10/16/06 Will the border fence really work?

A month from now the Lame Duck Congress will go back to work. In a Senate so evenly and deeply divided its strange to see Idaho's Larry Craig aligned with Ted Kennedy or Diane Feinstein on legislation that would lead to an agriculture jobs bill. Craig says what Congress has been willing to do so far is authorize money to build a fence along the Mexican border. CRAIG "If somebody gets over the fence, under the fence or around the fence illegally and they know they can find work once they get there then the fence will not work. If they know when they get here that they have got to have a legal document before somebody will hire them and that person who hires them might be in legal trouble if they do then it begins to work." He vows that the border will be closed. Once that's evident Craig predicts Congress will pass some kind of legislation to deal with immigrant labor. CRAIG "A guest worker program. A legal program that controls people coming in, recognizes the need in our economy, certain economies and certainly agriculture is one of them." Growers in many parts of the country are saying that they're having problems this year getting the labor force they need for harvest, with an aging workforce, competition from other industries and a lack of immigration policy all contributing to that shortage. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott