Washington rally urges guest worker reform
Washington rally urges guest worker reform
WASHINGTON -- Time is running out for the U.S. Senate to fix a controversial immigration reform bill, but Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) reassured a crowd of producers and farmers who traveled to the nation's Capitol March 15 that relief is in sight.
During a meeting with the Senate leadership, Sen. Craig said that he was told immigration reform legislation would not move out of the Senate without an appropriate title for agriculture.
"We are causing them to understand that this industry is more sensitive to the need for a steady labor force than all others," he said.
The lobby day organized by the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform could not have come at a more urgent time. Some 300 people from 33 states and representing produce, nursery, dairy and other food sectors met with elected officials here on March 15 just as the Senate Judiciary Committee was concluding its debate and the Senate was preparing to vote on a bill at the end of the month.
With the Capitol as a backdrop, elected officials joined leaders in the agriculture community in a press conference recounting stories of a broken guest worker program and warning of the far-reaching consequences of farms without workers.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Luawanna Hallstrom, a California tomato farmer, said that she has been forced to use the flawed H-2A guest worker program to obtain workers for her farm located at the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.
It was an expensive lesson. An emergency request for workers took 45 days, resulting in a loss of $2.5 million in tomatoes.
"We lost the crop because the process was so difficult," she said, adding that workers had to be paid to pick off the spoiled crop.
"Congress must go into this with their eyes wide open," Ms. Hallstrom continued. "Today, after 9/11, we don't have enough workers to do the job." Some farmers have been losing crop for three planting cycles. "Farmers can only lose so many crops."
New York grower Maureen Torrey, the incoming chairperson of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association, said that Congress should not approve the House-passed, enforcement-only approach to immigration reform.
"Don't export farms and import our food," she exclaimed.
Many of the representatives who flew into Washington for the lobby day painted a bleak picture of U.S. farms shutting down and American consumers becoming more dependent on foreign produce if Congress opts to tighten the borders without a labor safety net.
Organizers of the rally staged a farmer's market with crates of U.S.-grown produce - a symbol of what is at stake for U.S. producers.
Every night, growers and producers go to sleep worried that they may fail to enlist enough workers or that the immigration status of these workers is not adequate, said Ms. Torrey, whose family has farmed in upstate New York for 11 generations.
If undocumented workers are rounded up and deported, businesses will fail, Ms. Torrey warned. Three to four jobs in the economy are generated for each farm worker job.
Last year, the House of Representatives passed an "anti-employer and anti-American bill that puts all of us at risk," Ms. Torrey said. Now the Senate has a chance to get it right by revamping the 50-year-old guest worker program and giving hard-working and loyal immigrants a chance to become U.S. citizens.
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) said that Florida residents do not want an immigration law that focuses only on border security. A new law should secure the food supply, include agriculture workers and respond to the undocumented workers already in the United States.
Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA) said that the House "didn't get it right," and that it was up to the Senate to include a guest worker program for agriculture that prevents economic disruptions and allows the free flow of badly needed workers.
The American Nursery & Landscape Association's Craig Regelbrugge, an organizer of the event, said that Congress cannot succeed in border security without overhauling the agriculture worker program.
"We're talking about plugging the holes in our borders and at the same time protecting U.S. farmers and consumers. In fact, we don't think you can succeed at one without the other."
During a meeting with the Senate leadership, Sen. Craig said that he was told immigration reform legislation would not move out of the Senate without an appropriate title for agriculture.
"We are causing them to understand that this industry is more sensitive to the need for a steady labor force than all others," he said.
The lobby day organized by the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform could not have come at a more urgent time. Some 300 people from 33 states and representing produce, nursery, dairy and other food sectors met with elected officials here on March 15 just as the Senate Judiciary Committee was concluding its debate and the Senate was preparing to vote on a bill at the end of the month.
With the Capitol as a backdrop, elected officials joined leaders in the agriculture community in a press conference recounting stories of a broken guest worker program and warning of the far-reaching consequences of farms without workers.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Luawanna Hallstrom, a California tomato farmer, said that she has been forced to use the flawed H-2A guest worker program to obtain workers for her farm located at the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.
It was an expensive lesson. An emergency request for workers took 45 days, resulting in a loss of $2.5 million in tomatoes.
"We lost the crop because the process was so difficult," she said, adding that workers had to be paid to pick off the spoiled crop.
"Congress must go into this with their eyes wide open," Ms. Hallstrom continued. "Today, after 9/11, we don't have enough workers to do the job." Some farmers have been losing crop for three planting cycles. "Farmers can only lose so many crops."
New York grower Maureen Torrey, the incoming chairperson of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association, said that Congress should not approve the House-passed, enforcement-only approach to immigration reform.
"Don't export farms and import our food," she exclaimed.
Many of the representatives who flew into Washington for the lobby day painted a bleak picture of U.S. farms shutting down and American consumers becoming more dependent on foreign produce if Congress opts to tighten the borders without a labor safety net.
Organizers of the rally staged a farmer's market with crates of U.S.-grown produce - a symbol of what is at stake for U.S. producers.
Every night, growers and producers go to sleep worried that they may fail to enlist enough workers or that the immigration status of these workers is not adequate, said Ms. Torrey, whose family has farmed in upstate New York for 11 generations.
If undocumented workers are rounded up and deported, businesses will fail, Ms. Torrey warned. Three to four jobs in the economy are generated for each farm worker job.
Last year, the House of Representatives passed an "anti-employer and anti-American bill that puts all of us at risk," Ms. Torrey said. Now the Senate has a chance to get it right by revamping the 50-year-old guest worker program and giving hard-working and loyal immigrants a chance to become U.S. citizens.
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) said that Florida residents do not want an immigration law that focuses only on border security. A new law should secure the food supply, include agriculture workers and respond to the undocumented workers already in the United States.
Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA) said that the House "didn't get it right," and that it was up to the Senate to include a guest worker program for agriculture that prevents economic disruptions and allows the free flow of badly needed workers.
The American Nursery & Landscape Association's Craig Regelbrugge, an organizer of the event, said that Congress cannot succeed in border security without overhauling the agriculture worker program.
"We're talking about plugging the holes in our borders and at the same time protecting U.S. farmers and consumers. In fact, we don't think you can succeed at one without the other."
