Farmworker Justice Immigration Update

President Obama held meetings last week with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Thursday and immigration advocates on Friday to discuss the record number of people that the Obama Administration has deported. By the end of the month, it is estimated that the Obama Administration will have deported 2 million immigrants, more than any other administration. The President has been the target of recent protests due to his record number of deportations. The media widely reported that the President of the National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguia, called the President the “Deporter-in-Chief.” The CHC meeting came in advance of its planned vote on a resolution calling on the Obama Administration to decrease the number of deportations.

The President reportedly told both groups that he has asked Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to review the Administration’s deportation policies to find “more humane ways to enforce the law.” CHC Members Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) and CHC Chairman Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) attended Thursday’s meeting after which the CHC decided to postpone the vote on the resolution criticizing the President. The Members plan to meet with Johnson to discuss deportation policy.

In the meeting with advocates, the President reportedly expressed concern for the families being separated by deportations, but urged the advocates to keep pressure on the House to pass immigration reform this year. Several of the groups in the meeting have said that they will work with Secretary Johnson. Others have made clear that they will continue to press the Administration to stop the deportations and provide some administrative relief for undocumented immigrants.

The LA Times reported that policy changes currently under consideration by DHS could stop the deportations of individuals with no criminal convictions other than those related to immigration violations. This would mark a significant change in the agency’s policies. ICE claims that 96% of the individuals it deported last year fall into its deportation priorities; however, many of those individuals fall into the priorities only for having committed certain immigration violations, such as unlawful reentry or failing to appear at an immigration hearing. Often, the “criminals” being deported have been convicted of illegally reentering the country after a prior deportation. Many of these individuals have lived and worked in the U.S. for lengthy periods of time and are desperate to be reunited with their families. The Pew Research Center released a report this week on “The Rise of Federal Immigration Crimes: Unlawful Reentry Drives Growth,” which states that the number of federal criminal convictions for reentry has increased from 690 cases in 1992 to 19,463 in 2012, accounting for 48% of the growth in the number of offenders sentenced in federal courts. The average sentence for unlawful reentry convictions is 2 years.

Cesar Chavez Film Events Highlight Immigration Reform
The director of the new Cesar Chavez film, Diego Luna, and actresses America Ferrera and Rosario Dawson spoke about the urgent need for immigration reform at a premiere of the film at the Newseum in Washington, DC. The film also had a special screening at the White House where President Obama spoke about the struggle for immigration reform. “Cesar Chavez: History is Made One Step at a Time” will open in theaters March 28th.

H-2A Class-Action Lawsuit Filed in Washington
Two farm workers from the lower Yakima Valley, WA, have filed a class-action lawsuit against a large grape and vegetable grower, Mercer Canyons, alleging violations of the H-2A temporary agricultural guestworker program. The H-2A program requires employers to advertise for and hire qualified, willing and available US workers and includes requirements for recruiting US workers, such as contacting past employees to offer them the positions. Mercer Canyons applied for 44 H-2A workers in for the 2013 growing season. One named-plaintiff, Bacilio Ruiz Torres had been working for Mercer Canyons since February 2012 and was never offered the $12 per hour jobs. He made $9.88 per hour in 2013. The other named-plaintiff Jose Amador went to the Mercer Canyons office along with two family members to inquire about the jobs and was told that there were none. The lawsuit alleges that 100 other individuals were in similar positions. The farmworkers are represented by Columbia Legal Services and Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender.

Over the last year, use of the H-2A program has increased 49% in Washington and continues to grow. Despite the H-2A programs’ protections, displacement of US workers is not uncommon. Once employers invest in the H-2A program, they often prefer guestworkers over US workers because they are more vulnerable and are less likely to challenge illegal conduct. Plus, growers are able to handpick their H-2A workers -virtually all young men- because anti-discrimination laws are not enforced abroad. Moreover, H-2A workers typically arrive indebted and desperate to work to repay their debt, they are tied to an employer for an entire season, and must leave the country when the job ends, factors which make workers extremely vulnerable to abuse.

New Agribusiness Report Correctly Calls for Immigration Reform But Contains Flawed Analysis
The American Coalition for Immigration Reform and the Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan pro-immigration reform group of mayors and business leaders released a report on Tuesday, “No Longer Home Grown: How Labor Shortages are Increasing America’s Reliance on Imported Fresh Produce and Slowing U.S. Economic Growth.” While Farmworker Justice strongly agrees that there is an urgent need for immigration reform in agriculture and that immigration reform will be good for the U.S. economy, we disagree with some of the points in the report. Unfortunately, while the report does recommend immigration reform and specifically mentions the stakeholder agreement’s new guestworker program, it does not reference the path to legalization for current undocumented farmworkers. The stakeholder agreement’s path to permanent legal status and the opportunity to earn citizenship would help stabilize the current farm labor force, benefitting employers, farmworkers, and consumers. For farmworkers, this would mean a greater ability to challenge unfair or illegal employment practices and to move freely in the agricultural labor market and their communities without fear of immigration enforcement. We all want a prosperous agricultural sector in this country and reasonable policy decisions on immigration policy can help us achieve that goal. Farmworker Justice’s full statement on the report is available here.

