Gettysburg panel: Congress has no interest in fixing immigration

By JIM HOOK Senior writer

Farmers, immigrant advocates and a filmmaker contend that Congress doesn't want to solve the immigration and guest worker issues.

The group met as a panel Thursday in Gettysburg to discuss migrant labor and vent their frustration with the lack of leadership and courage from Washington, D.C. The discussion centered around the showing of "American Harvest," a film by Angelo Mancuso.

About one million people work on farms part-time or seasonally, Mancuso said. An estimated 70 percent of farm workers can work because they have false documents.

The nation's two guest worker programs annually allow fewer than 150,000 workers into the country. Prospective workers sometimes wait in line three days to apply.

The quotas for the program that provides workers for the nursery industry were set 20 years ago at 66,000 immigrant workers, according to Chad Forcey of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association. Congress four years ago allowed the number to reach 300,000 workers, but the new cap expired in September.

"Our industry stands to lose 300 American jobs and $26 million," Forcey said.

The second guest worker program allows just 75,000 migrant workers to harvest crops across the nation.

The national problem is also a local problem. Franklin, Adams and York counties comprise the sixth most productive apple growing territory in the U.S. Apples must be picked by hand.

The constraints forced Pennsylvania's largest tomato grower, Keith Eckel, to give up production near Scranton. He needed 125 workers last year, and only 75 showed up. The risk was too great this year.

Adams County orchardist John Peters said he hasn't found local people willing to pick fruit. The same migrants have been returning to his orchard for more than 20 years.

He laughed about the federal guest worker program: "Putting one million farm workers through that system will give a whole new meaning to government efficiency."

The federal electronic verification database has a five to 10 percent error rate when checking worker identifications, Peters said.

"You're likely to turn away one in 10 legal workers," Peters said. "With full employment, you can't afford to turn away one worker."

Bold steps necessary to fix the problem aren't going to leave everyone feeling good, he said.

"We need to put a human face on this," Jorge Perez-Rico, Gettysburg, told the panel. "Every year at least 500 people die crossing the border. This is a desperate situation. I see workers and good friends at risk. My question is: What's next?"

"How do we create change in the system?" asked Alendi Vidal, a Gettysburg College sophomore from New York City.

- "Vote," said Margaret Barajas of the Pennsylvania Association of Latino Organizations.

- "Don't hesitate to engage the media," said Gary Swan of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

- "Read the news," Mancuso said. "Don't leave it to the knuckleheads (on the blogs). Ninety-eight percent of Americans in the 'blogosphere' (online forums) tend to bully the ones who come in. It's not fair to the discussion. What we need is civil discourse. Folks who are making the biggest stink aren't you in this room."

- "We have forgotten about agriculture," Forcey said. "We have to remind people where their food comes from. It is clear we are going to have to bring more people into the U.S. (to work)."

The system is breaking apart families, according to Enrique Ruiz Sanchez, consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia. Parents sometimes leave their children with tutors in the U.S. while they travel back and forth in hopes the children will have a better life.

"The humane thing to do is also the economically sensible thing to do," said Bruce Larson, political science professor at Gettysburg College, said.

The college hosted the forum on immigration reform and its impact on agriculture, consumers and the economy in the Eisenhower Room of the Gettysburg Hotel.