Thread: States fight for farmworkers as border tightens

States fight for farmworkers as border tightens
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070531/us_ ... ruiting_dc
By Bruce Nichols Thu May 31, 12:41 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Tighter U.S. border enforcement is worsening a nationwide farm labor shortage, forcing states to compete for workers who may be illegal, industry officials said on Thursday.
"We've always had a shortage but it's gotten worse," said J. Allen Carnes, vice president of Winger Garden Produce in Uvalde, Texas. "It's because of enforcement."
Washington's state government recently launched a Web site, with videos in Spanish touting the state's high wages for farm workers, social services, mild climate and distance from the Texas-Mexico border.
"This special effort going on by the state of Washington to attract farmworkers from our state is just another indication of how serious this problem is," said Ray Prewett, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a growers association.The U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush are considering immigration reform proposals that tie tighter border security and immigration enforcement to a guest-worker plan backed by farm interests and an immigrant legalization program.
"We think Congress should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time," Prewett said. "We support a guest-worker program. We're all in this together. It's our feeling that an 'enforcement only' approach is not going to work."
Studies show that despite enforcement efforts, most migrant farm workers lack proper documentation, Prewett said, but Washington state officials deny they are starting a bidding war for illegal immigrants.
'NOT OUR INTENT'
"That is definitely not our intent," said Washington Employment Security Department spokesman Bill Tarrow. "What we're trying to recruit is legal workers."
Tarrow said while the state asks applicants whether they are in the country legally, it does not check to see whether they are telling the truth, leaving that to federal officials.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the new Washington state Web site or on complaints of a farm labor shortage.
"We're mandated to enforce the law," said ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda-Muniz.
Factors other than border security are contributing to the shortage, Tarrow said.
The migrant work force is aging and booming construction is attracting younger migrants while high gasoline prices discourage travel, he said.
Washington state borrowed the Web site idea from other U.S. states, including Oregon, Idaho and Michigan, Tarrow said. But Prewett called the Washington campaign "more aggressive" than previous efforts tailored to the natural movement of migrants northward as crops ripen.
Tarrow acknowledged many migrant farmworkers do not have easy access to the Internet.
"But the places they go for assistance, like Head Start or migrant organizations, definitely have Internet, and as they talk to people, they can take them to this site," he said.
(Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio)

Washington's state government recently launched a Web site, with videos in Spanish touting the state's high wages for farm workers, social services, mild climate and distance from the Texas-Mexico border.

What? It says that they are paying hgher wages for workers? You mean when there is a shortage of labor, wages increase? Gee, what a concept. And they advertise their great social services? I thought illegals never use social services? That's what they always say, isn't it?

And if they are advertising for illegals, why doesn't ICE just go up there and round up these lawbreakers? Makes you wonder, is the Federal Govt. purposely allowing these states to employ illegals? They always say how they can't touch illegals without specific intel telling them where they can be found. Sounds pretty specific to me. So, I guess we will be seeing ICE doing employer sweeps on the farms in Washington state real soon. Yeah, right.

I just read somebody's post here yesterday where it said they were going to round up the illegals in Washington state. 4500 illegal immigrants that have criminal records, I thought the report said. Well, that would be a start, huh?