PATTERSON, Calif. - Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, something they say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community’s traditional support for conservative candidates.
Yup, you will starve without the illegals, America. One in seven of you is starving already, but....
And I'm not trying to deny people a living or good life; however, the farmer's like the illegals because they are cheaper with no benefits and are less likely to complain about working conditions.
The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers - who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal documents - to check all new hires through E-Verify, a federal database run by the Department of Homeland Security devised to ferret out illegal immigrants....
It is an open secret that many farm workers’ documents are false....
It's the same thing with the newspaper.
Farmers say it could cripple a $390 billion industry that relies on hundreds of thousands of willing, low-wage immigrant workers to pick, sort, and package crops.
“This would be an emergency, a dire, dire situation,’’ said Nancy Foster, president of the US Apple Association, adding that the prospect of an E-Verify check would most likely mean that many immigrant workers would simply not show up. “We will end up closing down.’’
And the fruit will rot on the tree, huh?
That sentiment is echoed by growers like George Bonacich, an 81-year-old apricot farmer who has been working the same patch of land in Patterson, 80 miles east of San Francisco, since 1969.
This year, Bonacich employed up to 100 farmhands to pick a total of 50 to 100 tons each day, often in triple-digit heat. He speaks passionately about his employees - “They’re good people, hard-working,’’ he said - and plainly about what would happen if E-Verify were to become the law of the farmland.
The implication is that you are not, American.
“If we don’t have enough labor at peak time, the fruit goes on the ground,’’ he said. “The fruit will only stay on the tree so long.’’
While Smith’s bill seems to have a good chance of passing the House, the Senate, controlled by Democrats, appears more skeptical. Democrats have said they will point to a Congressional Budget Office report on a similar bill that concluded it would cost the federal government $22 billion over a decade from lost tax revenues now collected from the paychecks of illegal immigrants ineligible for services....
But somehow a lot of them get services anyway.
And you see what government cares about whatever your status.
Smith’s bill has attracted more solid support from nonagricultural business leaders, opening a divide between them and agricultural interests. National organizations of restaurant owners and home builders gave their backing. The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which unites Latino businesses in Smith’s district that have often been at odds with him, is leaning toward endorsing the bill, said Ramiro A. Cavazos, president of the chamber.
Still, Smith recently acknowledged the surge of worry in rural areas. He said he would soon introduce a separate bill to “address the needs of the agriculture industry,’’ either proposing changes to the current federal temporary farm worker program or offering a new guest worker program.
That would make like what, 25 different guest worker programs?
Smith’s E-Verify bill also includes a three-year grace period before growers would have to comply. But such caveats have done little to quell opposition from farm groups, who have been pleading for years for an overhaul to allow a legal immigrant workforce.
And that discontent could manifest itself in elections, farm representatives warn.
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Back to the fields. Break is over.
Washington state cancels illegal immigrant reporter’s license
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Globe sleeping on the job, huh?
"Immigration fines cost 14 New England companies; Paperwork lax, US agency says" July 22, 2011|By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent
Fourteen New England companies were fined a combined $285,000 during the past fiscal year for failing to document that their workers were in the country legally, federal authorities announced yesterday.
The fines followed audits by the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of federal I-9 forms, paperwork that must be filled out by employees when they are hired to show they have legal authorization to work.
Eight of the cited companies were in Massachusetts, including Commercial Cleaning Service in Allston, which was fined $100,000, and masonry contractor D’Agostino Associates Inc. in Newton, fined $22,792.
The immigration agency said it also fined Andover Healthcare Inc. of Salisbury, All In One Insulation Inc. of West Boylston, Polcari Enterprises Inc. of Saugus, Seatrade International of New Bedford, Harvest Co-op Markets of Cambridge, and Collt Manufacturing Inc. of Millis. The amounts of those fines were not released.
Some of the companies were found to have “suspect documents,’’ said Bruce M. Foucart, head of investigations for ICE in New England.
“That means more than likely they had an illegal workforce,’’ Foucart said by phone yesterday. “By not having the proper paperwork, workers had to be let go.’’
Fine amounts were calculated based on the seriousness of violations, whether companies were cooperative, and whether there were multiple offenses, he said.
While none of the 14 companies appealed, some negotiated lesser fines; others agreed to pay the initial amount ordered.
A voice mail left yesterday afternoon at the Allston cleaning company was not returned.
The owner of D’Agostino Associates, Romeo D’Agostino, said his company was fined for not properly filling out paperwork.
“I didn’t dot my I’s and cross my T’s,’’ he said by phone. “… I don’t hire’’ illegal immigrants.
In 2006, the Globe reported that the company “had 19 instances of workers with bogus or questionable Social Security numbers on public school projects in Littleton and North Easton.’’
Blueberry grower Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge, Maine, was fined $118,000. In November, the Globe reported that the firm had been cited “for violations that range from paperwork errors to the possibility that more than 200 of its 1,200 person workforce over two years were in the country illegally.’’
Edward R. Flanagan, president and chief executive of Wyman, told the Globe then that he never knew the workers lacked proper documentation. He said he had started using a federal verification system that lets companies check the legal status of workers.
Foucart said yesterday that the blueberry grower also cooperated with ICE officials in fall 2008 during the arrests of eight potentially illegal employees. They were arrested on administrative, not criminal, charges and went through court deportation proceedings, he said.
Nationally, ICE says nearly 4,000 businesses have been fined nearly $7 million combined on such violations.
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