Bill targets farm-labor ills

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8169308

The push would require farmers to cover travel costs, housing and food for the imported workers, who would not be allowed to bring their families.

By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/05/2008 12:20:18 AM MST

Two Colorado lawmakers are proposing legislation aimed at making it easier for farmers to import immigrant laborers — legally.

The bill, from Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, is meant to speed up the process for immigrant workers to obtain federal H-2A visas that allow them to perform seasonal agricultural work.

The bill comes in response to widespread complaints from farmers that because of tougher immigration laws the past few years, they can't find enough migrant workers to bring in their crops.

"Our farmers need workers," Looper said at a news conference Monday. "We need to get them here — legally, safely."

The federal H-2A program allows farmers to hire immigrant workers if they can show that there is a need for the laborers and that hiring foreign workers would not hurt U.S. wages or working conditions. That process, in addition to the background checks that must be performed, means applications often take months to process, supporters of the bill said.

The result is that crops spoil in the fields while farmers try to recruit enough workers to tend to them, proponents said.

FULL story at link.