SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

July 17, 2010

Some worry about list’s effect on migrant workers

By Lisa Schencker, The Salt Lake Tribune

Corrie Hout spent Friday morning putting clothes, blankets and food into storage.

The items were left over from a farmworker appreciation event Thursday in Ogden. Not enough workers showed up to claim the donated goods.

“That normally is overflowing with people, and we had almost nobody show up,” said Hout, an officer with the Utah Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Coalition. She suspects the workers’ absence likely had something to do with “the list” — a document sent to media and law enforcement organizations this week containing the names of 1,300 purported undocumented immigrants.

It’s a list some say is spreading fear among migrant workers in Utah, both documented and undocumented. And with Utah farms hitting a peak harvest season, some are worried about the list’s short- and long-term effects on migrant farmworkers here.

Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday the state has identified at least two Department of Workforce Services employees who may have illegally compiled the list, and he expects charges to be filed.

But many worry the damage has already been done.

“It just creates additional problems in an already very difficult situation,” said Randy Parker, CEO of the Utah Farm Bureau.

Parker said he’s not aware of reports of migrant workers failing to show up to work because of the list, but said the list has created confusion among both legal and undocumented immigrants.