WASHINGTON -- The immigration reform issue may be turning into a "perfect storm" as labor shortages are showing up in places not seen before in agriculture, federal immigration audits are pushing workers out and Congress remains in political gridlock, Craig Regelbrugge, vice president of government relations and research at American Nursery & Landscape Association, said during a July 24 webinar.

The United Fresh Produce Association gathered experts during a one-hour webinar to discuss the fallout of a recent Supreme Court decision striking down most of Arizona's tough immigration law and a Presidential executive order allowing young illegal immigrants a chance to get work permits.

The news wasn't very good, however.

The federal government's disruptive audits of employer records are resulting in worker terminations, hostile state laws, chaos in the H2A program and labor shortages in new areas. In fact, Washington state is bracing for a record apple crop that will need labor to bring it to market, warned Mr. Regelbrugge, a chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

The only positive development is the federal push for an E-verify law on Capitol Hill appears to be stalled for now.

Mr. Regelbrugge said that Congress sees a need to address two populations crippled by immigration policy: agriculture employers and the high-tech industry's need for foreign-born scientists. But lawmakers are running out of time to act this year, he said. Lawmakers' appetite to take up the immigration issue will depend on the political landscape in 2013.

One possibility is an administrative fix as advocates have been pointing to the damage caused by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's I-9 audits, which are resulting in widespread worker terminations in certain sectors such as dairy farms, he said.

"June was a big month for immigration," said Laura Foote Reiff, an immigration and compliance attorney with Greenberg Traurig.

Referring to the high court's decision on Arizona's anti-immigrant law, Ms. Reiff said, "It was a win for federal preemption over state law."

The high court did allow the "show me the papers" provision to stand, however, that allows law enforcement officials to determine immigration status during traffic stops, which can be intimidating, she said.

Monte Lake, an attorney with the Washington, DC-based C.J. Lake, said that the Supreme Court decision was narrowly written to address Arizona's law, and it's unclear whether it will have an impact on other states with broader laws such as Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.

The webinar is one of a series United Fresh has scheduled to highlight hot-button issues in the run up to its Washington Public Policy Conference on Oct. 1-3 in Washington, DC.