Thread: FL: Their battle isn’t over

Their battle isn’t over

Advocates keeping an eye on potentially harmful legislation

By Laura Layden (Contact)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Florida farmworkers won a few battles last year.

Their advocates hope they will win a few more this legislative session. But the atmosphere is tough, as state legislators grapple with a tight budget and Congress considers comprehensive immigration reform that could affect all farmworkers who are here illegally.

“There is still a reticence on the part of state legislators to take action on issues that affect immigrants,” said Karen Woodall, a lobbyist for the Farmworker Association of Florida and Farmworkers Self-Help, a grass-roots organization focused on social justice. “They are just skittish about it.”

Many of the battles advocates have been fighting at the state level could be resolved if some of the new immigration bills Congress is bantering about pass.

“In the meantime, people have to be careful and watchful of negative, harmful legislation that gets filed,” she said.

Advocates are watching several bills they say could hurt farmworkers. One of them would require law enforcement officers, deputy sheriffs, correctional officers and circuit court clerks to report suspected illegal aliens who are “arrested, detained or convicted of a felony,” to the Immigration & Customs Enforcement office.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, and Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Jacksonville.

There’s a concern that law officers might start pulling anyone over that they suspect could be here illegally, which could lead to racial profiling, said Sheila Hopkins, an associate director for the Florida Catholic Conference, focused on social concerns.

“Law enforcement officers aren’t immigration specialists,” she said. “Immigration is very complicated and very complex.”

Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, is most concerned about a bill he says would make it much more difficult to build farmworker housing.

Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, who represents part of Collier County, and Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, sponsored the legislation.

The bill lists conditions that allow local governments to reject sites for migrant housing. Those conditions include a determination that the housing “will result in the substantial alteration of the nature and character of the area.”

Under the bill, a migrant housing project couldn’t be located within 1,200 feet of another one, or within 500 feet of an area zoned for single-family homes.

“Basically it would give local governments veto power over the permitting of migrant labor camps and migrant housing,” Williams said.

In Florida, agriculture employs about 150,000 farmworkers, and they have a desperate need for housing. The proposed bill would only exacerbate the problem, Williams said.

“It’s actually just simply becoming impossible to build farmworker housing because local communities apparently don’t want any farmworkers living within hundreds of miles,” he said.

He said Charlotte County recently denied a farmworker housing project on Highway 31 south of Arcadia because the owners of land nearby, who plan to develop single-family homes, didn’t want it in their backyard.

What’s ironic, Williams said, is that the area is so remote there isn’t a grocery store for 20 miles, yet the project got rejected.

While Williams is watching state legislators closely, he’s more focused on Congress now. He and other farmworker advocates are pushing for passage of the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act, which would overhaul the H-2A guest worker program and give experienced, undocumented farmworkers the chance to become legal residents in the United States.

“That will really change things very significantly for Florida’s farmworkers,” he said.

Back at the state level, other concerns include cuts in health care and social services, and money for the active enforcement of the state’s pesticide regulations.

Advocates want to make sure farmworkers are protected from exposure to dangerous chemicals.

“Really they need to add more inspectors,” Hopkins said, referring to the Florida Department of Agriculture. “They keep cutting their staff. So how do they think they are going to be effective?”

Advocates fret over how the Real ID program passed by Congress is hurting farmworkers in Florida.

Under the program, Florida is denying and refusing to renew driver’s licenses for undocumented workers. No legislation is on the table to change that this session, but there is a move to try to come up with a solution for enforcement of the federal law. A change may be made administratively, Woodall said.

“A driver license is only a test of your ability to drive safely,” she said. “It shouldn’t really be caught up in the debate about immigration reform.”

“Families are suffering,” Hopkins said. “People are out there driving now without driver licenses. It shouldn’t be a national identification card, which is what they are trying to do with the new Real ID law.”

Two states have rejected the program, and others are considering it, she said.

There is some promising legislation for farmworkers this session, including bills that would overhaul the state’s KidCare program, which provides health care to the state’s uninsured children.

On Wednesday, the Senate Health Policy Committee passed a bill that would streamline the program, making it easier to access, and restore coverage for children of legal immigrants.

The House is expected to take up a similar bill this week, and representatives are talking about including coverage for immigrant children, Woodall said.

For the past two weeks, advocates have taken kids around the Capitol to talk to legislators about why it’s important, she said.

“There is a long way to go,” Woodall said.

Lobbyists have pushed for $15 million to help cover immigrant children, who can’t qualify for federal assistance until they have lived in the country for five years. The appropriation would allow about 12,000 kids who weren’t born in the United States to enroll in KidCare.

By making the program easier to get into, other farmworker families should benefit.

