Thread: CA:More {SOBS} over No-Match Policy

Farmers, workers worry over 'no-match' policy
By Kimberlina Rocha
Staff writer

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Ulises, 19, makes $7.50 an hour packing grapes in a vineyard south of Exeter.

Carlos, 34, earns between $830 and $850 a week, weighing grape packages in the same vineyard.
Both came here illegally from Mexico, and though they have jobs, neither is legally entitled to work in the United States.

Ulises and Carlos are two of perhaps 7.2 million targets of new federal rules intended to deny them jobs here and, possibly, to fine employers who hired them. The numbers are based upon a 2006 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The rules, originally scheduled to take effect Sept. 14, were delayed last week by a federal judge in San Francisco.

If the government is able to satisfy legal barriers, the effect could extend beyond Ulises and Carlos and others working here illegally to major sectors of the Valley economy.

Farmers, farmworkers and other industry leaders fear the ramifications the new rules could have on an economy that relies heavily on a migrant work force, some here legally and some, like Ulises and Carlos, who are not.

Farmworker advocates believe the number of undocumented immigrants in the Central Valley ranges from 60,000 to 100,000, with more than 90 percent providing manual farm labor.

Farmers and other employers likely to be affected argue that the new rules would place them in the difficult — and legally perilous — situation of having to distinguish fraudulent documents, like those used by Carlos and Ulises, from those that are real.

They worry that the rules could possibly lead them to fire legal workers because the Social Security Administration doesn't have the infrastructure to help clear up discrepancies within the 90-day period the rules require.

County farm bureau
Patricia Stever, executive director for the Tulare County Farm Bureau, said the new rules could have a devastating effect on the county's $3.8 billion ag industry that relies on foreign-born workers.

She said there has been a lot of concern from growers throughout the area. She said many have questions on how exactly the new rules would be enforced.

Stever said the farm bureau will host a series of workshops this month to help answer questions on how to deal with a no-match letter.

She said it's the farm bureau's intention to hire legal workers. However, she noted, there are loopholes in the system where undocumented workers are employed, and employers often are unable to determine which documents are fraudulent.

"It wasn't the place of the employer to discern those documents," she said. "They were taken at face value."

Stever said the farm bureau and other agricultural representatives will continue to push for legislation for a feasible guest-worker program.

"We will continue to encourage Congress for immigration reform," Stever said, "so we can continue to have the most affordable and safe food in the nation."

Shirley Batchman, director of industry relations at Citrus Mutual, agrees that without comprehensive policy on immigration, the ag industry is destined for extremely challenging times.

She said with the new rules and tightened border control, the ag industry is already seeing dwindling numbers in workers.

"With the no-match [enforcements] it could become more scarce," she said. "We're pretty much in a wait-and-see situation."

Carlos, who like Ulises spoke on the condition that his last name not be used, said he has mixed feelings about the new rules being implemented. A part of him is afraid, he said, and another side is doubtful.

"If they fire me, who's going to do my job?" he said in Spanish. "I don't think employers will be able to carry on."

Carlos has been living here for 10 years, working six days a week in vineyards and orange and olive fields in the sweltering heat and the freezing cold.

"This isn't the type of work a citizen will be willing to do," he said.

He said his wages here are substantial compared to his weekly salary in Jalisco, Mexico. Over there, he said, he made $70 a week working in a factory.

Ulises came from Michoacan, Mexico, in January to live with his aunt and uncle. He said with his new job he's able to put food on the table.

Carlos and Ulises said they were able to find work by supplying fake documents.

Carlos said he wants to work on becoming a citizen, but finds little time between work and school.

"It's tough," he said. "I wish I knew how to do it."

Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, estimated the documented labor force in the Central Valley is less than 130,000, which is considered low.

Cunha said the economic impact of the possible new guidelines could be in the billions on all major businesses, including the restaurant, construction and hotel industries, where undocumented workers are employed.

