N.Y. farms: immigration reform a priority
WASHINGTON — Maintaining a dependable supply of immigrant farmworkers remains the top concern of New York apple growers, whose business would not be viable without them, a grower told a congressional panel Wednesday.
Growers continue to grapple with changeable rules under the H2a immigrant farmworker program and overzealous enforcement that has ensnared U.S. citizens, growers told a House Agriculture subcommittee in response to questions from Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh.
Growers urged lawmakers to pass an "ag jobs" bill that would establish a guest worker program and give undocumented immigrants already working here a path to citizenship. But the bill has been caught up for a few years in the controversy over comprehensive immigration reform and enhanced enforcement at the borders, into which lawmakers are trying to wrap it.
"We had gotten to the bottom of a slippery slope," said Mark Nicholson, owner of Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva, noting that upstate New York's proximity to the Canadian border brought heavy immigration enforcement well before Arizona's controversial enforcement law made headlines this year.
Local police have stopped what they consider to be suspicious vehicles and asked for immigration papers from everyone inside, and detained passengers for as much as two hours only to verify that they were U.S. citizens, Mr. Nicholson said.
Continuing current immigration policies is "a great threat to us," Mr. Nicholson told lawmakers. "Our top priority is comprehensive reform."
Wednesday's hearing was focused on policies toward specialty crops and organic agriculture, to give lawmakers some direction on next year's five-year rewrite of farm programs. And the committee has no jurisdiction over immigration. But the discussion around Mr. Owens's question made clear that immigrant labor remains a greater concern to specialty crop growers than farm loans, food safety, school lunch programs and other traditional food policy issues.
If the United States does not let immigrant workers in, production will shift overseas to countries where the United States does not control food safety and other industry standards, said Robert N. Jones, a vegetable grower in Huron, Ohio. Growers have generally been unable to find enough U.S. workers to fill the farm jobs, he said.
In addition to enforcement issues, the H2a program has set inconsistent wage rules that change from year to year, complicating planning for growers, said Bernie Kohl Jr., representing the American Nursery and Landscape Association. In some cases, he said, wages are set higher than an area's prevailing fair wage.
Mr. Owens has said that he supports a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, and that he supports giving some undocumented workers a way to gain legal status. But he has been less supportive of letting them become U.S. citizens.
In the Senate, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has taken a lead on immigration reform and included the Ag Jobs legislation in a package he proposed earlier this summer. But approaching House elections and the urgency of dealing with high unemployment has dimmed the prospects that Congress will take on the issue this summer.
The Ag Jobs bill would also extend the H2a program to dairy farms for the first time, addressing the concerns of dairy farmers who have increasingly employed Hispanic workers year-round as milkers.
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