SANTA FE, NM (By Judy O'Meara, The Jon Garrido Network) July 16, 2011 — According to the US Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) about half of US crop workers have been unauthorized for the past decade.

Since the 1990’s there has been a significant increase in demand for fruits, vegetables, nuts and horticultural (FVH) commodities. Each of these FVH segments had sales of about $20 billion in 2010, and combined FVH sales of $60 billion were almost a third of the $195 billion in crop sales. With California being the largest farming state, their share of US farm sales increased alongside the rising share of high-value FVH commodities. Today two-thirds of their agricultural sales comes from FVH crops.   

This has changed the faces of rural America attracting immigrants to fill farm jobs because of the labor intensive nature of producing such commodities.   Because of the concern about the availability of farm workers labor-saving changes in some commodities (like increasing mechanization in raisin harvesting) has been implemented so the focus could be on greenhouses, nurseries, and dairies, where labor-saving changes may be slower. This shifting demand for hired farm labor may change the debate on immigration reform and agriculture, since e. g. horticulture and dairies are more widely dispersed throughout the US than fruits and vegetables.

The change in the immigrant movement has been transforming rural and agricultural areas throughout the United States for decades. Newcomers from Mexico and Central America fill many of seasonal jobs especially fruit, vegetable and horticultural crop farms as well as year-round jobs in many dairy and livestock operations and farm-related jobs in food processing and meatpacking.

(NAWS) researchers have found most Hispanic or Latino immigrants will remain in seasonal farm and farm-related jobs for less than a decade before moving up the US job ladder, often finding jobs in construction or services. This is what happened when the US economy boomed and unemployment fell in 2006-07. The revolving door that brought Hispanics or Latino immigrants into farm jobs quickly moved them on to nonfarm jobs thus generating farm labor shortage complaints.

However (NAWS) found during the recession of 2008-09 some ex-farm workers moved down the job ladder, returning to the farm work force after losing construction and other nonfarm jobs. There were few farm labor shortage complaints.

Despite the recession of 2008-09, the average number of weeks of farm employment increased and the average hourly earnings rose. The farm worker conditions improved, including fewer new unauthorized entrants because of stepped up border and interior enforcement.

The increase wages brought about productivity advantages from less worker turnover contributed to the H-2A program expansion. Information compiled by the Global Workers Justice Alliance — June 2010, the Department of Labor issued 99,472 visas in from October 2008-Sept 2009 (of the H-2A seasonal agricultural workers visas 55,693 were for Mexican workers).      

The expansion included new areas and commodities such as the Washington apple growers, California-Arizona vegetable growers, and producers of fruits and vegetables in the south-central states in response to immigration enforcement actions and a quest for more workers.

Even with the demand for workers and the labor intensive  nature of (FVH), the prospect of comprehensive immigration reform, is probably not going to happen in 2011-2012.

Instead there are growing trends for more legislation like the Texas’s HB3252 E-Verify bill (introduced by Representative Warren Chisum), which received the State Affairs Committee’s approval on May 6, 2011.  This type of verification would require US employers to submit data on newly hired workers to the US Department of Human Services (DHS) and if the employers continued to employ workers with suspect documents they would risk fines. 

One result may be less stable employment for unauthorized workers and their families. The increased fear in agricultural communities from I-9 audits will prompt some workers to circulate from one employer to another as they obtain new false documents. With more state and local police providing information on suspected unauthorized foreigners to DHS, it could lead to detention and deportation.

The major immigration reform proposal that would affect farm workers, farm employers and the rural communities is the Agricultural Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act (AgJOBS). The bi-partisan AgJOBS would provide a path to legal status for some unauthorized farm workers and revise the H-2A temporary worker program to make it easier for farm employers to employ legal guest workers.

On May 14, 2009, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representatives Berman (D-CA) and Putnam (R-FL) introduced the S1038 & HR2414 AgJOBS in the 111th Congress.  The S1038 version would have allowed up to 1.35 million unauthorized farm workers who did at least 150 days or 863 hours farm work in the 24-month period ending December 31, 2008 to apply for Blue Cards that would allow them to work and live in the US. The HR2414 version stipulated the farm worker would qualify by doing 150 days or 863 hours of farm work or by earning at least $7,500 from farm work during the 24-month qualifying period.  Although introduced, neither has yet to pass.

For those unfamiliar, the H-2A program allows US farm employers to request certification from the US Department of Labor (DOL) to have foreign workers admitted temporarily to the United States to perform agricultural labor of a temporary or seasonal nature.  Data is available on the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center Online Wage Library.

The US DOL certification requires two conditions are satisfied: (1) there are not sufficient US citizens who are able, willing, and qualified, and who will be available at the time and place needed, to perform the labor or services involved in the employer petition and, (2) the employment of the farmworker in such labor or services will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. If the AgJOBS  had passed, the changes to the H-2A program would have start one year after the enactment.  

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates employment on US farms four times a year. According to the NASS, there has been enormous growth in the immigrant population. In 1970, the 10 million immigrants were less than five percent of US residents; in 2010, the immigrant share of US residents had increased by 2.5 times to 13 percent, reflecting a quarter century of high immigration.

Their researchers find the largest single source of immigrants is from Mexico with many others migrating from India, Philippines and China.

In 1970, when Mexico’s population was 48 million, there were 760,000 Mexican-born US residents. By 2010, when Mexico had 112 million residents, there were 12 million Mexican born US residents.

Between 2007 and 2010, the number of unauthorized foreigners in the US dropped, reflecting the recession of 2008-09. There was 11.1 million unauthorized foreigners in 2005, a peak of 12 million in 2007, 11.6 million in 2008, 11.1 million in 2009, and 11.2 million in 2010.

