Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

WASHINGTON -- Final touches on a bipartisan bill to give up to 500,000 farm workers not currently authorized to work in the United States a one-time opportunity to legalize their stay are being negotiated by two key U.S. senators.

"We're nearing agreement. What we hope to have by the end of this week, or perhaps next week, is a truly bipartisan piece of legislation," said Will Hart, a spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

The bill will focus solely on farm workers and will not be as far-reaching as a controversial "guest worker" bill sponsored by Arizona Reps. Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake and Sen. John McCain that would extend temporary U.S. work visas to millions of undocumented immigrants who toil in restaurants, hotels and other industries.

Though the details must be finalized, the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who is working with Craig on the bill, along with groups representing growers, farm worker advocates and immigrants, provided a draft of the measure. Kennedy is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship.

Main provisions would:

• Provide farm workers with eligibility for temporary U.S. resident status after they performed at least 575 hours, or 100 days, of agriculture work during any 12 consecutive months since March 1, 2002.

• Enable workers who became temporary residents under the program to achieve permanent residency after 2,060 work-hours of agriculture labor, or 360 workdays, during the next six years.

• Extend eligibility for adjustment to permanent resident status to a farm worker's spouse and children once the worker completed the work requirement and gained permanent status.

• Give farm workers the right under federal law to join a union and give them the same labor-law protections as U.S. farm workers.

Require their employers to pay the same federal payroll taxes as for employees who were U.S. citizens.

The bill essentially would reform an existing agricultural visa program that the Kennedy office summary says "has failed to protect worker rights and is criticized by employers as costly and burdensome."

It would cap at 500,000 the number of workers that could be affected. It is unclear how many of those workers would be in Arizona.

One recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated that there are 800,000 to 1 million farm workers throughout the nation and that anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent are foreigners.

Agriculture focus

The bill is being geared specifically to agriculture because agriculture is covered by its own laws regarding wages and working conditions.

Kolbe, Flake and McCain's broader bill has attracted much editorial attention and praise. But McCain's Senate version has yet to attract a single co-sponsor in that chamber from either party.

"We welcome all efforts to solve this country's immigration problems," Kolbe said Thursday of the Kennedy-Craig effort.

Flake said, "I agree that there should be a temporary worker program in the agriculture industry, but why not include the millions of workers in other industries? Our plan addresses all industries."

Celia Muñoz, National Council of La Raza vice president, said passage of such a bill would be a real breakthrough that could open the door for more ambitious bills.

Marc Grossman, a spokesman for the United Farm Workers of America, said he did not want to discuss specifics of the work being done on the Kennedy-Craig bill but said, "We're trying to hammer out an agreement."

Sharon Hughes, executive vice president of the National Council of Agriculture Employers, could not be reached for comment on the measure.

A major bone of contention in negotiations has been whether temporary workers would be protected by a majority of the same laws that protect domestic farm workers.

Craig last week sent a letter to other lawmakers urging them to take final action on a farm worker measure.

'Vulnerable persons'

"In recent months, we have read of the senseless and inhumane deaths of farm workers being smuggled illegally into the United States," Craig wrote. "Those who survive to work in the fields are among the most vulnerable persons in this country, unable to assert the most basic legal rights and protections."

In addition, Craig wrote that farmers and growers are finding it difficult to secure a predictable workforce, as enforcement of U.S. immigration and employment documentation laws have been stepped up and "the workforce is frequently and widely disrupted."

Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, are involved in the talks, and would be House co-sponsors of an agreed-upon bill.