What's Up With Immigration?

What's Up With Immigration? I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Recently ICE agents conducted immigration audits at one Washington orchard and that has a lot of industry officials and orchardists buzzing. The President has said that he wants to make our labor force a priority but with healthcare and climate legislation on the front burner Bruce Grim, Executive Director of the Washington State Horticultural Association is not sure that will happen any time soon. And in fact he says these H2A programs had a different initial intent. GRIM: If one goes back to the inception of when H2A – H1B programs came along, these were programs that were really never designed to work in the first place. They were designed to thwart efforts to bring people into the country for work whether it be skilled or unskilled. Grim says that while the old system was not perfect the new system is a step backward. GRIM: And what we saw under the Bush Administration was putting in a place a set of rules that at least not horrendously expensive. Yes they were much more expensive but not totally so and they were somewhat workable and more so than what we had. What the Obama rules do is turn the clock back. Now H2A is once again back to being a virtually unworkable program Some 3000 workers have been brought in over the last few years and that has helped easy labor worries but that may change. GRIM: And a number of the bigger users of the H2A program they've indicated they're not likely to use the program this year because it's too costly, too unwieldy, notice requirements are just too adverse to them – it just won't work. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.