"This is a very serious issue," he said. "We would have no workers to hire for the fall. If we do hire someone, we can be sued for asking too much information."

He said if a business has 50 percent to 80 percent of their workers fall into the no-match category, the proposed regulations could send an overwhelming amount of employees on the unemployment roll.

With the flaws in the SSA's record keeping, he said, those being the targets of no-match letters could be U.S. citizens.

"They don't realize that mismatch people could be legal," he said. "If they're earning the wages they are now on unemployment, the system could go bust."

Local incidents
Amando Apodaco, owner of The Depot restaurant in Visalia and president of the Tulare County chapter of the California Restaurant Association, said it would be daunting for employers to determine if work documents are legal.

"The documents can be made to look flawless," he said. "We don't want to hire undocumented workers, but you don't know if they are or not."

He said the new regulations could place an unfair bias on people who speak no English or have foreign surnames.

He recalled that a couple of years ago a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agent was eating lunch at his restaurant. Apodaco said when a Hispanic employee passed by, the agent immediately stopped him and asked for his papers.

The agent questioned the man and told Apodaco that his employee's forms were not authentic. Apodaco said he had to interfere and prove the forms were valid.

"The agent was on the phone for about 45 minutes, trying to verify it," he said.

Apodaco said the forms were legal and the employee was allowed to leave.

"The kitchen staff was upset after that," he said. "[The worker] was the first Hispanic person he had seen in the restaurant."

Since the proposed regulations were announced in early August, Apodaco said he had noticed that applications from the Hispanic community have stopped.

"I used to get five to six a day," he said. "Now, I don't get any at all."

Graciela Martinez of Proyecto Campesino, an advocacy organization for farmworkers, said the new rules could punish undocumented workers.

"It's shameful what's going to happen to these people," she said. "They're not criminals if they go to another country and want a better life."

She said the tough rules could possibly drive undocumented workers underground where they would be subject to more abuses.

"When you're undocumented," she said, "you don't want to bring attention to yourself."

Martinez said she has been speaking to several farmers and they have expressed their concerns on how they will manage their crops with a short-labor supply.

She said hopefully, both laborers and farmers can collaborate and find a solution.

"Farmers and farmworkers must come together," she said. "We hold the key to one of the largest areas of agriculture."

# The reporter can be reached at krocha@visalia.gannett.com.


http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/p ... /709080348

Farmers need to get busy and get informed on how mechanization can reduce their need for human labor. America is lagging behind other industrialised nations in this, because we have had a cheap supply of labor across the border.

Also, if it's hard to find farmworkers these days, that's because many of them are employed more lucratively in construction jobs. They're doing a lot of work under the table, not in compliance with codes, not carrying insurance or business licenses, and displacing Americans who had previously done those trades.

Farmworkers and their legal advocates have been altering the course of American imdustry for over thirty years, by suing to stop innovative agricultural research in public universities. The "demand" for farmworkers has been the gateway by which a whole population has made an invasive foray into this country.

Executive Summary...Illegal aliens and their lowlife exploiters/employers are scared this just might work! Oh goodness, then who will do the work Americans won't do for peanuts?

Does the whining ever end? These criminal employers know dog gone well that they are willfully hiring illegal aliens. For those who don't here's some clues:

Your workers DONOT UNDERSTAND OR SPEAK A WORD OF THE KING"s English;

They happily work long hours with little pay and NO BENEFITS;

They live with a hundred other people who look just like them and they DON'T SPEAK OR UNDERSTAND ENGLISH EITHER;

Carlos and Ulises said they were able to find work by supplying fake documents.

Carlos said he wants to work on becoming a citizen, but finds little time between work and school.

"It's tough," he said. "I wish I knew how to do it."

School . . . . really? Maybe you need to drop out of school, stop working, take your a** home and seek help from the consulate in YOUR HOMELAND and apply from there.

Carlos, 34, earns between $830 and $850 a week, weighing grapes.

