PROPOSED IMMIGRATION POLICY REFORM & FARM LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES

modifications to existing laws on legal immigration. Though it favored stricter enforcement and
I-9 reform, overall, it was not as severe as H.R. 4437 in the overall approach to illegal
immigration. Specific provisions for the agricultural sector were proposed under AgJOBS
(Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act of 2005 (S. 359/H.R. 884; S.2611
Subtitle B), which would streamline the H-2A program to improve wages, working conditions
and minimum benefits (housing and transportation) for farm workers and establish a pilot
program for earned legalization of eligible unauthorized workers.

Neither S.2611 nor H.R. 4437 was passed since Congress failed to reach a compromise
between the two sets of views on immigration. The failure to achieve compromise can be linked
directly to the competing interests that lawmakers had to contend with: disagreements on policy
provisions between anti-immigration/pro-enforcement groups and pro-immigration groups,
disagreements on specific reform measures between and within political parties in Congress, and
intense lobbying from employer and worker advocacy groups for certain concessions. In many
respects, the most divisive issue has been proposed legalization for unauthorized immigrants.
There are segments of the American public that strongly oppose legalization on the grounds that
it would reward illegal behavior and encourage future illegal immigration, as there are others that
view legalization as the only viable means of bringing unauthorized immigrants into mainstream
U.S. society, that is, in lieu of mass deportations.

Amidst these divergent views, employers of low skilled foreign labor - particularly farm
employers - have expressed preference for increased access to immigrant labor to offset labor
shortages. This issue is particularly important to farm employers that have high demand for
manual labor over short periods during harvest time. Immigrant workers presently comprise a
significant proportion of the crop farm workforce (78%), an estimated 53% of which is

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