another issue. We have always employed undocumented workers. They didn't compete with the neighbor kid next door or college students looking for summer jobs...Lou Dobbs still had a job, they are an essential part of our economy. If they are illegal, we are smart enough to find a way to make them legal.
Hey Mr. Efird!! wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:11 AM:If you think that it's too burdensome to be the "policing agent" for employee eligiblity, should we assume that you think it's too burdensome to ensure that your products are sanitary and pesticide free? I mean, do you just pick and choose which obligations you will fulfill?
fedup wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:15 AM:don't hire ILLEGAL ALIENS and there will be nothing to fear about loosing your workers!
So what? wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:29 AM:Let's try to break this down a little bit...farmers knowingly hire illegal aliens, fails to pay them decent wages, takes subsidies from government, does not pay taxes on the workers and does not provide any kind of compensation if these workers are injured on the job. I can see why farmers are worried about the government trying to enforce the law. I will admit that farming is a difficult job and is not the most profitable, but we sure have come a long way, mechanically speaking, from having to have people tend farms. Don't people remember Caesar Chavez marching for the rights of migrant workers (legal workers I might add)? That's why the U.S. has guest worker programs. It's to bring in temporary workers to fill a need. Farmers need to stop breaking the law.
Chester wrote on Aug 16, 2007 8:53 AM:Certainly exposes the myth that the 12 to 20 million illegals that are here are doing jobs Americans won't do. If they are not picking fruit and veggies just what are they doing?
BooHoo wrote on Aug 16, 2007 8:58 AM:The real exploited labor in the US are the working poor who make minimum wage, still pay their taxes and struggle to provide health care for their children. BooHoo farmers, you can no longer pay illegals slave wages when they can take construction jobs for $10-15 an hour, tax free. They don't want your back breaking work once they find other industries where they can make and send more home! Verification of worker information has nothing to do with your labor shortage, paying a living wage and competing with other industry does!
Feel Sorry wrote on Aug 16, 2007 9:13 AM:Don't worry, President Bush wont let anything bad happen to the farmers and big business, and especially the law breaking illegals.
Madam Patriot wrote on Aug 16, 2007 11:08 AM:Again and again we have people telling us that there aren’t enough workers for the agriculture industry. What most people don’t know is that the government issues plenty of visas to people who are supposed to work the fields, but many of these workers leave and go into other trades such as construction which pay better. Don’t be fooled by the politicians and the immigration activists who will say there are not enough workers and we must have more. We have to hold these workers accountable and ensure that they only do the job in which they committed to doing. If not, pull their visas and send them home. There are millions of people around the world that would love to come here for 3-6 months at a time to earn money for their families back home and then be happy to leave and do it all again next year. The money that they would earn would be far more than they could have made working in their homeland.
dave from oceanside wrote on Aug 16, 2007 11:29 AM:How sad, crops are wilting in the fields. I guess those nasty anti Illegal Immigration folks will see now who is right. Oh, wait a minute I’m one of those heartless people. Ok enough of the sarcastic digs at the projected responses. We new the farmers would be crying, especially since their business model was based on illegal immigrant slave labor practices. So for a year or 2 we will need to pay higher prices for agricultural items until a new legal labor market is in place. States like California should invest in their agricultural business using funds previously squandered on illegal’s to finance and develop farm AUTOMATION. Necessity is the mother of invention and this too can be automated.
Melissa R. wrote on Aug 16, 2007 12:14 PM:ALL employers are subject to the same compliance issues of legality of workers. Some have intentionally chosen to evade or give a wink and a nod to our laws. They have been being warned for a LONG LONG TIME to become compliant. They are now being forced to become compliant. They will pay. The consumers will pay. It is in all of our interests to get these SLAVE LABORERS out of the shadows and into some other sort of LEGALIZED PROGRAM if these people chose not to become AMERICAN CITIZENS. EVERYONE IS TIRED OF SUBSIDIZING slavery. EVERYONE IS TIRED of SUBSIDIZING peoples without insurances. EVERYONE ELSE is getting tired of subsidizing the lives of peoples who are under the radar in paying their taxes into the American system that supports all of our infrastructures and makes our country a safe place within which to work. Some sort of LEGAL STATUS is required. If food rotting in the fields is what it takes to get the agriculture, hotels, restaurants and other businesses who are now typically hiring and supporting these ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to get together and support a new better legal immigration and guest worker system, then, they have brought this on themselves. Needless to say, the current administration led them to believe for the longest time that it would continue to do NOTHING to enforce the current laws. All of you employers have nothing to whine about. All of us consumers will (again) pay for your erroneous and lackadasical business practices.
