Farmworkers, ag leaders back reform

YAKIMA – Several Washington farm leaders joined three immigrants at a forum Thursday before Democratic Sen. Patty Murray to stress the importance of ensuring a stable labor force and reuniting families torn apart by deportations.

The immigration forum came as Congress prepares to consider sweeping legislation that would create a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people who have entered the country illegally, improve access for work visas and spend billions of dollars more to secure the border.

The bill isn’t perfect, Murray said, but it’s a compromise toward improvement.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who could say the immigration system works today in this country,” she said.

The Senate probably will take up the bill in June.

Washington agriculture leaders have been among the biggest proponents of immigration reform in the state.

Growers face not having enough labor, and families fear being ripped apart as the federal government steps up efforts to deport immigrants who entered the country illegally, said Bruce Allen of Columbia Reach Pack, a fruit packer, and Chiawana Orchards.

“You couldn’t ask for a worse pot of stew,” Allen said.

This year, workers already are in fields picking asparagus and laboring to protect fruit trees from freezing in the cold spring nights, as growers worry whether they’ll have enough employees to harvest crops at the height of the growing season.

Many growers scrambled last fall to find pickers during a record apple harvest.

Those labor uncertainties are impeding overall economic development in the agricultural sector, said Mike Broadhead, president of Central Valley Bank.

Agriculture revenue comprises 42 percent of the bank’s $120 million portfolio.

“Do you really want to commit capital with the uncertainty of labor?” he asked. “All we’re after is a firm solution.”

During the forum, 34-year-old farmworker and mother of four Erendira Maya recounted how immigration enforcement officers invaded her home searching for her children’s father in 2009, one month after she gave birth to her youngest child.

“They came into my home like he was a terrorist,” she said through a translator. “I fled. I just abandoned the home. I was scared.”

Murray said farmers face a maze of bureaucracy trying to ensure they have enough workers in their fields. She said too many people who contribute to communities in many ways are uncertain about their futures in the United States.

“Having the ability to know they have some stability and this works is very important to them.”