Local farmworkers plead for reform By Julian Pecquet Karla Rodriguez Chavez, a Mexican national, is among dozens of farmworkers in the tomato fields of Bristol - and one of thousands of workers nationwide - who hope a bill in Congress will allow them to stay in the U.S. permanently. As the mother of two packed her truck Wednesday with buckets of tomatoes the field hands carried over to her, tossing out the ones too bruised to make the cut, she gave an impassioned plea for reform. "With immigration reform, those of us who have children here will be able to see them grow up in this country," Chavez said. "We depend on the United States for work, but the U.S. needs us, too." A group of local farmworkers made that plea in Washington on Thursday, meeting with senators and representatives to push a bill that would offer a path of permanent residency to immigrant farmworkers. Known as AgJOBS, the reform is part of an immigration package that has stalled in Congress but that President George Bush has been trying to revive with promises of money for enforcement and a border fence. Under AgJOBS, immigrants would be eligible for a temporary status visa if they work in agriculture and haven't been convicted of certain crimes. After paying a fine, they'd be eligible for permanent residency if they continue to work in agriculture. Opponents of the legislation say it would reward illegal immigration - and encourage more. An estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants - out of about 12 million - work in agriculture. AgJOBS could extend to some 3 million people because the farmworkers' spouses and minor children would be covered. Florida's $87 billion-a-year agricultural industry needs immigration reform, said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. McElroy said the industry relied on 300,000 farmworkers, the overwhelming majority of them legal and illegal immigrants - including thousands in the Big Bend. "It's the right thing to do," McElroy said, "and secondly, we absolutely need the assurance of a stable workforce to do the harvesting." AgJOBS has support from Florida's U.S. senators. But not everyone likes it. "We already have an agricultural guest-worker program, which some employers find inconvenient because they'd rather hire illegal immigrants," said Jack Martin, the special-projects director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors slower immigration rates. Martin said many farmworkers who are here illegally might go to work in construction or other industries, competing with American workers, if the immigration bill goes through. The bill wouldn't only affect illegal immigrants. Jose Samuel Menjivar, who works at the Quincy Farms mushroom plant, was one of four Quincy-area farmworkers who attended the rally in Washington on Thursday. He's in the U.S. legally from El Salvador on a temporary status that has to be renewed annually. "With the price increase, it's $435 a year," he said. "That's a problem because without reform, we'll have to keep paying every year to be able to stay." |