Senator Craig's Instant Visa Proposal

Date: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 9:16 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Sheep ranchers like Jerry Arthur complain that they can't find enough
U.S. citizens willing to herd sheep for $700 a month. Senator Larry
Craig of Idaho should tell Jerry to pay a living salary and then there
wouldn't be a problem finding workers. That's not how politics works
however, so Craig is pushing a new law that will allow Jerry and his
rancher friends to import as many foreign workers as they need. This
"guest worker" bill will flood the nation with more immigrants who are
desperate enough to work as virtual slaves.

Senator Craig's solution for those farmers and ranchers is to have an
instant visa that allows foreign workers to move in and out of the
country at will. All they would have to do is to sign a piece of paper
at the border and they could go to wherever there are employers that
want to exploit them.

This bill may seem to be harmless to everyone not involved in
agricultural work, but don't be fooled. If the Senate ever passes this
bill you can expect an expansion of the types of workers that are
allowed to ignore our borders and immigration laws. As an example of
how these laws tend to mutate, H-1B started as a guest worker bill to
enable ranchers to import Basque sheepherders.

Senators like Larry Craig should pay more attention to the plight of
America's growing ranks of unemployed than to the bleating of the sheep
farmers who refuse to pay a living salary to herd their flocks.
Sovereign nations cannot exist once they lose the will to enforce their
borders. Craig's bill is an anti-American attack on our nation's
sovereignty and should be opposed.

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/localstate/index.asp?StoryID=2970

Wednesday, April 2, 2003 Twin Falls, Idaho

Senator wants migrant labor reform

Originally published Tuesday, April 1, 2003
By Nate Johnson
Times-News writer

BURLEY -- Magic Valley dairy farmers, sheep ranchers and farmers with
non-automated irrigation systems depend heavily on migrant laborers
from other countries.
Unless the Magic Valley is an abnormality, out of sync with the rest of
the nation, many of those laborers are illegal aliens. Both authorized
and illegal foreign workers are more vulnerable to abuses by employers,
advocates say.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has drafted a bill to allow farm
workers to legally enter the United States, because he says migrant
workers are necessary for the area's economic health.

"If there were no foreign nationals, there wouldn't be any landscaping
in Sun Valley," Craig said. "The Magic Valley would not be the
productive agricultural region it is today without foreign nationals.
They are a part of our economy."

According to the General Accounting Office 2000 report on foreign
agricultural workers in the United States, more than 52 percent of the
1998 agricultural labor force lacked legal authorization to work.

An average of 9,500 farm workers are employed each year in the Magic
Valley, according to Greg Rogers, the Idaho Department of Labor's
regional labor economist in Twin Falls. About 1,425 are migrant
workers, and about 130 come from other countries under the federal
government's guest worker programs. The Department of Labor has no way
to count illegal aliens, Rogers said.

If Craig's bill becomes law, it would curb employer abuses and legalize
many of the people crossing the border, while providing workers for
farms, Craig said.

Roy Villasenor, Idaho Migrant Council regional manager, agrees reforms
are needed. Until he sees the bill, he's holding off on support or
censure.

"We think it's an issue we can get passed this year," Craig said in an
interview before the start of the war in Iraq.

Others are more skeptical.

"The president isn't talking about (immigration reform) now," said John
Trasvina, who worked with immigration issues as counsel to the U.S.
Senate judiciary committee from 1987 to 1993. "If anyone could jump
start it, it's the president."

Part of Craig's plan is to form a national computer registry for all
U.S. citizens able and willing to work in agriculture. U.S. citizens
would have first crack at jobs.

Though there is no computer registry now, employers are supposed to
give willing, qualified and able U.S. workers jobs before employing
foreigners. The definition of "qualified" can be ridiculous, said Eric
Johnson, a lawyer who has represented migrant farm workers. People
should not each have to have two letters of reference documenting their
experience to move wheel lines, he said.

Some farmers prefer migrant workers because they are more dependable.
Migrant laborers are not likely to complain or quit, Johnson said.

It's not a question of preference, it's a question of necessity, said
Mini-Cassia sheep rancher Jerry Arthur. It is simply impossible to find
enough U.S. citizens willing to herd sheep for $700 a month. Even
workers from other countries eventually move to other jobs, he said.

"What would you rather do, walk through the mud and fight mosquitoes or
mow lawns?" Arthur asked.

Under Craig's bill, workers from other countries could register and
immediately enter the United States. They would receive visas and could
move in and out of the country legally. People now in the country
illegally could also register to work in agriculture and get visas,
Craig said.

"They wouldn't have to live in the shadows, in constant fear of being
discovered and deported," he said.

Foreign laborers would have to work on farms for 150 days to qualify
for the program. Government officials could more easily regulate and
track authorized workers, and they would be able to receive driver's
licenses, open bank accounts and go to the police without fear, Craig
said.

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