Immigration reform draws mixed reactions from growers, field workers By VANESSA BURCH Salvador Alanis, a local field worker whose wife and nine children live in Mexico, said that in the United States, he earns three times the amount of money for the same work he does in Mexico. Salvador, who works at Workman's Farms, spends four to six months working in the U.S., and returns to Mexico to perform the same work for the duration of the year. "I miss my family and would like to be with them but I can't," said Salvador."They have to eat." The money he makes in the U.S. supplements his income from Mexico, allowing him to help his family get by each year. Salvador works seven days a week while in this country and stays in the Workman's Farms H-2A approved bunkhouse with another fieldworker. "It sleeps about 21 people and there are several bathrooms and a big kitchen," said Wade Workman, co-owner of Workman Farms. According to Workman, many field workers in Fallon live in trailers around town with their families. The employees contracted through H-2A visas live in housing provided by the farm owners. "It's a good house and there's enough space," said Salvador. The only thing missing in Salvador's life here is his family. Workman said some of the workers who live in these trailers may not have permission to work legally in the U.S. but run the risk of having their families here anyway because they cannot spend several months without them. In the mid-1980s, Workman's Farms recognized not only the economic but social problems these workers experienced. They also knew first-hand the legal pressures surrounding contracting migrant workers. "Workman's Farms helped all their workers get legalized in 1986," said Rick Lattin, co-owner of Lattin Farms. This was the same year the H-2A program began. 1986 also marked the year of the Immigration Reform and Control Act signed by President Ronald Reagan. Among other reformations, this act offered the legalization of migrant workers who entered the U.S. before Jan. 1, 1982 and applied within 18 months for such status. Unfortunately for Workman's Farms, several of the field hands to whom they helped grant citizenship left, said Workman. "As soon as they got the papers they were gone." Workman's Farms did not just lose that round of workers over 20 years ago; they continue to lose more to fields like construction even today. "We can't compete," he said, in regard to the higher wages paid in fields like construction. Lattin agreed. "We can't afford to pay what construction pays and it makes it difficult for agriculture," he said since "our work is seasonal and it's very difficult labor." Lattin also attributes the lack of money available for growers to pay their employees to the fact that, "The American public does not value agricultural products," he said. In June of 2007, it was estimated that Americans spend 9.9 percent of their income on food, which may be the lowest percentage of any country worldwide. Fortunately for Lattin, in staying competitive in today's market, "The 1986 bill worked," he said, "because most workers working for us were legalized. We have three generations from that (act)." The first of these three generations was Refugio Alanís, who worked as Lattin's crew chief for many years and returned to his own farm in Mexico during slower seasons. Refugio's daughter Concha was second generation. She "grew up in Mexico, came to the U.S. for a better life," said her son and Refugio's grandson Cuquito Alanis. Cuquito, who recently graduated from Churchill County High School, has worked at Lattin Farms since he was about 12. He helped gather the harvest with his grandfather who passed away last year. The families and workers Cuquito knows come to this country to work because "they need it," he said. "They have families to take care of. The laws are different over there (in Mexico) and the pay is bad--it's terrible there. It's better living here," said the 18-year old. The Alanís family's work ethic is something that Lattin has a hard time finding in U.S. workers when it is time to harvest produce. "No one else wants to work in the fields," he said. "I don't think the United States realizes that we're raising a generation of people not capable of doing the work." "In a society where we haven't been taught that work ethic, some feel they (the migrant workers) are stealing their jobs," said Lattin. "I think there's some resentment," he added in regard to some U.S. citizens' opposition to granting migrant workers citizenship. Stemming from U.S. opposition was the passage of The Secure Fence Act of 2006 which is currently underway. This act allows for hundreds of miles of additional fencing along the U.S./Mexican border. There are mixed feelings about the construction of this wall. "There are a lot of good, honest people who lose their lives in the desert or the swamps," said Cuquito's father Adrian Alanis, of those trying to cross the border. "We need something better for them and the government can change that by giving permits to work." Adrian, who owns Esperanza Maintenance in Fallon, feels people coming to this country to work should be "given the chance," but that the wall will help keep "bad people" out. Cuquito agrees with his father, and mentioned specifically the increasing amount of Mexican drug lords. As far as keeping these people out, Cuquito said the wall "could be a good thing, but it's going to be hard on the people trying to work here." "A lot of farmers need more workers. People need to be here because they need work and money," Cuquito said. The U.S. government "should tell them they can work here for a certain time and after a couple of years, give them a permanent visa or a temporary visa." "I think it would be better for the U.S. because there would be a lot more workers," said Cuquito. Salvador is an example of a worker who would appreciate the visa Cuquito mentioned. As much as he misses his family, he said he would still be interested in living and working permanently in the U.S. "When we cross the border, Immigration said someday we'll get residency, but we still haven't," he said. "I would prefer to be a resident," said Salvador, who "would have to return to see my family during vacations." Lattin said that he personally sees the migrant workers in the U.S. falling under one of two groups. "There are the people who want to work here, send money home and go back and there are the folks that want to migrate here," said Lattin. "We've got to provide a path for legality for them." In Lattin's opinion, it boils down to this. "We have to decide if we need them as citizens or (just) legal to work," he said. "Bringing them out of the shadows and controlling the border--knowing who's here by having a way to track them," and if necessary "return them home" is what Lattin said may be a solution to the current immigration problems. He also said that any laws that are to be passed, should be done so "for the right reason and not because we're a bunch of xenophobic racists." |