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Bill would halt illegal farmworkers
The measure could affect 90% of workers, state growers say.
Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 14, 2005

An immigration bill headed for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week would cripple Florida's multibillion-dollar agriculture industry if it becomes law as now written, a group representing the state's farmers warned Congress on Tuesday.

In a sternly worded letter faxed to lawmakers, the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association said that: "Because Florida agriculture is so heavily dependent upon aliens with fake documents to harvest our fruits and vegetables," as much as 90 percent of the work force could be eliminated, "which could spell the end of labor-intense agriculture not only in Florida but across the U.S."

"The implication is frightening. We're very concerned," said Ray Gilmer, spokesman for the fruit-and-vegetable association. The Maitland-based group represents farmers who grow citrus and fruits and vegetables that depend on immigrant labor -- and many illegal immigrants.

The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437) was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last week and stands a good chance of passing the full House before lawmakers adjourn for the holidays.

One aspect of the bill that worries farmers in Florida and elsewhere, Gilmer said, is a provision for "mandatory electronic verification" that workers are in the country legally.

"It would seriously close the door on illegal workers to serve on Florida farms," Gilmer said.

Supporters of the bill contend that is exactly why the law is needed, to bring greater control to the country's porous borders, particularly with Mexico, by reducing the incentive for young immigrants to enter the country illegally for low-paying farming, construction and service-sector jobs.

The bill has a two-year grace period, giving the Social Security administration time to develop the rapid electronic-verification system for matching workers with legal IDs such as Social Security numbers. But the delay would also give industries a chance to wean themselves from the practice.

A Senate version of the bill is likely to contain a "guest worker" provision that would give workers already illegally in the country a chance to keep their jobs through a registration program. The fruit-and-vegetable association supports a guest-worker program, which the Bush administration also touts.

In the fax sent to lawmakers, Walter Kates, the fruit-and-vegetable association's director of labor relations, said that, if the bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., becomes law without a guest-worker provision to ensure stability in the foreign-labor supply, "it will be the ruin of Florida agriculture."

But supporters of a crackdown on illegal immigration said Tuesday that the agriculture industry's historic flouting of U.S. law by condoning the use of such workers is at the heart of the problem.

"The idea that they complain that they should be able to do something that's strictly illegal is laughable," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

FAIR is a nonprofit lobbying group that for more than 20 years has tried to slow the tide of illegal immigration.

The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank, estimated this week that there are 9.7 million illegal immigrants living in the country -- and a record 35.2 million foreign-born people, who make up 12.1 percent of the population. Other estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the United States range as high as 13 million.

Mehlman said public pressure is building for tougher border controls, but the likelihood, he said, is that any successful House bill will be altered in the Senate with a guest-worker program. A conference committee would attempt to work out the difference.

FAIR offers lukewarm support for the Sensenbrenner bill, preferring a stronger bill with a more "complete package" of employment verification, border-control spending and construction of a vast fence to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border. That bill is given less of a chance for passage, however.

"It may be that, after the first of the year, we'll be right back at square one where we are today," Mehlman said.