Farm bill could spark fight over immigrant labor
Monday, October 29, 2007


Zippy Duvall - Download MP3-

By Herman Wang
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Senate could be gearing up for another immigration fight with the pending farm bill as the backdrop.

Senate Democratic leaders said they may attach an amendment to the farm bill, which is expected to be considered in the next two week, that could offer legal status to more than 1.2 million immigrant workers.

Supporters said the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, or AgJOBS, would address farm labor shortages, as tightened border controls in the wake of 9/11 have reduced the supply of immigrant workers.

But opponents, including the four Republican senators from Tennessee and Georgia, said the amendment provides "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.

"I can't support the AgJOBS provision, because it gives illegal aliens the ability to become eligible for permanent visas," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "We need to first address the problem of our broken border -- not legislation to protect workers illegally here -- if we want a strong rule of law."
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates about 53 percent of farm workers between 2001 and 2005 were illegal.

Earlier this year, the Senate, with Republicans holding firm to a filibuster threat, rejected a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which contained a version of AgJOBS. President Bush supported the legislation.

Now, supporters are promoting the bill as protecting the country's agriculture industry and preventing farm production from moving overseas.

AgJOBS provides temporary visas to undocumented agricultural workers who have been here for two years, with an opportunity for them to obtain green cards if they agree to work for three years in agriculture, while meeting certain qualifications, including learning English.

"Right now, agriculture is in a crisis," said Scott Gerber, a spokesman for Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., a main backer of AgJOBS. "We've got shortages, and we've got farmers who have decided not to plant this year out of fear there wouldn't be enough labor. What's needed is a stable, reliable source of labor for agriculture, and that's what AgJOBS does."

Mr. Gerber said Sen. Feinstein may attach AgJOBS to the farm bill or offer it as a stand-alone bill later.
In 2005, a version of AgJOBS gained 53 votes, which was short of the 60 needed under procedural rules for it to pass.

The legislation is supported by a coalition of farm, business and labor groups. It is opposed mostly by strong-border control advocates.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to members of Congress urging its passage. It said the current "enforcement-only approach to immigration policy is resulting in significant loss of American jobs."
"Most of these jobs will go where the production goes," the Chamber wrote. "Failure to enact good immigration reform now is simply bad for business, bad for the economy and bad for U.S. workers."

The Tennessee Farm Bureau has not endorsed AgJOBS, though a spokeswoman for the organization said a worker program for farms is needed. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported in 2006 that the number of hired farm workers in Tennessee decreased 9 percent for the year.

"We are taking the position that there has to be immigration reform in this country," spokeswoman Rhedona Rose said. "The flow of illegals has to be stopped, but we also think there needs to be a way to find willing, law-abiding people to work in the United States."

Zippy Duvall, president of the Georgia Farm Bureau, said he backs AgJOBS but does not favor a provision that requires migrant workers to work in agriculture for only three to five years before they can earn legal status.

"The concern is, after a certain amount of working in agriculture, they can go anywhere they want to," he said. "And then what would happen to agriculture at that point? Where would the workers come from. But we definitely need a workable program. We're not real wild about (AgJOBS), but it's better than nothing."
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said he prefers the so-called 10-2 program, where temporary workers get to spend 10 months here each year and the other two months in their country of origin.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable approach," he said.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said instead of AgJOBS, Congress should simplify the existing farm guest worker program, called H2A. Fewer than 2 percent of farms use the bureaucratic H2A program, in which farmers must apply for workers about a month in advance, even though harvests can be unpredictable. AgJOBS addresses some H2A reforms.

"It's way too cumbersome to deal with," he said. "Farmers are not going to use it. Let's reform what we already have. Certainly the AgJOBS would be something that would cause me not to support the ag bill as it is today."

That is why Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, would prefer that AgJOBS not be attached to the farm bill, which provides government subsidies to farmers and funds nutrition programs.

The committee last week unveiled the $280 billion bill, which would increase money for conservation programs, energy programs and farm loans.

Sen. Chambliss "believes immigration should be addressed separately from the farm bill," spokeswoman Lindsay Taylor Mabry said. "Therefore, if it were added as an amendment on the floor he would not be happy about it."
E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com

http://www.timesfreepress.com/absoluten ... &zoneid=77