Groups claim legislation threatens production, jobs

By SEAN ELLIS and MITCH LIES

Capital Press

Agricultural groups assailed a bill passed by a House committee that would require all employers to use the national E-Verify system to confirm the immigration status of new employees.

The House Judiciary Committee passed the "Legal Workforce Act" Sept. 21, but its rejection of a proposed amendment that would have included provisions for an agricultural work force is what's drawing opposition from the ag sector.

E-Verify is a voluntary work eligibility system that allows private businesses to electronically check the status of new employees using Social Security and Homeland Security databases.

Ag groups insist that any mandatory E-Verify system include a practical and efficient agricultural worker program.

John Keeling, executive vice president and CEO of the National Potato Council, said although some members of Congress believe it would help provide jobs for unemployed Americans, "a mandatory E-Verify program without agricultural worker provisions would result in an off-shoring of our nation's food production system."

Minus an ag worker provision, the bill "threatens the viability of fruit and vegetable growers across the country, and will have a significant impact on the entire fresh produce marketing chain," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy for United Fresh Produce Association.

In Oregon, agricultural leaders said the bill fails to address high-priority immigration-reform issues and puts agricultural employers in a bind.

"Mandatory E-Verify without some consideration for the future flow of workers will harm job creation in the name of creating jobs," said Jim Krahn, executive director of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association. "The bill will decimate Oregon's dairy farmers who have little prospect of workers being replaced by Americans."

"This legislation would have an extremely detrimental effect on Oregon's $2.7 billion wine industry," said Sam Tannahill, chairman of the Oregon Winegrowers Association. "It unfairly places the burden of policing the U.S. immigration system on the backs of hundreds of mostly small winegrowers."

The bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the committee chairman, passed 22-13 along strict party lines and is expected to be debated on the House floor next month.

Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, said his group doubts any E-Verify legislation will pass Congress without a viable program that supplies agriculture with the workers it needs.

"We're quite confident that legislators recognize the value of agriculture and that an E-Verify bill without an agricultural fix will not occur," he said.

Officials from Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo's office said the outlook for the bill in the Senate is very uncertain.

Though the House committee will later consider a separate ag worker proposal offered by Smith, UFPA officials said its success is far from certain and they called for all agricultural voices in the country to unite against any such bill that lacks a practical ag workforce solution.

"We face a growing workforce crisis that threatens American agriculture, and Congress needs to act on real solutions that work for all industries," said Dave Dillon, executive vice president of the Oregon Farm Bureau. "Without better legal workforce options, Oregon farmers would be irreparably harmed by this bill."