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Leahy seeks to help Mexican farm workers

By Sam Hemingway

February 27, 2007
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wants to legalize the presence of an estimated 2,000 undocumented Mexican workers employed on dairy farms in Vermont, according to remarks he plans to make Wednesday when the Judiciary Committee he chairs convenes its first 2007 hearing on immigration reform.

"Finding help on the farm is becoming increasingly difficult on hundreds of Vermont farms," Leahy says in a portion of a prepared statement released by his office to The Burlington Free Press on Monday. "Many have turned to migrant workers from Mexico and Central America."

Leahy said the hiring of illegal workers to do jobs most Vermonters no longer want to do is helping preserve dairy farming in the state, but puts the workers and their farmer employers in a difficult position.

"We know there is something wrong with this hodge-podge arrangement, and we need to do better," said Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. "We need to bring order and common sense to an out-of-order system."

Wednesday's hearing is scheduled to take testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Leahy said he plans to press both men to see if the White House is committed to having comprehensive immigration reform passed.

"We're not going to start marking up the bill until the president indicates he is solidly on board with it," Leahy said. "We can get most Democrats to vote for it, but we need to have a sizeable number of Republican votes for it, too."

In the meantime, Leahy said he will work for passage of an Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security bill introduced last month by Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

Under that bill, 1.5 million illegal immigrants working on farms in the United States would be allowed to apply for a "blue card" permitting them to stay in the country. They would not have to return to their homeland before applying for the card.

To qualify for the card, they would pay an application fee and a $500 fine. They would also have to show they have been employed at the farms for at least 150 days in the past two years, have paid taxes and have no serious criminal record.

The proposed law would allow an applicant's "blue card" to be extended for up to three years, at which time the card holder could apply for a "green card," awarding them permanent residency status.

Leahy said he has introduced a provision in the so-called AgJOBS bill to let dairy workers and sheep and goat herders seek "blue cards." The provision also requires employers to prove they cannot find local people to do the work.

Historically, only foreign workers performing short-term work to help harvest crops -- like apple picking -- are allowed visas to enter the United States legally. Persons doing long-term, year-round farm work -- such as milking cows -- have always been excluded from obtaining legal work visas.

Leahy said he disagreed with critics who argue the "blue card" plan sends the wrong message to Mexican and other immigrants by not punishing them for entering the country illegally.

"How do you round up 12 million people?" he asked, referring to the estimated number of illegal immigrants in the United States. "What are you going to do with their kids, many of whom were born in the states and are here legally? It's very simplistic to say 'Send them home.'"

The AgJOBS bill is similar to a measure that passed the Senate in May as part of immigration reform legislation but failed to make it through the House.