April 10, 2008

Chief, Regulatory Management Division

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Department of Homeland Security

111 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Suite 3008

Washington, DC 20529.

**RE: DHS Docket No. USCIS-2007-0055**

To Whom It May Concern:

**INTRODUCTION**

Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation (WyFB) is Wyoming's largest general farm
organization. Our members are engaged in all aspects of farming and
ranching, including livestock, dairy, grain crops, beans, sugarbeets,
and hay. We submit these comments in response to the Department's
solicitation for comments on the above-referenced rulemaking, which
would revise the existing regulations that govern the H-2A program.

The DHS proposal references certain materials related to the treatment
of sheepherders (an INS memo from 1991 and an INS letter to Sen. Simpson
from 1987) that should have been placed in the docket from the outset. 
They were not.  This creates a situation where interested parties are
not given sufficient notice because all relevant materials were not
placed in the docket. This omission could create legal vulnerabilities
for the Department, should the rule be challenged.

> The sheep industry in Wyoming is the largest user of the H2A program.
> Regarding the

sheepherder regulations, the proposal extending the time a worker spends
back in their home country from 1 to 90 days after fulfilling their
contract is unacceptable as there are producers that may be able to do
without the person for a short period of time but not for 90 days.  If
you have an employee that you like or have trained for your operation it
makes more sense if they can go home say during your slack season and
come back rather than having to stay the 90 days and possibly forcing
the rancher to start over with a new employee.  The system that we have
been operating under for the sheep herders has worked well for many
years.  We ask that it remain intact.

Another issue important to the Wyoming sheep industry is the
availability of sheep shearers. We depend on foreign workers to shear
our sheep as there are not enough domestic shearers to meet demand.  We
are down to one crew in the Big Horn Basin area of Wyoming, and they are
covered up with work.  A spring with some bad weather would mean that
ewes currently available for shearing would not be processed by the
shearing crew. This crew has been in the business for twenty years,
always abided by the law and gone through stressful audits without
penalties of

any kind.

 

**HERDERS**

We caution the department, as we have the Department of Labor, not to
make H2A any more cumbersome nor more expensive and harder to use. This
is true of the proposal revising the program governing sheepherders; we
are deeply concerned that the changes being contemplated would cause
enormous dislocations in Wyoming's sheep industry. The history of using
guest workers for sheepherding goes back over half a century, and we
urgently caution the department not to adopt changes that will disrupt
this economic activity.

WyFB objects to the department's proposal to change, with little
justification, and in complete disregard for its impact on the sector,
the existing requirements on sheepherders. The circumstances for
attracting and retaining workers in this sector, as well as the skills
required for such work, are unique within agriculture, and the history
of how to address these needs for the sector goes back for decades.

The new, 90-day leave requirement proposed by the department will cause
tremendous dislocations and disruptions for farmers and ranchers,
particularly those in the West, who raise sheep in locations that are
often remote and in open grazing conditions. Because the department has
offered no justification for this change and has given no reasons
regarding its necessity, we strongly object to its implementation.

**SHEARERS**

Shearing is critical to the health of the sheep industry. Sheep must be
sheared regardless of the demand for wool. Shearing generally takes
place before lambing, whenever that occurs. Removing the ewe's wool
reduces not only her mortality rate, but the mortality rate of her
lambs. Wool removal reduces stress in sheep, which in turn provides
quality meat animals and quality wool. The decision to not harvest wool
cannot be made, making shearers essential to the industry. Generally
from Australia or New Zealand, shearing crews come from countries that
have long been friends and allies. While working here should be legal
and orderly; regulations should also have some incentives for those who
have shown a long-term willingness to follow the law and respect our
system; however flawed they may find it.

Shearers spend a lot of money applying for and receiving visas, and then
prove every year, through fingerprinting and investigations, that they
are legal to work here.  Contractors have shearers that have come to the
U.S. for 10 and 12 years going through same process every year.  
Shearers are here for a short time; the effort to get them here takes 6
months of preparations. Shearing contractors are constantly keeping up
with the regulation changes and doing paperwork for the next season. 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed rule-making.
Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation supports the comments submitted by the
American Farm Bureau Federation.

Sincerely,

Suzy Noecker

Field Service and Public Relations Director

cc: Board, General Issues Committee, Sheep Committee