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FORT COLLINS COLORADAN
Change is too slow in coming
Among the 15 bills that Gov. Ritter signed June 5 is one to create a
pilot program to expedite H-2A visas for Mexican migrant farmworkers to
come to Colorado.
Originally, House Bill 1325, the bill is a response to seasonal worker
shortages reported by Colorado farms. Under the bill's provisions,
Colorado will hire recruiters in Mexico to attract 1,000 workers next
year and 4,000 more in the four years after that. Visas will last up to
10 months, and farmers will pay for workers' travel, housing, meals,
visa application costs and workers' compensation insurance.
Federal H-2A visas allow temporary or seasonal entry and employment of
foreign workers in U.S. agriculture. Currently, more than 9,000 migrant
farm workers are estimated to be employed in Colorado, and only a
fraction of them have H-2A visas. In fiscal year 2007, for example,
1,925 workers were certified under H-2A to work for 237 Colorado
employers. Since H-2A applications are complicated and time-consuming, a
goal of HB 1325 is to process visas in less than 60 days, compared to
the current average of more than 160 days. This should persuade the use
of legal workers as opposed to illegal ones.
HB 1325, therefore, is one proposed solution to tensions relating to
illegal and legal migration and relationships to Colorado agriculture.
Temporary U.S. farmworker programs have a long history. The first was
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Bracero program of 1942. The Bracero program
increased the supply of Mexican farmworkers in the United States but
depressed wages for both international and domestic workers. The program
was replaced with the H-2 program in 1964 and subsequently to the H-2A
program in 1986 as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
Although temporary farmworker programs have tried to dissuade illegal
immigration by promoting legal routes to U.S. work, estimates of the
illegal population have continued to grow exponentially.
History suggests therefore that while HB 1325 may increase legal
immigration to Colorado and help appease worker shortages, it is
unlikely that this effort will substantially decrease illegal
immigration.
Still, the bill represents a complement to the earned legalization
proposals of the last few years, and Colorado should be applauded for
leading the way toward improving the imperfect H-2A program. The U.S.
Department of Homeland Security has proposed the continued streamlining
of the program including the use of recruiters at the federal level.
Colorado, by presenting itself as a case study, is sending a signal that
improvements are coming too slowly.
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