Of 77 INS operations in Fresno County in the past 12 months, none was in agriculture, spokeswoman Sharon Rummery says. INS officials in Washington say the agency's priorities are illegal immigrants who commit crimes and smugglers who bring in immigrants. However, the GAO found that the prevalence of illegal workers leaves growers vulnerable to sudden labor shortages should INS target them. Growers say both INS and the Social Security Administration are cracking down with audits to ferret out illegal workers with fake documents. I know I'm not going to be able to play these games that everyone's been playing very much longer.
Growers complain that fewer familiar faces return to the fields and orchards each year.
New, inexperienced workers mean higher training costs and lower-quality work. Donald Laub, who farms grapes on 1,150 acres, says no more than a fifth of his workers came back this year. These people know what you want, they've been trained in how you do it, not how your neighbor does it. Worker advocates argue that better pay, not more foreign workers, would stabilize the workforce. They say many of the abuses and injustices that have long plagued migrant labor would still exist under the growers' plan.