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Growers told immigration reform unlikely before 2010
Growers will continue to experience difficulties in finding enough
workers because passage of comprehensive immigration reform may be
delayed until at least 2010.
During a panel discussion Thursday before a group of 60 Hispanic growers
and ranchers, Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers
League, said new laws passed recently, such as those in Arizona and
Oklahoma, have focused only on enforcement tactics, such as securing
borders and penalizing employers for hiring illegal immigrants.
Those measures, though, don't bode well for the state's agricultural
industry, which needs comprehensive immigration reform that would
provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers along with
protecting our borders, said Gempler, whose organization represents
growers in labor issues.
Gempler noted that John McCain, one of the authors of a comprehensive
immigration bill, said during a Republican primary debate Wednesday that
if he was elected president, he would not vote for the pathway to
citizenship portion of his initial reform bill because the public wants
secured borders first.
Given the political climate and the upcoming presidential election,
Gempler estimated that possible passage of comprehensive immigration
reform wouldn't occur until 2010 at the earliest.
"As you know, the political environment is toxic when it comes to the
immigration issue," he said. "We are facing proposals for increasing
border security. We are facing proposals for electronic verification of
documents at the time of hire. We are facing proposals of work site
enforcement by (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.)"
The panel was part of a two-day Latino/Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers
Northwest Regional Conference. It was the first of its kind in Yakima.
On the panel with Gempler was Michele Besso, senior attorney of the
Northwest Justice Project, an organization that provides legal services
to low-income residents. She spoke on the worker's perspective. Jerry
Beardsley, an organic alfalfa grower from the Lower Valley, also spoke
on the social and economic implications for both growers and farm
workers.
Beardsley said growers and farm workers would benefit from comprehensive
reform. It would be more economical if those who desired to work were
given legal status to do the work that growers need to be done.
"I think both growers and workers want resolution," he said. "They want
to know what they have to do to make a living."
Meanwhile, Gempler said programs such as the federal H-2A program do
guarantee documented workers. But that assurance comes with a high price
-- in 2008, the employer will be required to provide housing and
transportation to and from work, and pay at least $9.92 an hour.
And growers may be faced with legal issues if those provisions are not
provided precisely. Zirkle Fruit currently is in a federal lawsuit with
several H-2A workers who claim the tree-fruit company failed to provide
reimbursement for travel and visa expenses and to disclose tougher work
requirements that they say lowered their wages below federal
requirements.
Ultimately, the H-2A program won't be the final solution.
"Comprehensive reform is the answer and we will continue to work for
it," Gempler said.
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