Immigration reform hits a snag, but optimism remains

Issue Date: June 28, 2006

By Kate Campbell
Assistant Editor

Although the outlook for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform is clouded, Washington, D.C., insiders continue to see glimmers of hope. They say it's possible that meaningful reforms can still be approved this year.

The anticipated conference committee of House and Senate members that would have reconciled disparate legislation from the two houses has been put off. Instead the House is calling for special hearings to hash out details in the thorny debate.

Although the exact number of House hearings hasn't been determined, experts on the immigration reform issue say they could number as many as 30. They add that this will take a great deal of time and energy to hold and require continued participation from farmers during what is traditionally their busiest time.

Preliminary reports indicate that the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation will hold hearings on July 5 and 7 in San Diego and Laredo, Texas.

The House Education and Workforce Committee has announced a hearing in mid-July to take comments on "English as the U.S. Official Language" and "Enforcement of Current Immigration Laws and their Impact on the Workforce."

During the week of Aug. 14 the House Government Reform Committee has scheduled hearings in Arizona on the costs to federal, state and local governments caused by an unsecured border, such as crime, gangs, drugs and other issues.

These summer hearings, and many more to be announced, are seen as a setback by some because they will forestall conference committee meetings between representatives of the House and Senate to reconcile two very different approaches to reform.

Experts have said that if the issue is carried over into September when Congress reconvenes from its summer recess, it will then be too close to the November elections for reform legislation to be passed. Waiting until after the election could be problematic depending on the outcome of the elections and whether the Republicans retain control of Congress or give ground to Democrats.

"Farm Bureau and other groups have been working on this issue for 25 years," said Roy Gabriel, California Farm Bureau Federation director of labor affairs. "We've participated in hearings all over the country, trips to Washington, D.C., debates, editorial discussions, grass-roots efforts on the part of our members. This has been deliberated long enough.

"The time is now to get this done. We've reached the crisis point. We have labor shortages," Gabriel said. "We're serious about controlling the border and accommodating the orderly flow of workers entering this country legally. We've already waited too long."

Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said during a visit to the Farm Bureau offices in Sacramento that he is encouraged by the positive steps made toward national immigration reform. He said he believes a comprehensive, bipartisan bill will emerge from a House-Senate negotiations process.

While the secretary did not speculate on how long he thinks lawmakers will take to reach resolution on the immigration issue, he said the Bush administration is "very committed to making this happen very quickly."

Meanwhile, Joseph Ramazzotti, owner of Ramazzotti Vineyards & Wines in Geyserville, told the "San Francisco Business Times" last week that nearly half of his laborers didn't return from their annual winter vacations in Mexico for the first time since they began working for him 10 to 15 years ago.

Ramazzotti estimated that of the 40,000 agricultural workers in Sonoma Country, as many as 17,000 didn't return from Mexico to work this spring.

At the same time workers are being prevented from crossing into the United States without proper documents, the immigration bills in Congress would add many thousands of beds to the patchwork network of detention centers that currently house illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers.

"The lack of workers and increased enforcement of immigration rules have created a growing atmosphere of concern," said Gabriel. "As Congress turns away from decision making and toward further information gathering, the labor situation in our state deteriorates."

House Republicans in a press release last week said they would vote for legislation that includes several key principles, including:

• Securing U.S. borders and providing additional resources to federal and state border control authorities.
• Strengthening enforcement and stiffening penalties for illegal immigrants who break immigration laws.
• Enforcing the law on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
• Opposing efforts to reward illegal immigrants and hold them accountable.
• Affirming that U.S. success depends on newcomers obeying the law and speaking English.

"If you are a complete optimist, you will see the reference to wanting a bill to the president's desk as a good sign," said Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform. "Beyond that, it's hard to imagine how the hard-edged rhetoric we've been hearing helps set the table for resolution of this issue."

(Kate Campbell is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top