SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS November 2, 2007 Old guest-worker bill may finally get voteUVALDE J Carnes may one day end up in politics, a lingering career dream. But when he decided to settle back on the 3,000-acre family farm after graduating from college, he had no idea he'd have to save the place from tanking not because business was bad, but because he couldn't find enough workers. Over the years, the problem gradually worsened, giving Carnes a rude awakening last year when he could not get enough help for the cabbage harvest and 35 acres were left rotting forcing him to take a $250,000 hit. "I couldn't bear the anguish in my father's face when I told him I just couldn't get enough guys," said Carnes, 32, standing in one of his fields this week as workers gathered cabbage. "I promised him that as long as I was around, I'd try to never let it happen again." Thousands of growers across the country are in similar anguish, citing a growing labor shortage that's forcing many to sharply curtail production or quit altogether. A hodge-podge of immigration-related causes is being blamed, from the ongoing border crackdown on illegal immigration to a legal admissions system for foreign workers widely labeled as out of date and anachronistic. An estimated 50 percent to 75 percent by some counts even higher of the nation's 2.5 million farm workers are undocumented immigrants. In the wake of a failed attempt in Congress to overhaul the immigration system this year, the Bush administration announced in August that it planned to change existing regulations to make it easier to fill the farm labor gap. But for years, an unlikely coalition of unions and the agribusiness lobby, with bipartisan congressional support, has pushed for another option. First proposed in 2001, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, known as "Agjobs," has never been voted up or down in Congress. Now it seems finally poised to get its chance: It's expected to be attached as early as today to the current Senate farm bill. The measure, once part of the massive Senate immigration bill that was shot down in June, is likely the last attempt at immigration legislation until 2009. Like other changes proposed in the larger bill, Agjobs will face strident opposition from lawmakers who liken the move to a veiled attempt at amnesty. "Everything's going down in defeat because politicians, particularly in an election year, are afraid of doing anything that even appears to reward past illegal behavior," said Douglas Massey, a sociologist who specializes in immigration at Princeton University. Though it has morphed over the years, Agjobs retains its core goal: Those now illegally toiling on farms would get a chance to work legally and later apply for permanent residency, while the current agricultural guest worker program would be revamped to make it easier and faster for foreign workers to enter the U.S. for temporary jobs. Supporters of immigration restrictions are expected to fire up their lobbying engine once again, maintaining that Agjobs amounts to an amnesty for 1.5 to 2 million undocumented immigrants, many with criminal records. Additional, unreasonable worker protections would lead to a pileup of lawsuits, they say. The bill's backers, ranging from industry leaders to immigrant advocacy groups, know the onslaught is coming. They have their own counter-lobbying effort up and running. Several of them testified this month at a U.S. House agriculture committee hearing. One expert sought to dismiss criticism that the farm labor shortage is exaggerated by greedy farmers looking to exploit illegal workers rather than adequately pay U.S. workers. One farm was at least in part shut down due to the worker shortage. Duda Farm Fresh Foods, based in Florida, still has a presence in McAllen but was forced to close its onion operation in Uvalde and packing warehouse in Carrizo Springs two years ago, spokeswoman Susan Howard said. "It was getting increasingly difficult to maintain steady labor," said Howard, noting the Uvalde and Carrizo Springs operations had been around since the 1980s. The shortage is real and due to simple economics and demographics, said James Holt, a labor economist and former farm management professor. U.S. workers today prefer non-agricultural jobs, leaving a hole that has been filled by undocumented immigrants, he said. It's a reality that didn't require Carnes to use his finance degree from the University of Texas at Austin to understand and accept. He runs Winter Garden Produce in Uvalde, a farming hub 60 miles from the border known for its onions and traditional dependence on seasonal Mexican workers. As far as he knows, the Mexican workers he hires as many as 450 in the past, but now down to 100 are allowed to work in the country. But he argued that he shouldn't be punished if some of them used fake documents and that they shouldn't be banished if all they seek is honest work. Despite accusations to the contrary, an honest living on the farm is all that Carnes, the third generation in the family business, has tried to maintain, he said. He takes offense at the notion he's an abusive penny-pincher, insisting all his workers are paid above minimum wage and that some make as much as $15 an hour. "Sure, I want to make a buck. Who doesn't?" said Carnes. "But there's still pride a pride in agriculture to do it honestly." If he dared to offer higher wages, he risks going under, he said, and he likely wouldn't get enough U.S. workers. In fact, even if by accident, the experiment was put to the test. When a TV reporter in May erroneously said Carnes would be willing to pay $20 an hour, he got only about 20 calls. One person showed up for work. After a day clipping onions, Carnes said, he never heard from the man again.
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