|
Firings fuel immigration debate in Humboldt County
By Susan Ferriss
ARCATA – In Humboldt County, where references to buds often mean
marijuana, Lane DeVries runs a successful cut-flower operation, one of
the biggest in the United States.
The Dutch immigrant employed nearly 600 workers. But half of them had
Social Security numbers that appeared not to exist or not to match the
names under which they'd been issued, according to a U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement audit.
Agents sent a letter to DeVries, alerting him to the 283 discrepancies.
The message between the lines: The Sun Valley Floral Farms employees
could be illegal immigrants, and DeVries would be held accountable.
So on June 9, he gathered workers from among the vast complex of
greenhouses and announced that he would dismiss 283 of them.
The Sun Valley dismissals are among the most numerous at a single
company since the Bush administration announced this year that it would
get tough on immigration enforcement.
ICE spokeswoman Laurie Halley would not discuss the Sun Valley layoffs
but said employers have to make their own decision about how to respond
to Social Security number audits.
"It was his own decision," she said of DeVries' move to fire his
workers.
In Humboldt County, Sun Valley workers represent about 20 percent of the
seasonal farm labor work force, county officials estimate. And
agriculture, they say, generates about 44 percent of local wages.
"The Board of Supervisors views the ICE action as a burden to American
small businesses and puts rural economies at risk by exacerbating an
already shrinking work force," Humboldt County supervisors wrote in a
letter this week to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
They called upon Chertoff, Rep. Mike Thompson – who represents Arcata –
and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to consider those
consequences as they tighten immigration laws and enforcement.
DeVries declined to comment, except to say in a statement: "This
incident drives home that we must immediately turn our attention to
immigration reform. What happened to our team members and our company
can happen to any number of businesses throughout America on any given
day."
The firings "are a huge hit in a remote economy like this," said Connie
Lorenzo, program director of the North Coast Small Business Development
Center. "I have a hard time understanding the punitive actions of our
government."
The federal government requires employers to verify a worker's
citizenship, legal residency or right to work in the United States by
examining documents such as a worker's Social Security card, driver's
license, green card or passport. But they don't have to verify the
authenticity of any of those documents.
Thousands of private businesses voluntarily use a government computer
system – called E-Verify – to check the validity of employees' Social
Security numbers. Earlier this month, the Bush administration ordered
all companies that do business with the federal government to use the
verification system.
DeVries, who initially spoke to local media about the firings, told them
that he followed all federal hiring laws. He did not say whether he used
the E-Verify system, and would not discuss it with The Bee.
Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley, whose district includes Arcata,
acknowledged that employers have unknowingly and knowingly hired illegal
immigrants. At this point, he said, workers should be given a chance to
earn legal residency and companies should be given a chance to
transition to a new set of hiring rules.
"This shock and awe type of thing in our community is untenable,"
Woolley said. "I'm hoping other businesses will not be caught by
surprise."
In contrast to recent immigration raids around the country that have
resulted in the detention and deportation of workers, Sun Valley's
undocumented employees were simply let go.
Some of the undocumented workers have pulled up stakes, fearful because
immigration officials have access to their addresses and would know
where to find them. But a good number of them are staying on the North
Coast for now, looking for other work.
One undocumented worker from Mexico, who planted bulbs on Sun Valley's
assembly lines for five years, said she had already started proceedings
to become legal.
"My sister applied for me to legally emigrate 10 years ago, and I've
been told I can't leave the country until I get approval. Yet I can't
legally work," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used.
Sun Valley has put out an urgent call for part-time summer employees.
Supervisor Woolley said his two teenage sons have applied, but high
school and college students aren't a long-term solution to Sun Valley's
hiring troubles because they have to go back to school at the end of
summer. He said there simply aren't enough people in the area to fill
the jobs.
"Our region's economic and workforce development community believes the
solution is not penalizing our small businesses for hiring what is often
the only labor available for entry-level production jobs, nor is it
turning back immigrants," Woolley and the county's other supervisors
wrote in their letter to Chertoff and their congressional
representatives.
"Our nation and community would be better served if legislative energy
focuses on funding and programming solutions that could equip native
workers with the skills and attitudes to compete with foreign workers,
while also providing a path to citizenship for currently undocumented
immigrants."
|