IMMIGRATION AND AGRICULTURAL LABOR POLICIES



immigration is growing, Congress will act on immigration legislation
at some point in the near future.

To obtain a clue to what sort of legislation may be passed, it is worth
examining the most recent Simpson-Mazzoli proposals. The Simpson-
Mazzoli proposals would affect agricultural employment in several ways.
First, the bills make it unlawful to hire, recruit or refer for employ-
ment any illegal aliens. The bills call for fines and jail terms for em-
ployers who violate this prohibition: $1,000 for each illegal worker on
the first offense, $2,000 for each on the second offense and a possible
six-months jail sentence after that. Further, the bills require employ-
ers to keep documentation proving the legal status of their workforce.

The proposals call for implementation of a system of worker iden-
tification which would be nontransfer able, difficult to counterfeit and
applicable to all workers. The identification system would provide em-
ployers with a simple and ready means to verify the legal status of
their workers.

The bills would augment the budget of the Immigration and Natu-
ralization Service (INS) to provide for increased border enforcement.

The Simpson-Mazzoli proposals provide amnesty for illegal workers
who “have resided continuously” in the U.S. since a certain date. Un-
der the Senate version, workers who have been in this country since
January 1, 1977 would apply for “permanent resident” status. Under
the House version, the effective date would be moved up to January
1, 1982, thus providing broader coverage. If the phrase “have resided
continuously” is strictly interpreted to mean year-around residence,
then seasonal agricultural workers who migrate regularly to the U.S.
for work would become ineligible for amnesty and thereby lost to U.S.
agricultural employers. No one knows exactly how many workers are
involved. Would defining “continuous residency” as six months out of
each year be sufficient to qualify? Even if amnesty were granted to
farmworkers, some observers don’t believe that agriculture could re-
tain them. Thus there have been calls for special arrangements to
permit foreign workers to be employed in agriculture on a transitional
basis or to sanction more widespread use of nonimmigrant foreign
workers.

Recognizing that large segments of American agriculture now de-
pend on a largely illegal workforce, the bills would establish a three-
year transition to allow U.S. agriculture to convert to a legal work-
force. Under this transition program, both employers and their illegal
workers would be required to register. During the first year, registered
employers could fill up to 100 percent of their labor needs by hiring
registered transitional workers. The second year, the figure would drop
to 75 percent; the third year it would be 33 percent. The fourth year,
the transitional program would end and the workforce would have to
be 100 percent legal workers or workers imported legally under the
Non-Immigrant Agricultural Worker (H-2) program.

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