Immigration reform may deprive Americans of fresh produce
11:49 a.m. Thursday, March 30, 2006
From coast to coast, Americans eat berries grown in Oxnard, California and picked by immigrant workers.
One grower, who wanted only to be identified as Tom, has been in the strawberry business all his life.
"I've never had an American come ask me if they can pick strawberries," Tom said. "I've never had an American come ask me for any job on the farm."
Tom says he only employs workers who show him legal documents.
He says he doubts there will be new federal laws making the hiring of undocumented workers a felony.
But says it if happens, the effects will be crippling.
"If you shut the border down and you eliminate our workforce, fresh produce in this country shuts down with it," Tom said.
And he says, the price of strawberries skyrockets or the fruit vanishes from store shelves and from our tables.
Strawberry growers and the United Farm Workers Union rarely agree on anything.
But on this, they see eye to eye,
"American agriculture, as we know it, would collapse. Americans would no longer be able to buy most fresh fruits and vegetables at least not many that are produced in America," said United Farm Workers Representative Mark Grossman.
However, when it comes to a solution, the two parties are far apart.
Tom favors a guest worker program that's light on red tape and quick to get workers in the fields.
President Bush has proposed a guest worker program that would allow individuals to work in the U.S. for three years, with the possibility of a three-year extension before they must return to their home countries.
The United Farm Workers say the prospect doesn't hold appeal for the many undocumented workers whose roots in the U.S. run deep.
"Their families are here. They go to church in their hometowns," Grossman said. "They're not going to volunteer to participate in a program that only promises them deportation if they follow all the rules."
The grower CNN talked to said at the peak of strawberry season, pickers earn about ten to $12 an hour. That may seem like a decent wage, but bear in mind, it's not year-round; it's only at the height of the season. And when you break it down it works out to about 12 cents a pint.
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