How Does Immigration Shape Up in 2011

 How Does Immigration Shape Up in 2011. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

At this year’s annual Hort convention, just completed in Yakima, Frank Gasparini with the National Council of Agricultural Employers took some time to take a look at what the immigration picture may shape up to be in the new year.

GASPARINI: Our priorities for the last year and our priorities going into 2011 focus around employment eligibility which you are all interested in, all deeply engaged in. That’s going to stay the same. I-9 audits are going to continue next year. My guess is they’ll increase if anything. The H2A and H2B guest worker situations, those are the only legal guest worker programs we have in America.

He says that these programs are broken and will get even worse when the Department of Labor gets done with new regulations.

GASPARINI: AgJobs and immigration reform we have been working on for 15 years. Immigration reform had some run up and some opportunities earlier this year-nothing happened. Child labor is an issue NCAE is working on. Child labor to the activist community means anybody under working on a farm.

Many regulations try to lump agriculture in with other industries and Gasparini says you can’t do that.

GASPARINI:  But there are many, many people in regulatory and legislative positions who don’t understand that and refuse to admit that agriculture is not only unique and different but is indeed special.

More tomorrow. That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.