Thread: NYT Editorial: AgJobs bill = Awesome, Shoe-In

Farms and Immigrants

Published: May 16, 2009
The immigration system, broken in a thousand places, needs a multitude of fixes, from the borders to the workplace to the status of would-be Americans waiting in limbo overseas and toiling in shadows here. A new bill called AgJobs, introduced in the House and Senate, addresses some of those problems. It seeks to relieve chronic farm labor shortages while protecting rights and opportunities for immigrant workers.

The legislation, which has bipartisan support, is the result of years of negotiations between growers and workers’ advocates. Growers and workers are tied together, but their interests are highly prone to collision, as anyone who remembers the California farmworker strikes of the 1970s knows.

Because it’s hard to find Americans willing to endure the heat, cold and misery of stooping in the fields — or the low wages — growers overwhelmingly use undocumented workers. An estimated 75 percent or more of the agricultural work force is here illegally. This is bad for everybody. Undocumented workers are easy prey for exploitation and unable to assert their rights. Growers constantly complain about labor shortages and are vulnerable to disruptive immigration raids.

The bill helps to bolster labor rights, while also making it easier for growers to hire more temporary immigrant workers — after advertising and recruiting for Americans. Most critical, it includes a path to legal status and eventual citizenship for undocumented workers if they have clean records and pay fines and back taxes.

In a climate of seemingly permanent stalemate and rancor over immigration, a bill that has the support of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the advocacy group Farmworker Justice obviously has something going for it.

It’s a model compromise, mixing pro-business pragmatism with a commitment to protecting workers — future Americans — who do some of the country’s most vital yet difficult jobs. Whether AgJobs is enacted on its own or, more likely, folded into a larger immigration bill, it deserves a place at the table of comprehensive reform.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/opinion/16sat2.html

This article should be called Farmers and Illegals not Immigrants.

Many Americans are out of work and would indeed work on farms if given the opportunity. If Americans do the farm jobs they should get the same social services and welfare that illegals get so they can afford to work for pennies on the dollar. Let's level the playing ( working) field.

Also, I resent the illegals working on famrs being called "Future Americans". if the illegals are given Amnesty they will be about as American as Obama is the legitimate president.

Aren't there programs for migrant farm workers already in place? Oh I forgot those require the landowner to do a bit of paperwork and they'd rather just be able to hire whoever shows up at the right time.