AgJOBS Immigration Bill Is Stealth Amnesty

The debate over immigration amnesty could soon return to the Senate floor. According to press reports, Senator Diane Feinstein (D–CA) plans to attach the proposed Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007 (AgJOBS) to the Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007. The AgJOBS bill is all too similar to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that was rejected in Congress last spring, which would have granted amnesty to millions of people who are unlawfully present in the United States. Amnesty would worsen the immigration problem in America, encouraging more illegal border crossings and undermining the credibility of American immigration laws. Congress should reform and expand programs for visiting agricultural workers rather than use farm bill legislation to pass stealth amnesty.

Amnesty Returns

The AgJOBS proposal is a remnant of the failed comprehensive immigration bill, to which it was originally attached. Since that effort failed, AgJOBS advocates have been looking for an alternative vehicle for their bill.

AgJOBS shares the following flaws with the marred comprehensive reform legislation. The bill grants amnesty to agricultural workers who are currently unlawfully present in the United States. According to estimates, approximately 1.5 million workers would be granted "legalization," as well as an additional 1.8 million family members.

In addition, the bill requires immigrant workers to apply for citizenship. Failure to apply for citizenship would result in their deportation. Forcing such choices is itself objectionable. It also makes no sense: Currently, many migrant workers choose to keep permanent residence in their home country; this requirement would not allow such flexibility.

The bill alsomandates that workers cannot be fired without "just cause."This vague standard would likely result in employers being bogged down in litigation.

A Better Way

The agricultural sector in the United States does require seasonal workers, but amnesty is not the answer. Real, sensible immigration reform would help employers hire the workers they need by doing the following:

Not granting amnesty to illegal workers.

Simplifying and expanding existing H2-A programs in a manner that meets the labor demands of the marketplace and respects the rights of individual employees.

Conclusion

Attaching AgJOBS to the farm bill is another attempt at stealth amnesty and would create more problems than it would solve. Congress should reject such approaches and instead concentrate on real reform of existing visa programs, creating credible legal alternatives to illegal border crossing and unlawful presence.

James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is Assistant Director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Senior Research Fellow in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Diem Nguyen is Research Assistant in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

“...Many of the staunch opponents of amnesty are from red states where farming is big business...”

That’s the problem with evil. How can it be so wrong when it looks so good and feels wonderful! So I ask myself, how did farmers manage 40-50 years ago?

Well, they weren’t huge agrabusinesses then but smaller operations. Yes, in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, farmers hired Mexican migrants who moved back and forth across the border regularly in time with the harvests, but many of the workers were also locals. In the late 1960’s I, as a kid, picked strawberries in the Capistrano Valley between San Juan Capistrano and Dohenny State Park (southern California). Many youngsters in western states would work in the fields during the summers months to earn money, help their families out economically. Then Congress made it illegal for kids younger than 18 to do farm labor (Ceasar Chavez had a lot to with this) the only exception being farm family children. Now most young people can’t experience what real work is like until they’re over 18 years of age. Farmers could mechanize, it has been done to harvest asparagus, but it’s very expensive.

I swear, the illegal alien invasion is going to destroy this nation of ours. Immigrants are OK but illegals - NO!

I know full well. I and many of my school friends detasseled corn in the production of seed corn in Indiana in the early 70s. I started when I was 13 and got paid $1.10/hour and usually got the $0.15/hour bonus for being a good worker. There were no illegal aliens doing that work then- maybe an ex-felon or two, but no illegals.

I swear, the illegal alien invasion is going to destroy this nation of ours. Immigrants are OK but illegals - NO!

I'm with you.

Farmers could mechanize, it has been done to harvest asparagus,
but it’s very expensive.

It's expensive only when compared to the current option.
Be a modern-day plantation owner with a low-cost, compliant
(=exploitable) work force,
while the rest of the sucker taxpayers (including ones that will
never buy your produce) pay the REAL COST in terms of Emergency Room
healthcare, getting their anchor-babys (and probably some adults!)
onto SCHIP, and the cost of finding, locking up and feeding
the crimalien demographic in the Illegal Immigrant workforce.

I'm pretty sure that two Oklahoma farmers I know have taken this
approach to getting farm workers...and they are LOVING it!
If they branded their produce, the label would say
"Thanks, You Suckers/Gringos!!!!!"

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