Help wanted: Farms can't fill jobs (funny, that's NOT what the article says)

The Citizen-Auburn NY ^ | Saturday, June 30, 2007 11:38 PM EDT | By Kristina Martino /

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Although Yates County farmer Maureen Marshall hires her immigrant workers through the state's Department of Labor, her farm has been raided by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement twice in the past 10 years.

“We document everyone and do everything above the law but we have a system that's broken,” Marshall said.

Marshall and other members of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigrant Reform have been pushing for a guest worker program reform for more than a decade. This year, she thought that at last the U.S. Congress was close to passing legislation that could help farmers across the nation.

“We've been working on this for 11 years. We are in a crisis situation,” Marshall said.

But last week's defeat of an immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate has the farm industry troubled.

As immigrant workers wait in a seemingly never-ending line for their chance to receive temporary worker status in the United States, farmers, including some in the local area, are battling to find a workforce. They're being forced to reach into the immigrant work pool, sometimes not knowing their employee's citizenship status.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday blocked the possibility for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 to likely move any further until after the 2008 presidential election. The bill could have created an improved immigrant guest worker program, advocates said, adding it would have helped both immigrants and farmers. Opponents, though, said the idea of amnesty and allowing more immigrants into the United States reduces the domestic workforce and continues to funnel U.S. dollars out of the country.

Some local farmers, such as Sjana McClure-Berry, agree with those opponents of the bill.

McClure-Berry and three others, all U.S. citizens, farm the 800 acres of land McClure-Berry and her husband own in Genoa without the help from immigrant labor.

“Illegal immigrants are changing our whole society,” McClure-Berry said. “Americans do want these jobs, it's a very honorable profession.”

She said by continuing to hire a domestic workforce, she is also retaining money in the local area rather than sending it off to other countries.

“We've done this by choice of life. It's a moral decision. We only want to reap what it is we do,” McClure-Berry said.

But Marshall said that the labor force is changing in the United States and there are fewer people willing to take agricultural jobs.

“People aren't raising their children to be farmers,” Marshall said. “Farming is hard work and it's dirty. There are so many more options for people today.”

For farmers like Marshall who depend on the immigrant workforce, the legislation that may help this group of employers still remains in the hands of federal officials, though the likelihood of any action soon became bleak.

Since the legislation's introduction to the House and Senate, President George Bush has said he supported the need for immigration reform, saying it will secure American borders and help illegal immigrants without providing them amnesty.

During a June 14 speech to Associated Builders and Contractors, the president said that the need for reform is urgent and that the current system has failed and is broken, according to a copy of the speech.

The immigration reform act would establish a temporary guest worker program allowing immigrants to obtain a three-year temporary visa with one option to renew it for an additional three years. According to the legislation, the act will provide U.S. worker protection and the implementation of an alien employment management system and establishment of a temporary worker task force.

“The reality is we need a workforce to harvest crops,” said T. Mark James, executive director of the New York Farm Bureau Finger Lakes Office.

According to James, last year state farmers encountered a 30 percent decrease in farm labor due to immigration enforcement. James said he had no numbers this year but said he anticipated a larger decline.

Marshall said it's very difficult to find large numbers of domestic workers qualified for the work required on farms.

“We can't just take people from the welfare roles. (Farming is) a skill,” Marshall said.

“Cayuga County relies on immigration because locally there is not reliable source of labor otherwise,” James said. “It's a never-ending cycle. There's a pure lack of labor and if you have consistent turnover it's not good for our economy.”

Farm Bureau, a national organization, supports the legislation. They say the current system is broke.

The current H-2A guest worker program provides immigrants the opportunity to take jobs that U.S. citizens aren't taking.

“A workable system to document immigrants is what we're looking for. The current system is very cumbersome with a very large backlog of paperwork,” James said. “We want a more simplified program that works with technology.”

Farm Bureau members continuously advocate the government to authorize an improved guest worker program. A reformed program, they believe, will shorten the amount of time it takes to get an application approved.

“There has to be a reasonable time frame to get these visas approved,” James said.

But a Syracuse immigration lawyer doesn't feel that new legislation will be able to expedite the system.

“The farmers I talk to are concerned in a number of ways. The H-2A system is very cumbersome and most farmers don't use it because it becomes too costly,” said Sharon Ames, of Ames Immigration, who has focused solely on immigration law for eight years.