"This isn't the type of work a citizen will be willing to do," he said.

Are you kidding me? Where are these type of jobs when an american goes looking for work? 850 a week for weighing grapes???

"Graciela Martinez of Proyecto Campesino, an advocacy organization for farmworkers, said the new rules could punish undocumented workers."

duh! That's what the laws are supposed to do dummy! Take away their jobs! They have NO RIGHT to work in the U.S. THEY ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Carlos has been living here for 10 years, working six days a week in vineyards and orange and olive fields in the sweltering heat and the freezing cold.

"This isn't the type of work a citizen will be willing to do," he said.

Maybe he should talk to some of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan about how hard it is to work in the sweltering heat and freezing cold. American citizens can't work under these conditions, huh azzhat?

Yes, please mechanize NOW so we are not bombarded with these repetitive sob stories.

Necessity is the mother of invention. I have read that, years ago farmers in Australia found themselves in the same predicament as American farmers, needing laborers to work the harvest. Not having a labor pool available they were forced to design and build machinery to fill the need.

It seems to me that the American farmer needs to create that demand by having their illicit labor pool completely removed. The farmers can get breaks from the government to defer the cost of the machinery much like other businesses write off their operating expenses (I'm sure they already get it in subsidies and other forms). Would not the abused American tax payer gladly allow the governmet the leeway to grant money to colleges or other institutions to do R&D and bring these machines to the farmers? Rather machines I say, than to spend money in an endless chain supporting the anchor babies the illegal aliens drop in multiple numbers. A press release from the office of the Mayor of Los Angeles County stated that $276,000,000 were spent in welfare payments to the children of illegal aliens. This is in Los Angeles County alone, for one year! Multiply this number with the number of sanctuary cities in America to get an idea what it costs just for welfare!

It is easy for the President of Mexico to make statements like "where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico!" He and other leaders of third world countries fear nothing from our politicians, whom very likely have been bought and paid for. Bought and paid for by the special interest groups that are enriched by the low wages the illegals work for and the less in business expenses that are not paid for legitimate US workers. The rich Mexicans laugh all the way to the bank, not paying taxes for infrastructure, hospitals, schools or the like, letting the stupid Americans do it for them.

The drug cartels in Mexico have an interest in lobbying for open borders don't you think? I'm sure that most politicians of today give nary a damn for America, if they had we would not find our country in the current sorry shape that it is in. See what is happening with the Mexican truck deal and NAFTA? American truckers and travellers of our nations highways beware!

I am 54 years old, a Viet Nam era veteran on one end of a military career and a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War at the other. I have seen the steady decline of America from the school yard to the ship yard. The handywork of degenerates like the ACLU who support murderers, rapists and perverts. Judges who let off illegal gangsters to rob and murder (New Jersey being a recent example). Ineffective enforcement of illegal entrants, if caught and deported, they return in days or weeks. This is not the America of my youth or of my fathers time.

The illegal alien owes nothing to this country and especially loyalty. They would be the first to run back if America were to be attacked by enemy invaders. Would the mothers of anchor babies offer their children for Americas safety against it enemies? I think not, Mexico is near by and a haven to escape to if need be. Never forget that the illegal alien is here for the money, it is their primary motive for being here, nothing else!

America is weak, America is ill, America is dying. All at the hands of rotten and corrupted politicians (sounds like Mexico is here already)! It is time to oust these politicos whose sole intrest is that of linning their pockets at the expense of the true American patriots. America needs true conservatives in the government, not weak kneed and spineless runts. America needs to go back to a time when real men were true patriots, those whose words bespoke of truth and the justice that truth brings! Not the wormy words spoken in the lexicon of political correctness.

I loosely quote Sir Winston Churchill in "Rivers of Africa": If you will not fight when victory is sure, you might find yourself in a situation where you must fight when victory is in doubt. Or worse, you may yet have to fight because it is better to fight and die rather than live as slaves".

Welcome Blue_Hoss, excellent post!