President Obama held meetings last week with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Thursday and immigration advocates on Friday to discuss the record number of people that the Obama Administration has deported. By the end of the month, it is estimated that the Obama Administration will have deported 2 million immigrants, more than any other administration. The President has been the target of recent protests due to his record number of deportations. The media widely reported that the President of the National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguia, called the President the “Deporter-in-Chief.” The CHC meeting came in advance of its planned vote on a resolution calling on the Obama Administration to decrease the number of deportations.

The President reportedly told both groups that he has asked Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to review the Administration’s deportation policies to find “more humane ways to enforce the law.” CHC Members Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) and CHC Chairman Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) attended Thursday’s meeting after which the CHC decided to postpone the vote on the resolution criticizing the President. The Members plan to meet with Johnson to discuss deportation policy.

In the meeting with advocates, the President reportedly expressed concern for the families being separated by deportations, but urged the advocates to keep pressure on the House to pass immigration reform this year. Several of the groups in the meeting have said that they will work with Secretary Johnson. Others have made clear that they will continue to press the Administration to stop the deportations and provide some administrative relief for undocumented immigrants.

The LA Times reported that policy changes currently under consideration by DHS could stop the deportations of individuals with no criminal convictions other than those related to immigration violations. This would mark a significant change in the agency’s policies. ICE claims that 96% of the individuals it deported last year fall into its deportation priorities; however, many of those individuals fall into the priorities only for having committed certain immigration violations, such as unlawful reentry or failing to appear at an immigration hearing. Often, the “criminals” being deported have been convicted of illegally reentering the country after a prior deportation. Many of these individuals have lived and worked in the U.S. for lengthy periods of time and are desperate to be reunited with their families. The Pew Research Center released a report this week on “The Rise of Federal Immigration Crimes: Unlawful Reentry Drives Growth,” which states that the number of federal criminal convictions for reentry has increased from 690 cases in 1992 to 19,463 in 2012, accounting for 48% of the growth in the number of offenders sentenced in federal courts. The average sentence for unlawful reentry convictions is 2 years.

Cesar Chavez Film Events Highlight Immigration Reform
The director of the new Cesar Chavez film, Diego Luna, and actresses America Ferrera and Rosario Dawson spoke about the urgent need for immigration reform at a premiere of the film at the Newseum in Washington, DC. The film also had a special screening at the White House where President Obama spoke about the struggle for immigration reform. “Cesar Chavez: History is Made One Step at a Time” will open in theaters March 28th.

H-2A Class-Action Lawsuit Filed in Washington
Two farm workers from the lower Yakima Valley, WA, have filed a class-action lawsuit against a large grape and vegetable grower, Mercer Canyons, alleging violations of the H-2A temporary agricultural guestworker program. The H-2A program requires employers to advertise for and hire qualified, willing and available US workers and includes requirements for recruiting US workers, such as contacting past employees to offer them the positions. Mercer Canyons applied for 44 H-2A workers in for the 2013 growing season. One named-plaintiff, Bacilio Ruiz Torres had been working for Mercer Canyons since February 2012 and was never offered the $12 per hour jobs. He made $9.88 per hour in 2013. The other named-plaintiff Jose Amador went to the Mercer Canyons office along with two family members to inquire about the jobs and was told that there were none. The lawsuit alleges that 100 other individuals were in similar positions. The farmworkers are represented by Columbia Legal Services and Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender.

Over the last year, use of the H-2A program has increased 49% in Washington and continues to grow. Despite the H-2A programs’ protections, displacement of US workers is not uncommon. Once employers invest in the H-2A program, they often prefer guestworkers over US workers because they are more vulnerable and are less likely to challenge illegal conduct. Plus, growers are able to handpick their H-2A workers -virtually all young men- because anti-discrimination laws are not enforced abroad. Moreover, H-2A workers typically arrive indebted and desperate to work to repay their debt, they are tied to an employer for an entire season, and must leave the country when the job ends, factors which make workers extremely vulnerable to abuse.

New Agribusiness Report Correctly Calls for Immigration Reform But Contains Flawed Analysis
The American Coalition for Immigration Reform and the Partnership for a New American Economy, a bipartisan pro-immigration reform group of mayors and business leaders released a report on Tuesday, “No Longer Home Grown: How Labor Shortages are Increasing America’s Reliance on Imported Fresh Produce and Slowing U.S. Economic Growth.” While Farmworker Justice strongly agrees that there is an urgent need for immigration reform in agriculture and that immigration reform will be good for the U.S. economy, we disagree with some of the points in the report. Unfortunately, while the report does recommend immigration reform and specifically mentions the stakeholder agreement’s new guestworker program, it does not reference the path to legalization for current undocumented farmworkers. The stakeholder agreement’s path to permanent legal status and the opportunity to earn citizenship would help stabilize the current farm labor force, benefitting employers, farmworkers, and consumers. For farmworkers, this would mean a greater ability to challenge unfair or illegal employment practices and to move freely in the agricultural labor market and their communities without fear of immigration enforcement. We all want a prosperous agricultural sector in this country and reasonable policy decisions on immigration policy can help us achieve that goal. Farmworker Justice’s full statement on the report is available here.