Ames explained that the proposed legislation highlights two types of visas immigrant workers may try to obtain.

The temporary Y-Visa would be valid for six years, requiring the immigrant to go home for one year in between every two-year work period. But Ames predicts that the country would have a hard time documenting this, preventing immigrants from being forced to go home every two years.

“The reality is that they're not going to go home after six years. It makes no sense for workers and employers who are now comfortable with their work ability,” Ames said.

Under the Z-Visa, immigrants could apply for permanent status for four years, including those that already reside in the country illegally. Every four years the person will have the opportunity to renew the visa at a cost.

Associated with the Z-Visa is the word “amnesty,” a word widely used in organizations that oppose the legislation and believe it awards those who currently live illegally in the country.

Ames believes what the legislation proposes isn't amnesty, due to the fines and numerous requirements that must be met to receive legal status.

But organizations like the Federation of American Immigration Reform believe that this area of the proposed legislation will provide pardons to people who have already moved to the country illegally.

“Legislation in the Senate is outright amnesty for millions who broke the law,” said Ira Mehlman, FAIR media director. “The bottom line is people broke the law in order to live and work in the U.S. and that's what they'll get.”

FAIR is a national non-profit organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that the nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest, according to the FAIR Web site.

Mehlman said the fines illegal immigrants will have to pay aren't that hefty and that the English and U.S. history classes they will have to complete are something everyone desiring legal status in the country should learn.

“Enforce the laws you already have is all we're asking,” Mehlman said.

[LaineyDee]

I don't know about the youth in Oregon...but the High School kids in my community are clamoring to work at the farms, nurseries and dairies. I usually get a couple of them to help with cleanup around the property during the Spring/Fall.

The illegals actually demand MORE money than the HS kids do....and the reason they get it is because no taxes are ever paid. Anyway, the upside of hiring the HS kids, IMHO, is not having to speak Spanish to make myself understood.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I do favor a guest worker program for agriculture, meat packing and food processing.

I don't. These jobs used to be done by college kids in the summer. Now they're out partying or going overseas. I say get rid of the social programs and force the so-called "low-income' folks to do these jobs.

[FrankR]

Need lettuce? two words: Victory Garden

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Why don't people realize that once the invaders are made legal, they won't work cheap anymore?

And they're not going to work in agriculture forever either. They're going to work in the construction and manufacturing sector. Then the farmers are going to cry that they need more immigrants, and the cycle just repeats itself.

[meyer]

“The reality is we need a workforce to harvest crops,” said T. Mark James, executive director of the New York Farm Bureau Finger Lakes Office.

Should read "The reality is that we need a workforce that we can pay under the table for less than minimum wages, and whose benefits are supported by taxpayers and others in general through stealth means so that we can sell our product for 5% less at the market. Illegals fit that description."

[o_zarkman44]

The grocery stores seem to be full of fresh produce.
The way they make it look is that there are millions of acres of crops and produce rotting in the field because there aren’t any cheap labor illegal immigrants working.

I like the statement by the woman who likes to hire locally because the money stays in the local economy and isn’t being sent to a foreign country.
Now THATS what is good for our economy!!

[Triggerhippie]

You have no idea what you’re talking about...

[A.A. Cunningham]

Headline editors have their own agendas.

[ontap]

That would solve 90% of the problem. I don’t care if laborers come here from Mexico, what I do mind is them overloading our schools and emergency rooms, and handing the taxpayers the bill. When employers are faced with providing insurance to offset these expenses their answer is they can’t afford to do so ,what this adds up to is that the taxpayers are subsidizing their operation.

[ontap]

So it’s not jobs Americans won’t do now ,it’s jobs Americans aren’t smart enough to do. Come on , any one can be trained to do these jobs.

[o_zarkman44]

To me limited agriculture is a small family garden plot that produces enough fresh veggies for the family.
If everyone would go back to the basics with the personal garden plot, the legitimacy of those large corporate farms that employ illegals would be minimized. Loss of market share would reduce the need for so many employees.

But I know city folk are helpless dependents on cheap agricultural products. I invest a few dollars in seed and a few hours a week tending the garden plot and don’t need
cheap imigrant labor. If people would be more self sufficient they could solve a lot of our nations problems.
Unfortunately our society has become a lazy lot of obese complainers.