Unauthorized foreigners are dispersed throughout the US. In 1990, California had 42 percent of the estimated 3.5 million unauthorized foreigners in the US, and the top six states had 80 percent.

By 2010, California’s share had fallen to 23 percent of 11.2 million unauthorized foreigners, and the same six traditional immigration states had only 60 percent of the total unauthorized population.

In many “new growth” states for immigrants in the Midwest and southeast, most recent immigrants are unauthorized.

The US Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) has been interviewing farm workers over the past two decades. Since 1989, 54,000 workers have participated in the interviews.

The DOL NAWS is the only federal survey that determines the legal status of respondents. The NAWS was originally designed to determine the supply or availability of farm workers, since the Immigration Reform & Control Act required monitoring the farm labor market to determine if there were farm labor shortages. As determined, there were no farm labor shortages during the period of 1989-93 for which the NAWS was mandated.

The NAWS has continued to interview workers employed on US crop farms and they currently generate socioeconomic data on workers employed on US crop farms. The share of farm workers who are unauthorized rose from 14 percent in the early 1990s to peak at 54 percent in 2000 and fell to 48 percent in recent years.

Meanwhile, the share of crop workers who are US citizens fell from 43 percent in the early 1990s to a low of 20 percent in 2000, and rose to 33 percent in recent years. 

Among foreign-born farm workers, the share in the US for more than a decade has been rising, from about 45 percent to 55 percent between 2005 and 2008.

Most are from Mexico and they traditionally came from west central Mexican states. The share of US crop workers from west central Mexico has been falling, while the share from southern Mexican states has been rising, to about 20 percent after 2005.

Many have less than seven years schooling and about two-thirds speak little or no English. Almost half of foreign-born farm workers in the US who have at least 20 years speak English well.  Over half are married with approximately 25 percent of their children being born in the US.

Recent interviews indicate a more stable crop work force with a rising share of workers who report only one farm employer during the year; over 80 percent reported only one farm employer between 2007 and 2009, when workers averaged 35 weeks of farm work.

Most of the crop workers interviewed for the NAWS, almost 90 percent between 2007 and 2009, reported being hired directly by a crop farmer; only 12 percent were hired by labor contractors, down from 27 percent in the late 1990s.

Similarly, over 80 percent of crop workers between 2007 and 2009 reported being paid hourly wages, versus 11 percent paid piece rate wages.

The NAWS interviews primarily workers employed in FVH crops. During 2007 and 2009, 35 percent worked in fruits and nuts, 23 percent worked in vegetables, and 20 percent worked in horticulture, a total of 78 percent. The same split in the late 1990s, but with more in fruits and fewer in horticulture.

By task when interviewed, a quarter of the workers between 2007 and 2009 were engaged in pre-harvest tasks, another quarter were harvesting, and another quarter were engaged in “technical tasks,” primarily work in greenhouses.

The NAWS collects personal and family earnings by income ranges, such as $12,500 to $14,999, the average farm earnings of workers interviewed between 2007-2009. The average wage being $9 an hour, $13,500 in farm earnings suggest 1,500 hours of work. Average family income from farm and nonfarm sources was $17,500 to $19,999 between 2007 and 2009. A quarter of families had incomes below the poverty line and a quarter reported receiving needs-based public assistance.

The NAWS paints a picture of a crop work force experiencing rising wages and more weeks of farm work conditions despite the recession of 2008-09.

The share of workers interviewed by the NAWS with family incomes below the poverty level has fallen sharply, from 56 percent in the mid-1990s to 23 percent between 2007 and 2009.  Their educational level and English skills may have remained the same, yet it has not kept them from increasing their wages, weeks of work, and income. 

The share of US-born workers is almost 30 percent and rising, weeks of farm work and real earnings are rising, and average farm and family income is rising.

President Obama’s Administration supports comprehensive immigration reform, including stepped up border and interior enforcement to detect and deter illegal immigration as well as a path to legalization for most of the unauthorized foreigners in the US while the House Republicans prefer an enforcement-only approach to unauthorized migration.

Obama’s spring 2011 activities are widely seen in many media reports as an effort to shift blame for the failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform to Congressional Republicans, who continue to assert that enforcement must come before legalization.  He believes the American public is more prepared to endorse comprehensive immigration reform to strengthen the US economy than many members of Congress.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency expects to deport about 400,000 foreigners this fiscal year.  This is nearly 10 percent above the Bush administration's 2008 total and 25 percent more than were deported in 2007. The pace of company audits has roughly quadrupled since President George W. Bush’s final year in office.

According to an article by Marcus Stern, 9/10/2010 in USA TODAY, the number of immigrants removed by ICE starting October 1, 2010 is fully 60% higher than in the last year of the Bush immigration, and at least a third (37%) higher than in the first year of Obama administration. 

The ICE efforts are part of President Obama’s larger project "to make our national laws actually work," as he put it in a speech this month at American University. Partly designed to entice Republicans to support comprehensive immigration reform, the mission is proving difficult and politically perilous.

Many migrant farm worker advocates have asked President Obama to suspend the deportation of foreigners who might qualify for legalization under comprehensive immigration reforms, especially unauthorized foreigners brought to the US before age 16 who could have, under the DREAM Act, became legal immigrants if they graduated from college or served in the military.  

Many enforcement-minded House Republicans threaten to initiate impeachment proceedings of the Obama Administration if such actions were to have taken place. 

Sources:

Immigration Reform Implications for Farmers, Farm Workers and Communities —  UCDavis.edu, University of CA-Philip Martin, June 23, 2011.

California Hired Farm Labor 1960-2010 Change and Continuity-From Migration. UCDavis.edu, University of CA-Philip Martin, 30 Apr 2011.  

USDA Agriculture on the "US Household Looking Ahead to 2020, Economic Research Service USDA Agriculture Report No.821"