According to agriculture industrial experts, 70 percent of agricultural workers are undocumented. The experts added that they foresee an “agricultural catastrophe” for the next several months, after the government announced that it would intensify its search for peasants who work with false papers in this country.
“It’s going to be a disaster. More than 70 percent, closer to 80 or 90 percent, are undocumented,” said Ralph Pistoresi, member of the Nissei Farmers League, an organization of wine growers and cattle ranchers in California.
The fear is the result of a recent announcement made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on an initiative to search out undocumented laborers.
The new measures stipulate that employers have 90 days, starting from the date when they receive notification from ICE, to settle their employees’ situations.
Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, confirmed that the agricultural sector is already facing a labor shortage of 40 to 60 percent. He warned that government regulations “will devastate” more than just the agricultural industry.
“Each day laborer generates sources for collateral work that will feel the impact, such as fertilizers companies, refrigeration, transportation and securities companies, as well chemical and pesticide companies,” commented Nassif.
Western Growers represents more than 3,000 businessmen with a production valued above $50 billion dollars annually in California and Arizona alone. These two states, along with Oregon and Washington, have been most affected by the shortage of laborers.
According to Nassif, his organization reviewed the results of a general poll conducted by the Social Security Administration, which found and announced more than 35,474 cases of mismatched names and the Social Security numbers.
Besides the fact that this could represent “the total number of workers needed by our industry” in two states, “the only thing we can do is to flood our congressmen and senators with letters to warn them of the impending disaster,” said Manuel Cuhna, president of the Nissei Farmers League. He added, “We need to demand from them that they readdress and pass right away the AgJobs proposal – immigration reform for agricultural workers.”
AgJobs, which would grant legal status to agricultural workers who could prove that they had been working the fields for several periods of time during the last 18 months, was supported by the largest agricultural laborers union in the country. The proposal was defeated in the U.S. Senate.
According to Western Growers, the agricultural sector needs 225,000 workers in California and Arizona; the laborers would then move on the harvest crops in Oregon and Washington.
