Free Republic

HURON, Calif. - Weary of waiting for Congress to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, the United Farm Workers hopes to recruit Mexican laborers to pick crops on U.S. farms. The union’s efforts to import temporary workers under an existing government program follows similar moves by lawmakers in Arizona and Colorado, who are also trying to create new pathways to bring in foreign field hands without approval from Washington. This month, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez signed an agreement with the governor of the Mexican state of Michoacan to help recruit local residents to apply for temporary jobs on U.S. farms, all...

A work program widely praised by local farmers and managed by the U.S. Government is under fire from a Blount County resident who says it keeps Americans from getting jobs. Sabrina Steele is accustomed to farm work. She and her husband have a farm in southern Blount County and she says she can work a farm like anyone. "I know what it's like to throw 75-pound hay bales all afternoon in 95-degree weather," Steele said. "I've done it." Even with extensive background in agriculture and farming, Steele, a 1998 Heritage High School graduate, has not been able to find summer...

The Labor Department estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 immigrants are currently working illegally on America's farms. Many fear that the increase in internal immigration enforcement will have serious repercussions for the agricultural sector. In response to this problem, the AgJOBS Act of 2007 would have granted amnesty to the illegal immigrants who currently work in the agricultural industry. That approach was deeply flawed and irresponsible.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor (DOL) are now taking the correct approach by proposing changes in the H-2A Visa program. H-2A Visas are temporary visas for nonimmigrant workers who perform agricultural...

All that Eustaquio López wanted was a job. He had plenty of experience and the energy to prove himself. But he never got a chance, he said, because as a worker in the U.S. legally, the employer would have had to pay him regular wages with adequate protections — options seen as luxuries easily skirted by exploiting Mexican workers. López and 18 other South Texans, all U.S. citizens or legal residents, are suing various agricultural companies in the region and the U.S. Labor Department in federal court in Del Rio, alleging they were passed over for jobs because of their...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced today that The Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007 (H.R. 2419) is likely to come up for debate on the Senate floor during the week of November 5. Recently, Leader Reid had promised to attempt to attach the AgJOBS amnesty for illegal farmworkers to the farm bill during floor consideration. Despite the pleas of some open borders senators to forgo debate of additional amnesties this year, it appears another major Senate battle may be in the works as early as next week. CongressDaily reported this morning that although Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom...

Behind the counter at the busy Hart Lane driver testing center here, Rosa King looked over the man's fistful of documents, including a Mexican birth certificate and a separate, typewritten English translation. The translation, Ms. King explained in Spanish, was not exact enough. It would have to be redone. When the man returned, he would be eligible for a card bearing his photograph, date of birth, height, eye color and the words "Not Valid for Identification." Tennessee is one of only two states that issue two different driver's permits: a license, for citizens and permanent residents; and a certificate for...