Candidate Attacks Changes In Immigration Law

Democratic challenger Brad Lyons and about 60 farm labor activists criticized Rep. George Nethercutt on Wednesday for supporting changes to immigration laws.

At a rally in front of the United States Court House, members of the United Farm Workers said the so-called guest worker legislation would lead to lower wages for migrant workers.

Growers have argued the proposal, which would allow more immigrants to work legally in the nation’s fields and orchards, is needed to correct problems with immigration laws.

As some protesters waved the red and black flags of the farm workers union or signs in Spanish and English, the crowd chanted “Neth-er-cutt, Neth-er-cutt,” and “Come down, we want to talk to you!”

The crowd apparently didn’t know that the Republican congressman wasn’t in his fifth floor office. He was in Washington, D.C.

Lyons, an Odessa farmer, said he knew that many Washington state growers need temporary workers for harvest and other parts of the growing season. But instead of using immigrant workers, they should hire people from Eastern Washington counties that have high unemployment.

“They should pay the wages and provide the benefits” that would attract American workers, he said. Growers could also provide transportation to bring the jobless from places like Pend Oreille and Stevens counties to the fields of central Washington, he added.

Lyons said a bill that recently passed the Senate - which would allow farm employers to hire as many temporary foreign workers as they need - would “make an already bad system worse.” It could lead to more illegal immigration as well as depressing farm wages, he said.

A spokesman for Nethercutt said he wasn’t sure if the Spokane Republican supported the proposal which passed the Senate last month on a 68-31 vote. But Nethercutt is a co-sponsor of a House proposal that would set up a two-year test program to increase the number of foreign farm workers allowed into the country, he said.