[ontap]

Unfortunately our society has become a lazy lot of obese complainers.

OK! Lets leave weight out of this!! LOL

[Bernard]

“We can't just take people from the welfare roles. (Farming is) a skill,” Marshall said.

Did a real newspaper actually spell it that way?

MICROSOFT SPELLCHECK - doing the spelling that Americans don't want to do for themselves!

[o_zarkman44]

Nothing should be omitted from the discussion if the problem is ever going to be solved. We have been wearing the blinders far too long and let things get out of control.
Sorry!

[bray]

Oh those evil Red State farmers. Everybody on FR knows they are nothing but dirty stinking Slave Owners!! Viva Ceasar Chavez!

Pray for W and Our Troops

[Polybius]

Another example of the MSM trying to convince us there are some jobs Americans won't do. What's funny, however, is the fact that the headline says just that, but the body of the article quotes at least two farmers who prove it wrong.

Let's look at that:

McClure-Berry and three others, all U.S. citizens, farm the 800 acres of land McClure-Berry and her husband own in Genoa without the help from immigrant labor.

So, that farmer has recruited a grand total of ....... drum roll, please ................ three, count 'em, THREE ...... U.S. citizens to produce an unspecified crop on an 800 acre farm.

Can a U.S. farmer find three U.S. citizens to fully run an 800 acre, for example, wheat farm where they drive John Deere combines?

You betcha.

Can a U.S. farmer find dozens of U.S. citizens to fully run an 800 acre, for example, lettuce farm where you need dozens of stoop laborers?

Good luck.

The "WE CAN NOT ALLOW A SINGLE MEXICAN FOREIGNER TO WORK LEGALLY IN THE U.S." mentality is just as responsible for the current illegal alien crisis as the "WE MUST SHOWER EVERY ILLEGAL MEXICAN FOREIGNER IN THIS COUNTRY WITH THE BENEFITS OF CITIZENSHIP" mentality.

Each extreme position simply creates a stalemate where agribusiness does what it needs to do to survive and the politicians look the other way while illegal aliens flood across the border and, after risking their lives in the desert to get here, do not even think about ever going back to their homes in Mexico.

During World War Two and after wards, the U.S. Government's "Bracero Program" ("bracero" was a Mexican term for "unskilled labor") brought in tens of thousands of unskilled Mexican workers into the U.S. to address unskilled labor shortages.

The "Bracero Program" Mexicans came across the border legally on buses. They performed whatever unskilled labor needed doing according to their employment contract. Then, after the work season ended, they went back to their own towns in Mexico to be with their own families and friends with pocket's full of U.S. dollars to enjoy being one of the richest men in the village. The following work season the process was repeated.

No amnesty.

No citizenship.

No welfare.

No sneaking entire families across a desert.

Just a good old-fashioned, common sense business arrangement.

To me, the answer to the current illegal alien flood is simple:

No amnesty.

No "path to citizenship" where ilegal get preferential treatment.

No welfare or other citizenship benefits.

A reestablishment of the common sense Bracero Program we had during the 1940's and 1950's for legitimate unskilled labor needs as described above.

Draconian penalties for employers who then hired illegal alien labor instead of the legal Bracero Program labor.

[Wolfie]

And I can’t find a luxury SUV for $10,000. Doesn’t mean I get to steal one.

[NonValueAdded]

A self-described farmer called Limbaugh and, taking his words at face value, said using the current system is way too expensive and intrusive. Not only is there a myriad of rules dictating housing,etc., [probably down to a menu requirement that rivals Gitmo; my words, not the caller's] but you automatically waive all your Constitutional rights and are subject to continual inspection [consider that inspectors must find stuff in order to justify their bureaucratic existence, let along the corruption possibilities]. I believe he said it is cheaper to hire domestic help than temporary workers [Certainly less risky IMHO].

Now, I'm sure most of the rules are there because of past abuses, but it sure sounds like a typical bureaucratic nightmare. No wonder farmers resort to illegals. And there is nothing in the current bill that tells us the new system would be any better. If Teddy is happy, then you can be sure it would be worse.

[varon]

“We can't just take people from the welfare roles. (Farming is) a skill,” Marshall said.

Yeah right. The swarms of illegals are all "farming school" graduates..............

[ontap]

You are dead on! These people can be brought here to do the work without overloading our resources. Employers should not expect us to subsidize their labor.