Solution wrote on Aug 16, 2007 1:04 PM:Our prisons are filled with thousands of lawbreakers of all types that need to be kept busy as they "rehabilitate" themselves. I say we take as many of these fine, upstanding individuals, both males and females, as needed to fill whatever gap we have in the helping hands needed in the fields and orchards.
John wrote on Aug 16, 2007 3:04 PM:There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that assures farmers can make a living growing any crop they want and using illegal labor to do it. Farmers will just grow other crops and America will move on. New varieties of existing crops which allow picking with automated equipment will also be introduced. In the South slaves once picked all the cotton by hand. We haven't had slaves for 140-years and we have much larger cotton crops. In the Midwest billions of bushels of corn, wheat and soybeans are grown without any illegal labor. Dairy farmers run whole dairies with no illegals, often by themselves. America doesn't need this supply of unskilled, illegal aliens.
JR wrote on Aug 16, 2007 4:23 PM:That's what happens when you base your business model on illegal labor. Sucks for them.
anotherview wrote on Aug 16, 2007 6:36 PM:The unscrupulous employers want to continue the unlawful employment of illegal aliens. Why? The answer lies in the profit motive. Employers hire illegal aliens because they will work for coolie wages, allowing the unscrupulous employers to enrich themselves. Supporters and apologists of this unlawful practice always fail to address the negative impact of it to the wider society as fostered by the presence of 12 million illegal aliens. The criminality, the shifted social costs, the distortion of the economy, and the slanting of politics resulting from the presence of illegal aliens affects daily national life. ICE reports 632,000 fugitive illegal aliens nationwide. Criminal aliens infest criminal street gangs, a social evil debasing neighborhoods. Over 11,000 criminal aliens sit in state prison, costing the State of California upward of $565 million per year. America already has enough criminals. Citizens suffer twofold, one by the depression of wages, and two by the loss of jobs when employers hire illegal aliens. The local, state, and national economies face all the costs associated with the presence of illegal aliens, ranging from schooling, medical expense, and various social programs. The State of California yearly spends $400 million on illegal alien mothers giving birth. The governor has proposed spending upward of $50 million yearly on medical services to illegal alien children. In effect, the unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens have shifted these costs to the public. All these monies could go instead to meet the needs of citizens. Yet, politicians pander to their business cronies by proposing amnesty for illegal aliens, to serve narrow business interests, in turn ignoring the national movement to remove illegal aliens while foisting the cost of illegal aliens onto the nation. Thankfully, the Bush II administration has decided to enforce existing federal law prohibiting the hiring of illegal aliens. Employers will adjust. Further, the economic axiom of supply and demand still applies. Under it, employers may have to offer higher wages, improved benefits, and better working conditions to attract citizens to do the jobs illegal aliens now do. America can free itself of illegal aliens, by enforcement of the law, and will prosper all the more.
To Another view wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:12 PM:In your dreams...."America can free itself of illegal aliens, by enforcement of the law, and will prosper all the more. Not happening my friend. The United States will suffer more than you or your checkbook will be able to stand. You'll see mark my words!
Suzette wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:19 PM:Just where did you get all your statistics, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, Rick Roberts or the sdmm's because I don't believe any of your statistics to be true. Oh my God I can not believe your diatribe regarding "employers paying higher wages, improved benefits, and better working condition to attract citizens to do the jobs illegal aliens now do". Americans WILL not do the jobs they do for any wage, can you hear me not for any wage. Take a look at Wal-Mart they hire people and when they are highered they make sure to pay them and give them the right amount of hours so they can still qualify for Medical and Food stamps. I think we should deport Wal-Mart and perhaps then we will prosper.
Reardon wrote on Aug 16, 2007 7:23 PM:Let me see if I have this right: Farmers argue that they have broken the law for so long, that they have a "prescriptive" right to continue to break the law? Amazing!
Let It Rot! wrote on Aug 17, 2007 6:39 AM:Farmers have been using illegals for years, pocketing the increased profits, and leaving the taxpayers to foot the ancillary costs. This continual need for illegals have become an invasion. If the farmers refuse to use legal employees, then let their crops rot!
Vista Resident wrote on Aug 17, 2007 11:26 AM:I like the idea of having prison labor due farm work. When prisoners are released back into society after time has been served, they may have nowhere to go and no assets. I don't want penniless former convicts wandering around in the community. We might let them half of what they earn - the other half to subsidize the cost of keeping them in prison -- the fund only to be available to them on release from prison. It should be volunteer only. Infractions during time served should result in funds being subtracted from their account. I heard, though, that the labor unions opposed this idea -- so that's why it hasn't been implemented.
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