- U.S. Immigration Policy is not a Governmental Success
- By Kevin Morgan
Florida Farm Bureau
- Our National Immigration Policy is certainly not the “shining star” of federal government efficiency. It has many problems including complicated and expensive procedures that make it difficult for people who want to migrate to the United States. It is also difficult for employers to use existing laws to secure a viable workforce and thus reduce their business risks.
Many business owners will tell you that domestic workers will not fill certain jobs. This is why foreign workers are successfully filling jobs in specific fields of employment like agriculture, hotels/motels, restaurants and construction. The reason domestic workers are reluctant to seek employment in these areas is not a “wage thing” but more of a “work thing.” U.S. farm worker wage rates reported by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) during October of 2001 show an average of $8.01 per hour for field workers, which is well above minimum wage.
The connection between farm labor shortages and national immigration policy has once again emerged as a major policy issue for this Congress. It is a political “hot potato” for our current administration and for the Mexican administration as well. Florida is highly dependent on hand labor, and because of the increased focus on homeland security, we are seeing a reduction in the number of foreign workers (many of whom work in agriculture) who are entering the country.
DOL estimates show that slightly more than one-half of today’s farm workers are here illegally and are not eligible to hold U.S. jobs. Growers are concerned (and rightly so) that if certain federal activities are effective, they could lose a considerable portion of their labor force. Farm Bureau asked the Bush Administration to consider the potential loss of a legal workforce as a significant threat to homeland security. If there were no workers to harvest U.S. fresh fruits and vegetables, it would cause significant problems for our population.
I receive calls for advice from farmers who are being told by their workers that they know ways to “get legal” that are outside of the normal procedures. There are no magic programs that will allow currently undocumented aliens to become instantly eligible to work in the United States. The only way to gain legalization or work authorization is through rigid federal government procedures and programs. In fact, federal agencies are revitalizing their efforts to secure our borders, track immigrants, stop illegal immigration and shore up homeland security.
President Vincente Fox of Mexico and President Bush are meeting again this month to discuss improvements to immigration reform. The current mechanism for bringing in agricultural guest workers, the H-2A non-immigrant visa, has experienced a modest surge in recent years; the 28,560 H-2A non-immigrants admitted in 1999 comprise only a tiny fraction of the 1.2 million farm workers here.
Florida farmers find the H-2A program in its current form inflexible, filled with burdensome regulations, very expensive, and full of potential litigation expenses for employers. Growers need reasonable assurances that workers will be available when crops are ready to harvest. Because of the perishable nature of our crops, we support extensive changes that would increase the speed with which employers could hire foreign workers and reduce the government’s ability to delay such employment.
There are growers in parts of the country that very effectively use the current H-2A program. As an example, many tobacco growers in the Southeast are satisfied with the current H-2A program because it works for them while Florida growers are not satisfied with it. This lack of agreement between growers has given some congressmen the wiggle room they need to be non-committal.
Farm Bureau continues to express concern that the large number of illegal aliens in agriculture, combined with stepped up Immigration and Naturalization Service enforcement, and recent immigration reforms, is resulting in an unstable workforce and a potential labor shortage.
Congressional efforts are on track for a serious effort to reform immigration policy. The details of any immigration legislation will be very controversial. One of the most controversial provisions is adjustment of status legislation for unauthorized aliens that are presently residing in this country. Many Congressional leaders view adjustment of status as an essential part of the legislation, others view it as a deal breaker. Any “Adjustment of Status” for illegal aliens, they say, only fosters further flows of illegal aliens.
Our country has a heightened awareness and is paying greater attention to immigration reform efforts since the September 11th attacks. It is apparent that there is a stronger attitude among voters to “control our nation’s borders.” It is also apparent that any legislation including a broad adjustment of status program is going to be very difficult to pass through this congress.
Farm Bureau members’ role in this process is to urge Congress to act in order to insure your ability to harvest crops in a timely fashion. We want to maintain our ability to provide the freshest, safest, and most abundant fresh produce in the world.
The Florida Farm Bureau will continue to press forward on this issue and make every effort to enact our policy, which is to “simplify the use of legal foreign workers and make sure that these uses are cost competitive.”
