NORTH COUNTY TIMES (California)

March 30, 2006

Immigration reform bill could help farmers

By: LORELL FLEMING - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- While Latino high school students are rallying about the possible impacts of the proposed immigration reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is an immigration measure before the U.S. Senate that has many farmers and agriculture leaders speaking out.

Much of the agriculture community locally and nationwide supports the Senate's Immigration Reform Bill as it stands now, according to a local farming executive who has been lobbying in support of the legislation.

"We have failed to recognize a very real part of America: the necessity of having foreign labor for certain jobs, like farm work," said Luawanna Hallstrom, a third-generation farmer from Oceanside, on Thursday. "We need a legal way to address this issue."

Hallstrom is the national co-chairwoman of the nonprofit group Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform and is the chief operating officer of her family's tomato-producing and sales operation, Harry Singh & Sons.

The coalition ---- working with the National Council of Agricultural Employers and United Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Association ---- organized a March 15 rally at the Senate park in Washington, D.C., that drew about 300 farmers and agriculture leaders representing 33 states, Hallstrom said.

The Western Growers Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation also joined in the rally, where Hallstrom was one of the main speakers.

"The goal was to create awareness, and it proved to be extremely successful," Hallstrom said Thursday, pointing to the agricultural jobs amendment introduced by U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein that was added to the reform bill Monday.

The bill received a favorable 12-6 vote in the Senate's Judiciary Committee, allowing it to advance to debate before the full Senate. Hallstrom said she thinks a Senate vote on the bill could come as early as next Monday or Tuesday.

The amendment successfully offered by Feinstein calls for the creation of a guest-worker program for agricultural jobs ---- a previously proposed pilot program called "AgJobs."

The program would allow undocumented immigrants to change their legal status if they meet such requirements as paying a fine for being illegal, plus furnishing proof of previous employment for a specified amount of time and proof of tax payments.

With the goal of establishing a legalized work force for agriculture, the program had a cap of 1.5 million people over a five-year period.

The program would also allow for spouses and children of farmworkers to get work permits. It would also enable them to travel.

Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, said he also supports the proposed guest-worker program.

"The reality is that agriculture in this county depends on a foreign work force. It's been that way for decades, and it appears it will be that way fora while," Larson said Thursday.

"At the same time, we need to secure our borders," Larson added. "The compromise would be a guest-worker program that clearly identifies who the workers are with background checks."

Hallstrom estimates that the loss of a farmworker job results in the loss of four jobs held by Americans in agriculture-related industries such as freight transportation.

"It is important that this country is able to provide a safe, reliable supply of food, and that affects every single American family," Hallstrom said. "Generally speaking, there is a seven-day supply of food in the markets, given the time it takes to grow the food and supply it to stores ---- plus the time it takes to get the food set up in stores. If there is any interruption in that system, we could all be in trouble.

"When people sit down to dinner with their families, it might be a good time to stop and reflect on who's responsible for helping to make this food available," she added.

Hallstrom, whose grandfather immigrated to America from India, said she understands the concerns raised by the student protesters this week.

"Many of them have become victims of a broken system. And now, they've become victims in the midst of a public outcry to fix the system," Hallstrom said. "Our failed system has created a huge level of divisiveness. It's time to look for answers."

In contrast, the House bill passed in December that is the focus of much of this week's protests nationwide:

- requires that all employers use within six years a database to verify Social Security numbers of employees or face civil or criminal penalties for hiring illegal workers;

- requires mandatory detention for all non-Mexican illegal immigrants arrested at ports of entry or at land and sea borders;

- establishes mandatory sentences for smuggling illegal immigrants and for re-entering the United States illegally after deportation;

- makes illegal presence in the country a felony;

- requires building two-layer fences along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the United States;

- does not address President Bush's proposed guest-worker program for illegal immigrants already in U.S.