YORK (Pennsylvania) DAILY RECORD October 24, 2007
Sens., farmers debate immigrant workers Farmers: Discrimination issues, labor shortage are a large part of deciding whether to hire immigrant workers.
By RICHARD FELLINGER
Farmers warned senators Tuesday about a shortage of agricultural workers in Pennsylvania and said immigrant workers are crucial for their operations. With illegal immigration drawing more attention, the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and the Labor and Industry Committee heard two hours of testimony on the farm workforce. Farmers urged senators to leave immigration issues to the federal government and push for guest worker programs that would help ensure documented immigrants are available to work. "I am concerned that any attempt to do anything legislatively at the state level may be opening a Pandora's Box that puts at risk the workforce we can ill afford to lose," said Chris Baugher, vice president of operations at the family-run Adams County Nursery in Aspers. Baugher admitted the legal status of some of his nursery's workers is questionable, but he blamed the federal government for failing to reconcile discrimination laws with immigration rules. He said farmers are hesitant to turn away immigrant workers who show papers resembling proper documentation because they don't want to be accused of job discrimination. "We can't hire them, and we can't not hire them," Baugher said. Dairy farmer Rod Hissong, owner of Mercer Vu Farms in Mercersburg, said dairy farms of all sizes rely on immigrant laborers because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local workers. He said his farm hired its first Hispanic employee eight years ago. "The Hispanics we employ are hard-working, reliable and seem to have a genuine appreciation for the work," he said. Baugher said the public debate over illegal immigration has unfairly tarnished the image of Latinos. "This is the same image society once had of Irish, Italian, Polish and many other immigrant communities," Baugher said. Though debate over illegal immigration has been heated at times at the state Capitol, backers of reforms have yet to rally enough support to move any bills. A group of Republican House members is pushing a package of bills that would require employers to verify employees' Social Security numbers and revoke the licenses of businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. Other bills would limit public benefits for illegal immigrants only in emergencies, require police to report the citizenship status of criminal suspects, and call on state police to seek an agreement with federal authorities to enforce federal immigration and customs laws. After Tuesday's hearing, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Chairman Michael Brubaker, R-Lancaster, said he was intrigued by a suggestion for a program for "essential" guest workers but will discuss many ideas with his colleagues. "At this point, we're going to look at everyone's testimony and every recommendation that was made," he said.
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