League of Women Voters Grand Traverse Leelanau Unit Study Committee Study Scope To study the past, current and proposed employment methods and work visa programs used by the agricultural employers in our area. The Task Force: Study Summary Succinct but complete description of the extent of the study and the pros and cons of this issue. The study was conducted during the period of February 2011, to January 2012, by a Task Force comprised of eight persons: a former librarian, three lawyers, an elementary school principal, a professional pilot raised on a local farm; a businesswoman who owns a small local farm, and a college professor. The Task force met at least once a month, exchanged hundreds of emails, and spent countless hours doing research and conducting and compiling interviews of locally affected persons. The Task Force Agenda: The agenda of the Task Force was broken down into five distinct but related subject areas. Each of the subject areas will be identified and the conclusions of each briefly explained. A. The Importance of Local Agriculture and Its Workers $ Michigan has more than 10 million acres of farmland in 54,900 farms, with an average farm size of about 180 acres supporting the growth of more than 200 commercial crops. $ In the six-county area in northwest lower Michigan (Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, and Wexford Counties), the direct and indirect economic impact is nearly $140 million, with more than 2,000 farm proprietors in the region employing more than 3,000 workers who received $19.4 million in farm-related income in 2006. $ This area is four times more dependent on agriculture than the state overall. Agricultural related sales in the region amount to approximately one-half of all retail sales, more than one-third of manufacturing sales, and are equal to the value of all sales in the professional service sector.
$ Some crops, such as cherries, are suitable for mechanical harvest, minimizing the need for seasonal workers, but others, such as apples, strawberries, and asparagus, must be picked by hand, thus requiring a large labor pool for a short period of time. $ For various reasons, the domestic seasonal labor pool in the Grand Traverse/Leelanau area is inadequate to fill the needs of farmers. Consequently, migrant workers who follow the crops are essential to 1. the Michigan farmer, and to the production of a secure domestic food supply. Without a dependable labor pool, growers cannot plant or harvest; without produce from the fields and orchards, local processors must import their products. B. Current Visa Programs and E-Verify Legal Permanent Resident or Green Card $ The Green Card is a slang term used to describe the permit that indicates an immigrant has the status of a Legal Permanent Resident. (There really is no such thing as a Green Card. ) $ Many people become legal permanent residents through a job or offer of permanent employment in the U.S., although that is not the only category. Some categories require certification by the U.S. Department of Labor that there are not enough domestic workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available in the area where the immigrant is to be employed and that no domestic workers are displaced by foreign workers. $ Many immigrants in Michigan obtain Green Cards through a family member spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21, and parents of U.S. citizenpetitioners 21 and older. $ In northwest Michigan, immigrant workers primarily hold a Green Card. H2A Visa Program $ The H2A Visa is a temporary visa used for seasonal agricultural workers. Since it s last revision (in 1986) it has been one of the most controversial of such programs. Agricultural employers claim its restrictions make it impractical while farm worker advocates say that it fails to provide sufficient protection for U.S. workers and renders foreign workers vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment.
$ The H2A hiring process is complicated, cumbersome, expensive, rigid, and uncertain. An employer files a 35 page application with the U.S. Department of Labor for a H2A visa for each migrant employee to be hired in sufficient time for it to be approved 20 days prior to the start of the employment. Following DOL approval, an application must be filed with Homeland Security and, when approved, is forward to the U.S. consulate in the country where the worker originally applied. $ Under this program, the employer must provide transportation to and from the worker s temporary home to the workplace; housing for all workers who do not commute across an international border; meals or a means of preparing meals; tools and supplies; and workers compensation insurance. 2. $ Because of the problems implementing the H2A program, it is disfavored by employers and is simply not working in Michigan. One farmer reported that there are some 40,000 migrant workers in the state in the peak season, but no more than 200 are processed through H2A. E-Verify System $ E-Verify is an internet-based system that compares information from an employee s Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) to data from the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm eligibility for employment. Basically, it is a system designed to root out undocumented and illegal workers and does not, in itself, actually assist employers to hire needed agricultural workers. $ Several states (Arizona, Mississippi, and Georgia) have passed state laws requiring employers to use E-Verify. It is also mandatory for employers operating under federal contracts or subcontracts under federal law. $ E-Verify is opposed by area agricultural employers and workers almost without exception, and is viewed as problematic by Michigan legislators of both political parties. C. Guest Worker Visas: Non-Governmental Group Positions $ Local agricultural employers agree with the statement of the Michigan Apple Committee that The No. 1 concern of growers in Michigan is availability of labor. We need skilled workers to handle our Michigan crops. $ Many farm worker and immigration reform organizations, including the United
