Thread: Help wanted in Colorado — from Mexico

Help wanted in Colorado — from Mexico
Lawmakers want state to recruit laborers in Mexico
Dennis Schroeder © News
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/g ... 49,00.html


Jose Carmen Moralez, a worker at Petrocco Farms in Brighton, picks eggplants Tuesday. Foreman Jose Antonio Zavala, left, a third-generation seasonal farm worker, and Joe Petrocco, a fourth-generation farmer, stand behind him.

By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News
August 22, 2007

Two lawmakers from farm districts want Colorado to be the first state to create a guest worker program allowing immigrants to get visas to work here legally.
They plan to introduce a bill in January to establish a pilot program that calls for Colorado to open an employment office in Mexico.

Preliminary plans call for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment or the Colorado Department of Agriculture to work directly with the Mexican government to expedite applications for work visas.

Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, said that some southern and northern Colorado farmers are struggling to bring in their crops as migrants scared by crackdowns on illegal workers bypass the state.

"We're not talking about hiring illegal workers," Tapia said. "We're not talking about making immigrant workers U.S. citizens. We're talking about cutting through the bureaucracy and finding a way for people to work here legally."

Guest workers would be sought for farming, construction, service and oil-field jobs. Colorado's effort would be modeled, in part, after similar programs in Canada, Looper said.

Canadian provinces such as Alberta have contracts with individual states in Mexico to allow for guest workers.

"If we don't find a way to address the labor shortage, we're going to be in trouble," Looper said. "As it stands now, 40 percent of the state's produce is rotting on the vine."

Looper said farmers in her district aren't hiring migrant workers because they are afraid of getting raided or fined if they can't verify the workers' legal status.

"We need help, and we need to get help here legally," Looper said. "Ag is a big part of the economy in this state."

Tapia said migrant workers were scared by legislation passed in 2006 that requires state identification to get most government services and allowed police to check immigrants' legal status if stopped for a traffic infraction.

The idea of a guest worker program comes at a time when Congress remains deadlocked on comprehensive immigration reform.

With 2008 being a presidential election year, it's unlikely the federal government will establish a guest worker program, Tapia said.

Tapia estimates it would cost the state up to $1 million to set up an employment office and properly track migrant workers. The state and employers also would be required to provide migrant housing and transportation, Tapia said.

But Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, a vocal critic of illegal immigration, said that any guest worker program should be created by the federal government and not individual states.

"I believe we need to ensure we have enough workers to help farmers, but perhaps they need to look for U.S. citizens and pay an appropriate wage for them to go out and work," Harvey said.

Tapia and Looper said Colorado farmers have depended on a immigrant work force for decades. The shortage of workers willing to pick potatoes, melons and other labor-intensive crops, they say, is real, not imaginary.

Last March, the Department of Corrections launched a pilot program to allow more than a dozen farms to contract with the state to provide low-risk female inmates to pick crops.

"Prison labor is a temporary fix," Tapia said. "It's a fix for Pueblo. It's not a fix of El Paso or Las Animas.

"I contend that the U.S. citizens are not there to be hired. There are just some labor jobs Americans do not want to do," he said.

What's next

• If the legislature approves the guest worker program, it likely won't go into effect until the 2009 planting season.

• Legal hurdles to the guest worker plan remain, said Cher Roybal Haavind, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

• The U.S. State Department and immigration enforcement agencies, for example, likely would have to give Colorado the green light to set up an employment office in Mexico.

washingtonam@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5086

"If we don't find a way to address the labor shortage, we're going to be in trouble," Looper said. "As it stands now, 40 percent of the state's produce is rotting on the vine."

Hire illegals and the other 60% will rot on the shelfs!!!
Hire Americans come on now I know they need jobs!!!

They can not do that, Mexico can not give away visa's to work in the states they have to come thru U.S. immigration and customs and they do have a limit on visa and green cards. Just what in the hell are they trying to pull. what happen to this is a federal matter? Someone better stop this right away!!! These people must of fallen off the turnup truck!!

Just how many of those farm workers have they let come in and go to other types of jobs, if they are not smart enough by now to fix that problem they should not be in business!!

There is absolutely no reason for bringing in "guest workers" whether they be from Mexico or Mars.

I don't care what job it is, there are going to be plenty of American citizens who will be thankful to have that job.

Most states have the "Welfare to Work" program and those who participate must maintain some type of employment to keep their benefits but are having difficulty finding any type of employment thanks to illegals. Hire those folks!!

What about those who have been through the criminal justice system for non violent offenses yet cannot find traidtional employment after release?

What about those required to perform community service for some non violent infraction?

How about dead beat parents who haven't paid child support because, they claim, they can't afford to? Let the courts send them to work on the farms with their wages going to their kids?

These are just a few suggestions for finding people other than "guest workers". The solutions are out there, the farmers just can't be bothered looking for them!!!