Speech #990186054

Pending legislation in the House would codify modifications to the H2 program. However. the 20.000 or so H2 agricultural workers make up only a small part of our foreign agricultural labor force. The majority of this foreign labor force are undocumented foreign migrant workers who come here during certain times of the year to earn higher wages in U.S. agriculture. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many of these foreign workers and their families actually came to the United States at any one time. However. we do know that the number is several hundred thousand. The critical concern for us supporting immigration reform legislation is: how do we control the number of foreign workers coming into this country and still meet the legitimate needs of agricultureespecially for those who find that the current H2 program is not adequate to serve their agricultural needs? Although the H2 program works well for some growers. it has proven to be too inflexible to be workable for the producers of perishable commodities. It is recognized in the agricultural and food industries that a separate program. other than H2. is required for certain types of agricultural crops. This program must include two basic ingredients. First. it must give farmers enough labor at critical times in the agricultural season and. second. this labor force must consist of domestic and documented foreign workers of employees are to avoid the employers sanctions currently a part of the immigration reform legislation in both the House and the Senate. For example. in my own State of California thq H2 program has not been used to any degree. Except for about 200 shepherds. those in western agriculture have found it is more convenient to rely on this undocumented population that is for all intents and purposes beyond the protection of our labor laws. Those in western agriculture have made the argument that the perishable nature of their cropsunlike sugarmakes the regulatory maize of the current H2 irrelevant to their needs. While there are some exceptions to this general rule. such as Peter Martori. who grows vegetables in Arizona. the H2 program has just not been used in my part of the country. And I should point out that Mr. Martori himself has testified before our subcommittee that he deems it necessary for us to make changes in the law in order to streamline the operation of the H2 program. Therefore. this is the context within which we must consider comprehensive immigration reform legislation. In the last three Congresses both the House and Senate bills have sought to regularize the flow of undocumented aliens into a legal framework that will afford legal protection of foreign workers. as well as protection of domestic workers from displacement. In all three instances an attempt to streamline the H2 program in order to broaden its use has been made. In addition. in the last two Congresses. on separate occasions. both bodies have adopted guestworker programs to address the concerns of those who grow perishable commodities.