Farm Workers Union, Guestworker Alliance, and the National Immigration Law Center, favor programs that at least insure the following: 1. a path to legalization; 2. legal protections similar to those guaranteed U.S. workers; 3. the ability to enforce employment and labor rights in the U.S. courts; 4. wage rates that protect the domestic labor force from unfair competition and vulnerable foreign workers from exploitation; and 5. the ability to work for more than one farmer-employer. $ Other organizations favor various reforms; some included the creation of a visa system different than the H2A visa: 1. that lasts at least three years with unlimited renewals; 2. that permits workers to work for more than one farm; 3. that insures pay ranges to be the average area wage rate for a particular crop but will not fall below state or federal minimum wage rates; 4. that eliminates any housing requirement on the part of employer; 5. that requires a state employment agency to verify the eligibility of an applicant-worker rather than placing an E-Verify type burden on the employer; and 3. 6. that permits hardworking, tax-paying unauthorized workers to earn permanent status after meeting strict requirements such as law enforcement screening and learning basic English. $ The specific conclusions of the Task Force included: 1. the adoption of a common sense approach to reform the H2A program and to develop a way to retain long-term, valued employees; 2. to keep in mind that farms and businesses, jobs, rural economies, and our national food security are on the line, and that the costs of inaction are accumulating. D. Noteworthy Immigration Legislation $ Over the two years prior to the study, both state and federal legislators have taken steps to respond to the presence within the United States of tens of millions of undocumented persons. $ Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina have passed laws that require police officers and other public officials to ascertain the immigration status of persons taken into custody or using public resources. Utah passed a similar law
but also provided a process for allowing long-term and otherwise law-abiding non-citizens to remain in the state. Indiana attempted to pass a very strict immigration law, but ended up with only modest new restrictions. $ Though the Arizona law received the most publicity and thus generated the most controversy, much of that controversy was resolved last July by the decision of United States Supreme Court in the case of Arizona v. United States. Many, but not all, of what many regarded as the most nefarious provisions of the Arizona law were declared void as preempted by Federal immigration law. $ Thus far, Michigan has not enacted legislation in this area, although a bill very similar to the Arizona law has been introduced. And, although it may not be taken up in an election year, the U.S. Congress, in the past, has introduced legislation that would greatly simplify the process by which farmers and growers may obtain temporary workers from abroad. $ This area of the agricultural worker problem continues to be fluid and unresolved, and, unfortunately, legislative remedies and the process by which laws become actual working realities remains highly politicized. E. Interviews of Interested Persons and Parties $ During its study, the Task Force interviewed nearly 25 individuals, including employers and workers, a fruit processor, a vineyard owner, and an official of a state farming organization. 4. $ The interviews resulted in the compilation of a number of views, many of which are reflected in the findings already noted. Summarized, in general they reflect the following five opinions and concerns: 1. Neither the H2A program nor the E-Verify system of document verification is workable in Michigan. Adoption by Michigan of the latter, according to one farmer, would be disastrous to the immigrant worker employment situation in the state. Nonetheless, most employers say they are not document experts, and that they have no interest in becoming one; there are simply too many other things that must be done on a regular, timely basis to succeed in the farming business. And, skeptical of ability of legislators to understand the issues, many employers interviewed recommend that the government dump the entire present system and start over.
2. The ability of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) to legally arrest and detain persons without warrant or warning creates an atmosphere of fear and distrust among migrant workers. Families are torn apart without regard for what are normally considered individual rights, a matter of special importance to a people who hold their families and family life in particularly high esteem. Should a geographic area a state or region become known for ICE raids or similar law enforcement actions, migrant workers will simply refuse to return to those places, to the detriment of the growers and processors who depend on them. Several farmers had personally witnessed such arrests and the traumas imposed on migrant families, and they and others came to the conclusion that the humanitarian issues affecting their employees must be addressed. 3. Agriculture is a capital intensive, labor intensive, high-risk business, and financial success depends on a number of things falling into place on a yearly basis, including weather, product price, and the ability to get the product out of the field. Should any of the pieces come up missing, the result will surely be failure and might be bankruptcy. 4. The United States presently enjoys the safest, cheapest, and greatest variety of produce in the world. Most people, including most legislators, do not recognize or understand the critical role which seasonal guest workers have in making this possible. The continued ability of the farming community to produce at this level, however, is fragile and uncertain, and should not be taken for granted. 5.