Western Farm Press: Ruling Renews Agriculture’s Call For Reliable Labor Law

Western Farm Press.com posted:

Agricultural leaders contend the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Arizona’s controversial immigration law means industry organizations must continue to push Congress to modify farmworker laws to provide a more reliable and legal labor supply for businesses including agriculture.

“The Supreme Court ruling means that we’ll continue to keep our nose to the grindstone and work with Congress and our elected leaders for positive farm labor changes,” said Kevin Rogers, a Mesa, Ariz., farmer and Arizona Farm Bureau Federation president. 

“The bottom line is the federal government needs to step up and fix the visa labor program so we can have the needed legal workers in this country for agriculture and other industries.”

This I totally agree with.  Having a guest worker program that will supply agriculture with a reliable labor workforce and would go a long way to solving the illegal immigration problem.

Illegal immigrants come here to work to support themselves and their families.  Unfortunately, although I can sympathize with them, there are no controls on the numbers who are coming in and how long they stay.

One way to fix this would be to have offices in Mexico set up where guest workers can register, be pre-screened (to make sure no undesirables come in) and be given work visas with specific time periods for work.  If guest workers come to work for specific time periods and then leave the country, they guarantee that (in subsequent years) they will be allowed back in again.  If they don't follow the rules, they won't be allowed in.  If a guest worker fulfills five years of compliance, they can receive more perks.  This would be a further incentive for them to comply.

It could be the modern version of the old Bracero Program, which was:

The Bracero Program (named for the Spanish term bracero, "strong-arm") was a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated by an August 1942 exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Mexico, for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the United States.

(Source: Wikipedia)

This would control the numbers of foreign nationals entering the country and supply agriculture with a reliable labor workforce.  As an owner of farm property, I am keenly aware of the need to have the labor to handle the fall crop harvests.