Thread: In Texas, Frustration Over Senate Impasse

In Texas, Frustration Over Senate Impasse
Collapse of Immigration Bill Concerns Region That Relies on Foreign Workers

By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 11, 2007; A10



WESLACO, Tex. -- On the front line of securing the nation's borders, the day after the collapse of a major overhaul of the nation's immigration laws was business as usual -- but better.

For the first time in four years, this Border Patrol station near the southern tip of Texas had an infusion of agents. Eleven freshly graduated officers from the agency's training academy had arrived as the U.S. Senate, 1,800 miles away, debated the immigration bill that ultimately stalled. The new agents were the first of 100 allocated to this station, just north of the Rio Grande. They are one small -- but to this outpost, key -- piece of the Bush administration's multiyear plan to hire 6,000 new patrol agents, tighten border security and step up enforcement against illegal immigration.

"This is absolutely good news for us," said Patrol Agent in Charge J.R. Villarreal, as he watched the rookies take apart and clean M4 rifles. As for the comprehensive immigration legislation:

"That's a mess; that's politics," he said.

"You're talking to somebody who heard Ronald Reagan talk about immigration reform when I was starting as a young buck," said Villarreal, 43, who began his career in 1986, the year Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted amnesty to some 3 million illegal immigrants, created sanctions for employers who hired undocumented workers, established a temporary visa program for agricultural workers and provided funding for more border agents.

"They were going to clear the clutter to allow the agents to have more time to patrol the border. The border was going to be more secure, and we weren't going to be as tied up dealing with illegal aliens," he said. "I'm just glad to have more manpower. The rest takes time."

The bipartisan Senate measure that stalled late last week would have, once again, tightened border security, cracked down on the hiring of illegal immigrants and provided a path for such immigrants to stay and work legally in the United States. The legislation died when the Senate voted to end a new guest-worker program after five years.

The bill, and in particular the proposal for the guest-worker program, were watched closely by South Texans. Many of them are worried about labor shortages in the service industry and in the region's multibillion-dollar produce industry.

"If we cannot get labor in this country because Congress is incapable of passing intelligent legislation, some people will struggle along, some will go out of business, and many will move production to Mexico," said Texas Produce Association President John McClung of Alamo, in South Texas.

Already, 50 percent of Texas fruit and vegetable distributors contract with Mexican farmers across the border to plant and harvest produce that is then shipped across the United States, he said.

"People have to understand that a significant amount of fruits and vegetables is going to be planted and tended and harvested by Mexicans," McClung said. "The question is only what side of the border is that going to happen on."

J Allen Carnes, whose family has farmed fruit and vegetables on 3,000 acres for more than half a century in Uvalde, in southwest Texas, said the company has traditionally depended on Mexican fieldworkers with various forms of legal work visas.

But recent security crackdowns have made it more difficult for those workers to cross the border or travel within the region. And fewer migrant workers from South Texas are coming up, for fear of immigration enforcement raids, Carnes said.

Last year the Carnes farm had to leave produce unpicked in the field for the first time because of a 20 to 30 percent shortage of farmhands. This year, the labor shortage is 40 to 50 percent, Carnes said.

"Everybody would agree we have a problem with illegal immigration," he said. "There are 12 million illegals, employers that need employees, law enforcement agencies screaming for help -- but still the political posturing back and forth."

The bill's collapse in the Senate "was pretty disheartening," Carnes said. "This country has a real problem when it can't fix its problem."

The Texas Border Coalition, created by government and business officials from El Paso to Brownsville (with 1,200 miles of border in between), has also been lobbying for a guest-worker program, a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, and more personnel and technology at ports of entry to make the crossing process for legal immigrants more efficient.

"An enforcement-only policy just doesn't work," said Eddie Aldrete, a senior vice president of International Bank of Commerce in San Antonio and vice chairman of the border coalition.

"The biggest issue in a post-9/11 world has been a rush to seal the borders and close off this country. But you can't have homeland security without economic security," Aldrete said. "You have to also protect the ability to grow. The issue is having enough visas for the amount of workers that we need. By doing that, you take the pressure off the Border Patrol. A fence and militarizing the border is only dealing with the symptom to the problem."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01357.html

More crud from the Washington Post, remember they said the Bush amnesty bill would pass the Senate!

If these farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor it's not because of the lack of workers. It's because the Illegals have figured out there are better paying jobs for them.

Why are they going to work in the fields for $3.00 an hour when they can earn more in other sectors, ie: construction, restaurants, hotels, at Tyson, Swift, in grocery stores, etc. Oh and let's not forget according the President Boosh, Senor Kennedy, Senor Mccain, these jobs are jobs American won't do!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by blkkat99

If these farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor it's not because of the lack of workers. It's because the Illegals have figured out there are better paying jobs for them.

Why are they going to work in the fields for $3.00 an hour when they can earn more in other sectors, ie: construction, restaurants, hotels, at Tyson, Swift, in grocery stores, etc. Oh and let's not forget according the President Boosh, Senor Kennedy, Senor Mccain, these jobs are jobs American won't do!!!!!!!!!

Right the illegals are now not doing the jobs that Illegals won't do...
We need to work to abolish the minimum wage. If someone can't feed their family on slave wages they'll go on to something else, eventually the employer will have to raise wages so that someone will do the job. That's the way a free market economy should work.
Farmers have been forcing a defacto no minimum wage standard and expecting people to pick lettuce for slave wages and have been benefitting from not following any of the labor laws that the rest of Americans have to follow. Now we have the rest of business in America following their lead. But instead of them demanding that congress abolish the minimum wage they ask congress to legalized their illegal activity.