Thread: Growers told immigration reform unlikely before 2010

Growers told immigration reform unlikely before 2010
MAI HOANG

Growers will continue to experience difficulties in finding enough workers because passage of comprehensive immigration reform may be delayed until at least 2010.

During a panel discussion Thursday before a group of 60 Hispanic growers and ranchers, Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, said new laws passed recently, such as those in Arizona and Oklahoma, have focused only on enforcement tactics, such as securing borders and penalizing employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

Those measures, though, don’t bode well for the state’s agricultural industry, which needs comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers along with protecting our borders, said Gempler, whose organization represents growers in labor issues.

Gempler noted that John McCain, one of the authors of a comprehensive immigration bill, said during a Republican primary debate Wednesday that if he was elected president, he would not vote for the pathway to citizenship portion of his initial reform bill because the public wants secured borders first.

Given the political climate and the upcoming presidential election, Gempler estimated that possible passage of comprehensive immigration reform wouldn’t occur until 2010 at the earliest.

“As you know, the political environment is toxic when it comes to the immigration issue,â€

[quote]“I think both growers and workers want resolution,â€

Meanwhile, Gempler said programs such as the federal H-2A program do guarantee documented workers. But that assurance comes with a high price — in 2008, the employer will be required to provide housing and transportation to and from work, and pay at least $9.92 an hour.

That's a heckuva deal--when you can lve for just a few hundred dollars a month in Mexico!