Study: One of every three Utah farmworkers is undocumented immigrant

By LEE DAVIDSON | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 1 hour ago • Updated 12 minutes ago

(A pair of undocumented workers hang drywall in a new home development going up in Willard. In the country for ten years, Martin (last name withheld), right, from Chihuahua who has two children, one born in the states supports his family regularly working construction and is concerned about the latest immigration issues developing. Photo by Francisco Kjolseth/ The Salt Lake Tribune) 4/05/2006

Economy » Pew study also says one of every six construction workers in the state is in U.S. illegally.

A new study says that nearly one of every three farmworkers in Utah is an undocumented immigrant. So is one of every six construction workers.

The Pew Research Center released a study Thursday that uses U.S. Census and other government data to examine labor trends among undocumented workers nationally. It included a variety of state-by-state information.

It estimates that 31 percent of the farmworkers Utah in 2012 were undocumented immigrants, as were 17 percent of all construction workers.

Randy Parker, CEO of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, says the numbers are surprising at first, but may be close to accurate the more he considers them.

Many small farms do not have the ability to use the federal E-verify system to check immigration status of applicants, he said. Many farmworkers seeking a job present some form of identification making them appear legal, and farmers worry that privacy laws may prohibit them from challenging them too much.

In addition, Parker said, the harvest creates such a high demand for labor everywhere at the same time that farmers hire migrant crews, which in turn may have undocumented workers.

Robert McMullin, a partner in McMullin Orchards in Payson, says his farm uses immigrant workers, but they are here legally through the H-2A temporary-worker visa program.

Still, he said, without immigrants, most Utah farms could not operate. "It is very difficult to get help" to do the hard, lower-paying farm work that many residents refuse — especially when unemployment rates are low and other work is available.

McMullin said his orchard was forced to leave many sweet cherries on trees in 2013 because it couldn't find enough people to harvest the fruit in time, and some of it simply grew too old.

"It happened again last year, and will happen again this year," he lamented.

"We're trying to get more H-2A workers," he said. "It's very difficult. It's expensive. It is a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork. We're learning better how to do it."

Parker said farm and ranch work is so hard that he knows one sheep rancher who advertises annually for herders, "and he has never had one U.S. resident apply — not one."

Dale Cox, president of the Utah AFL-CIO labor union, said he believes the estimates for construction workers are close to accurate. He said that causes concern because many such workers often are exploited by unscrupulous employers.

"They pay them a great deal less than market value," Cox said.

"And they have them over a barrel because they are undocumented" and can't complain for fear of deportation.

They "are not being paid overtime; some of them are not getting workers' compensation" when injured, Cox said. "It's kind of like indentured servitude."

He adds such practices make it tough for good "contractors that are working hard and trying to play by the rules. It hurts our tax base. It hurts everything."

The Pew study estimated that in 2012, undocumented immigrants accounted for 3.6 percent of Utah's population and 5.1 percent of its workforce.

It estimates about 100,000 unauthorized immigrants lived in Utah that year, and 70,000 of them were in the labor force.

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