August 25, 2005

EDITORIAL

Farm jobs at risk

AGRICULTURAL interests should be working intensively, and collaboratively, to come up with a solution to the problem of illegal immigration.

That is why we were taken aback to learn Wednesday that the American Farm Bureau has withdrawn its support for the only piece of immigration legislation in the U.S. Congress that has garnered significant bipartisan support.

The so called AgJOBS bill would provide temporary work visas to undocumented workers and, after six additional years in the fields, allow them to earn permanent legal residency. The American Farm Bureau was one of numerous labor, business and labor and farm organizations not only to negotiate the bill but then to endorse it in 2003.

No longer. In a meeting with The Chronicle editorial board, Bob Stallman, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said his organization now takes issue with several provisions of the bill and decided to back a proposal by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., to issue workers "blue card" permits that would allow them to stay up to nine years.

But in a procedural vote in April, 53 senators voted for the AgJOBS bill. Only 21 senators voted for Chambliss' amendment. The "blue card" permit idea is clearly a nonstarter.

By withdrawing its support for the AgJOBS bill, "the Farm Bureau is flushing away the only chance for American and California labor-intensive agriculture to achieve a stable and legal workforce," says Rick Swartz, an attorney who played a key role in drumming up support for the bill.

Fortunately, the California Farm Bureau and other agricultural interests are still backing AgJOBS. The American Farm Bureau should get back on board