“People get all paranoid about undocumented workers,” Woodall said. “The reality is they don’t quality for anything.”

Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, has sponsored a bill that would change the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits, allowing people to count their most recent work history, which is now excluded.

It’s something that would benefit farmworkers who are here legally, and are often denied assistance because they don’t work year-round, Woodall said.

“You skip your most recent quarter of work and go back before that,” she explained. “So it’s very unfair to people who do seasonal work, and that includes a lot of times hotel and motel workers, construction workers — and agriculture is impacted by that quite a bit.”

The bill hasn’t gained momentum, she said.

“We have not pushed it yet,” Woodall said. “We need to push it because the session is moving rapidly.”

Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, has proposed banning the use of the words “illegal alien” in official state documents. She doesn’t like the word “alien.”

Advocates say her bill is a way to make a point about the people who have been lumped together under a derogatory word.

“...We are not talking about aliens,” Woodall said. “We are talking about neighbors. We are talking about children and we are talking about working people.”

Last year, advocates were successful in getting legislation approved that requires seat belts in most vehicles transporting farmworkers. But they didn’t claim victory on much else, Woodall said.

“It’s always frustrating when it seems you are only able to win on one issue each session,” she said.

But for advocates and farmworkers, one win is better than none.

http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2007/mar ... local_news

I worked at a hospital here in Florida. One that deals only with
children.
But, since one of my posts got deleted on another forum site, I
am not sure anymore what I am allowed to say. I can say that
none of these children here in Florida are lacking for free health
care...none of them. And it is NOT hard to get the healthcare.
And it is not hard to get to the hospital even if it is 100 miles
away because the healthcare program or hospital pays for their
cab ride to the hospital.

I just sent this response to the editor.

You got to love the openness in addressing issues designed to benefit illegal farm workers. Obviously the immigrations laws have been ignored for so long that admission of their presence causes no concern. It is clearly stated in the Federal immigration law and in the Florida state statutes that it is illegal to hire someone that’s in the country illegally. Further, it is also stated that it is illegal to aid or encourage someone to stay in the country illegally. Why are not these issues being raised at the state legislature?

If the legitimate advocates of those in this country legally would take an aggressive stand for the existing rule of law to apply to those who are here illegally, maybe they would not have to fight so hard for concessions for the legal farm workers. As long as those who are pro-amnesty continue to blur the lines between legal and illegal, the opposition to passing laws granting rights to illegals will continue. The legislators know this, why do you think this debate has lasted as long as it has?

Our Florida lawmakers are justifiably skittish about taking action on farm worker issues. Florida’s legislators are focused on assisting the legal Floridians struggling to balance the rising cost of health, homeowner’s and auto insurance, against stagnant wages and rising property taxes. A wrong step could mean the end of their political career.

If our legislators are presented with arguments phrased as Ms. Layden’s, I wholeheartedly understand their reticence to take action. The presumption that the terms ‘illegal immigrant’ and ‘farm worker’ are interchangeable would cause any lawmaker to back away. Our legislators are smart enough to see that voting for one would be tacit approval of the other.

Advocates of illegal alien’s rights do not want local law enforcement empowered to deal with issues of immigration status. As first responders, police have the best opportunity to identify those illegally in the country. It serves the illegal’s agenda to keep law enforcement’s hands tied. The advocates use the argument of ‘fear of racial profiling’ and ‘complexity of immigration laws’ to protect their agenda and keep local police ineffective in this role.

Another argument of the pro-amnesty advocate is strong opposition to a standardized, verifiable identification system. We are presented over and over with the same tired lament that it would be discriminatory, racist, and promote racial profiling. If there were a verifiable ID system, the status of anyone arrested or detained could be verified, and if that were to become part of the procedures, like Miranda, there could be no claim of racism. Current booking procedures have masked the problem. They have kept the illegals’ status from being reported, making it impossible to quantify if there is a problem. You have to wonder what is more important to these so-called advocates, aiding and abetting illegal aliens or public safety. I believe the effects of their actions speak for them. But where are all the advocates standing up for those whose identities have been stolen?

Sen. Frederica Wilson’s proposed ban on the term “illegal alien” in official state documents is amusing. Maybe someone should remind her why she is in office. We the People generally do not elect someone to write legislation based on a perceived politically correct agenda. This smacks of misuse of public office and frivolous waste of taxpayer’s money. I suggest to Senator Wilson that there are many more pressing issues in Florida to deal with than trying to eradicate terminology taken directly from Federal statute and code. She might try focusing her efforts on finding ways to enforce the existing laws, and protecting Florida’s citizens, instead of changing the wording to de-criminalize those guilty of being here illegally, and those aiding and abetting them!