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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    H-2A Guest workers head to New York, U.S. farms at historic rates

    Guest workers head to New York, U.S. farms at historic rates

    Roughly 36% increase in H-2A workers this year, labor department says


    Robert Downen, Times Union
    Published 4:13 pm, Tuesday, May 30, 2017


    Photo: John Carl D'Annibale

    Farm worker George Phillips picks Cortland apple at Goold Orchard Thursday Sept. 17, 2015 in Castleton, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)


    Albany
    L.J. D’Arrigo’s phone rings more often these days.

    The Albany-based attorney connects New York farmers with guest workers from outside the country. And this year business is booming, with his client base expanding by about 30 percent.


    Both in New York and nationally, farmers are increasingly turning to the H-2A worker visa program that D’Arrigo assists with as a way to plug holes in their workforce and, in some cases, to avoid the intensifying scrutiny of undocumented workers from federal immigration officers.


    Last week the Department of Labor reported that it approved more than 69,000 H-2A farm job applications in the first three months of this year -- a 36 percent increase over the same period last year, and one that farmers say indicates the need for comprehensive immigration reform rather than crackdowns that can scare off scarce workers and grind production to a halt. (H-2A workers in the country numbered in the thousands only a few decades ago, according to the Brookings Institution.)

    “Farmers who were never touching (H-2A) are beginning to use it,” said Steven McKay, a Hudson-based consultant who has worked in the sector for decades. “They just can’t find workers. The work pool has dried up.”

    Even before Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ramping up their sweeps of Hudson Valley farms, New Yorkers were slowly turning to the H-2A program, which for decades has brought Hispanic and Caribbean people to the Empire State for seasonal apple-picking jobs or other farm work. The state in 2016 received more than 5,5000 such workers, a 31 percent increase since 2010 that farmers blame to varying degrees on the shrinking pool of native-born farmers and the constant uncertainties of federal immigration policy.


    The Department of Labor has not released state-by-state H-2A numbers for this year, but farmers from across New York and the nation have generally agreed that the growing scrutiny of their workforces has pushed more of their colleagues into H-2A.

    "Many farmers are concerned about what's going to happen" to the supply of foreign workers, Laura Ten Eyck, vice president of Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, said in February. "It's seasonal and it's hard work, and it's hard to find American workers to fill the jobs.”


    For years the government “had turned a blind eye” to the estimated 50 percent of American farm workers who are undocumented, D’Arrigo said, “but with increased enforcement and everything that’s going on politically, I think a lot of farms are scared into compliance.”


    It’s a costly and frustrating system that neither farmers nor workers view as ideal.


    Farmers using H-2A labor have to post the job openings for weeks before filling them; pay the regional prevailing wage (in New York H-2A workers make about $11 an hour, according to the Department of Labor); and have to provide housing and other costly amenities to the workers.


    For some workers, the program is not much better. Because they rely so heavily on their bosses for basic needs -- and because they lack many of the collective bargaining rights afforded to traditional American employees -- farm workers are uniquely susceptible to hazardous work conditions and exploitative practices, with virtually no legal recourse at their disposal.


    New York Reps. Elise Stefanik and Chris Collins are pushing legislation that would streamline some of the H-2A processes, and bring the program under the purview of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


    The bill has support from the New York Farm Bureau, which for years has called for reforms to the federal immigration system to help with some of the red tape that can keep farmers waiting in limbo for workers. But it’s also likely to be met with fierce opposition from workers’ rights groups that worry it will streamline visa issuances at the expense of already vulnerable workers.

    http://www.timesunion.com/allwcm/art...s-11183099.php
    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 05-31-2017 at 02:38 PM.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Last week the Department of Labor reported that it approved more than 69,000 H-2A farm job applications in the first three months of this year -- a 36 percent increase over the same period last year, and one that farmers say indicates the need for comprehensive immigration reform rather than crackdowns that can scare off scarce workers and grind production to a halt. (H-2A workers in the country numbered in the thousands only a few decades ago, according to the Brookings Institution.)

    “Farmers who were never touching (H-2A) are beginning to use it,” said Steven McKay, a Hudson-based consultant who has worked in the sector for decades. “They just can’t find workers. The work pool has dried up.”
    It's very good to see employers hiring through the H-2A program legally instead of illegal aliens. I wish more Americans knew about the jobs and could apply for them and that arrangements for travel and so forth were arranged for them the same way arrangements are made for the immigrant workers.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Doubled in 2016 under Obama. You left off the "in 2016" from your title.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    Doubled in 2016 under Obama. You left off the "in 2016" from your title.
    ALIPAC title as posted by JEAN
    Number of juveniles gaining special immigration status from federal authorities doubl
    NO AMNESTY

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  6. #6
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnDoe2 View Post
    You are the one posting the partial inaccurate title, not Jean. Jean posted the article and our title feature cuts off parts of the title as you well know if the title is long. So you, not Jean, is posting over and over on numerous other threads a false statement. Here is Jean's article and the full title as originally posted:

    Number of juveniles gaining special immigration status from federal authorities doubled in 2016

    May 28, 2017
    Greg Moran

    While the number of minors arrested trying to enter the U.S. illegally continues to climb each year, a little-known program that grants some of the children legal immigration status and a path to a green card has also grown rapidly.

