Americans deserve priority in field jobs

Wednesday, November 5, 1997

Americans deserve priority in field jobs

LABOR Farmers should be able to find enough workers without
looking to immigrants to fill jobs

According to proponents of a measure to open up the border to
farm laborers, California is facing a shortage of workers.
Essentially, they say that the state has more jobs than it has
people to fill them, in certain agricultural sectors, and it needs
to find more people – from outside the nation – to fill those job
openings.

This skewed perspective reflects some of the farm owners’
unwillingness to tap into the large pool of available American
labor in California. They say opening the border to farm laborers
will bring in the necessary work force, and help the state deal
with what they call an impending agricultural crisis.

The Temporary Agricultural Act of 1997, which was introduced in
the House by Agriculture Committee Chair Bob Smith, R-Ore., seeks
to establish a pilot program to admit immigrant workers to
California’s farms. The proposed program, slated to operate for two
years, will admit no more than 25,000 workers annually. That’s
25,000 jobs a year that could go to unemployed Americans.

There are several flaws in Smith’s push for agricultural reform.
For starters, there is absolutely no shortage of Americans who
could be employed. With an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent in
California and 5 percent nationwide, legislators have to deal with
getting those unemployed Americans jobs. Farmers may have to pay
more for American labor than for immigrant labor, but giving jobs
to Americans is important enough to warrant the additional money
needed to pay workers.

In addition, allowing people to cross the border for temporary
work will worsen America’s immigration problems. What makes
legislators think that this program will not exacerbate
immigration-related crowding and associated issues in the
nation?

Another concern that arises from the bill is uneven prices of
farm products. A farmer from California will pay less for his
workers than his Eastern counterparts, and this translates to a
great inequality in pricing. Although not very significant, the
bill would give growers in California an unfair economic
advantage.

The Agricultural Act comes two years after Proposition 187, in
which Californians rallied to deny illegal immigrants all rights
enjoyed by citizens. Many Americans criticized border patrol and
immigration services as being too lax in dealing with the influx of
immigrants. Immigrants have been blamed for society’s evils, and
forced out of the nation when all is well. But when an
"agricultural crisis" looms, they are invited back into the nation
to work. In light of all the events that have transpired in the
past few years, legislation like the Agricultural Act seems like
blatant immigrant exploitation.

Farmers need to be willing to sacrifice some of their profits
and hire Americans, rather than immigrant workers who demand less
pay. Opening the gates to immigrant workers will only take jobs
away from Americans who could use the work. Working on getting
Americans jobs is more important than making sure immigrants can
find jobs.