by Marc Heller
Mexico-California salute Arnold Schwarzenegger and President of Mexico Felipe Calderón shake hands at Sacramento International Airport during the arrival of the Mexican head of state, Feb. 13 while their respective wives observe. (photo courtesy by the Governor Office)
The Bush administration has announced plans to simplify the H2A guest worker program for farm laborers and boost fines for farmers who break the rules.
The administration said farmers will no longer go to state employment offices to show they had tried to find U.S. workers, Instead, statements from them that they have done so will suffice. Farmers will apply directly for the program at two federal centers.
Officials claim the changes will ease delays that discourage many growers from using the program, but critics, including the United Farm Workers union, have attacked the proposal for not including wage safeguards and other worker protections.
UFW chief Arturo Rodríguez called the plan “nothing more than the gutting of existing protections for both domestic and foreign workers.”
The H2A program provided about 75,000 workers last year out of more than one million farm workers in the country at the height of harvest. The Department of Labor estimates that 800,000 farm workers In this country are undocumented immigrants.
Other changes include lengthening from 10 days to 30 days the time a temporary agricultural worker may remain in the United States after employment. Workers who move from one job to another will be allowed to do so before the change is approved by U.S. Customs and: Immigration Services.
Arturo Rodríguez
The administration also proposes a pilot program for a land-border exit system, whereby immigrant workers will present “designated biographical information,’’ including fingerprints, the Department of Homeland Security announced.
The administration proposed the changes after lengthy congressional efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform failed. The reforms would have made several changes to the H2A program, which lawmakers agree is too cumbersome and fails to provide an adequate supply of workers.
Federal law requires the Labor Department to process H2A applications within 15 days, but that requirement is almost never met, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said at a news conference. She said the program has not been updated in about 20 years.
The proposal is open for public comment for 45 days at www.dhs.gov or at www.regulations.gov under docket number “USCI5-2007-0055.”
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