    But that growth might be slowed, as Congress considers making changes to what’s known as the Special Immigrant Juvenile program. Legislation that would tighten eligibility is pending in the House of Representatives.

    That legislation comes as figures from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services show the number of petitions for this special status has skyrocketed in the past five years.

    In 2011, the government granted 1,869 of the petitions. Last year, the number reached 15,101, which was nearly double the 8,739 granted in 2015.

    The sharp increases are a reflection of the unprecedented surge in children — known under immigration laws as unaccompanied minors — who have flooded to the nation’s Southwest border since 2011.

    The children come from the strife-torn Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as Mexico. Once arrested, the children are put in a legal process to be removed from the U.S. via immigration courts.

    But that can take time, so the U.S. Health and Human Services Department takes custody of the children. They are then placed with a parent, relative or guardian, though some wind up in foster care.

    Many of the children, however, can qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile status, which involves state juvenile courts and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    To get this status, the children first go to a state juvenile or probate court, where they have to persuade a judge they are in need of protection because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned in their home country, and can’t be safely returned there.

    If the judge makes that legal finding, the minors can then file a petition with the federal government seeking an adjustment in their legal status that allows them to stay in the U.S. They also can then apply for permanent legal residency.

    It’s difficult to determine how many of these findings California judges have made, because the state does not track that data. San Diego Superior Court Judge Carolyn Caietti, who presides over the juvenile court, said the court has braced for an expected surge in applications from juveniles for the past couple of years but has not yet seen a noticeable increase.

    Supporters of the program say it is a lifesaver for children fleeing abuse and neglect or who have been abandoned. They say the number of petitions federal immigration authorities have granted has increased not only because of the surge of minors arrested at the border but also because a growing network of legal advocates are taking on the cases.

    The increase, in turn, has led to greater scrutiny by the federal government of the petitions, said Rachel Prandini, a lawyer at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

    “We’ve definitely seen USCIS take a much harder line in these cases,” Prandini said. The agency now often requests more evidence from the state courts, which can delay the process and lead to larger backlogs, she said. Currently, 8,500 petitions are pending review.

    Two bills pending in Congress address the Special Immigrant Juvenile process. One would change the definition of an “unaccompanied minor” to exclude juveniles who have one parent, close relative or sibling in the U.S.

    A second bill would say minors can only seek the status if a court finds they were abandoned by both parents. A 2008 change in the law said judges can find minors have been abandoned if they can’t safely be reunited with “one or both” of their parents.

    The 2008 change was meant to protect children from being sent back to a parent in their home country who had abused them. Critics said it was a loophole, allowing children who had a parent in the U.S. to gain legal status.

    Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, said the Special Immigrant Juvenile program is overdue for reform.

    “This is an example of a poorly crafted law, one that failed to anticipate how it would be used,” Vaughan said. She noted the program is the only one where a state court judge makes the key decision that essentially determines the immigration status of a person. Determining immigration status in all other cases is a decision federal authorities make.

    The program’s supporters counter that judges are making a determination only on what is in the best interest of a child, a long-standing legal benchmark used by courts in child welfare cases.

    “They are not making a status determination. They are not granting a green card,” said Lenni Benson, a professor at New York Law School and executive director of the Safe Passage Project. “They are doing what Congress told them to do.”

    Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services show that most applications are approved. Last year, for example, the agency denied 594 petitions compared to the 15,101 that were granted.

    Even so, Benson said it is erroneous to think the program is a magnet for youths.

    “To argue that children are coming here because of that, I don’t believe is true,” she said. “We have done literally thousands of interviews of these children, and not one has said, ‘I came here because I heard you could get a Special Immigrant Juvenile visa.’”

    Meanwhile, apprehensions of unaccompanied minors continue to rise, with most occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border. Apprehensions rose each year from 2011 to 2014, peaking at 68,000 in 2014, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. The next year the numbers dropped to 39,000, but then shot back up to 59,000 at the end of fiscal 2016.

    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...528-story.html

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  7. #7
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    I posted JEAN's link so people can click on it and go to the article JEAN posted.

    But you can't figure that out. You have to try to make something else out of it.
    NO AMNESTY

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  8. #8
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnDoe2 View Post
    I posted JEAN's link so people can click on it and go to the article JEAN posted.

    But you can't figure that out. You have to try to make something else out of it.
    When you post a link with the title, you are not posting the whole title if the title is cut off. As you know there are a couple of ways to solve this misleading tactic and the best of course is to post the actual link with a cut and paste of the whole title. When you are deliberately posting an inaccuracy by title and an article that in its content doesn't support the purpose of your link to begin with, then you are deliberately deceiving the forum. There is no connection to the thread articles hitting on Trump and your multiple posting of this erroneous title misleading people to believe that Trump has doubled special immigration status when he has done the complete opposite.

    As to "you can't figure that out" .... I figured you out a long time ago, JD2.

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