2-19-08
Contact: Reginald S. Hall, (803) 936-4409

Farm Bureau Position on Immigration Reform

Columbia, SC - SC Farm Bureau president David Winkles reinforced the state’s largest general farm organization’s position on immigration reform this week when he said, “Farm Bureau continues to maintain that immigration reform is a federal issue and should be resolved by congress in order to keep the United States from having as many as 50 different state laws regulating migrant labor.”

Winkles said, “It’s clear that the legislature wants to pass some type of immigration reform. I would just encourage them to base their decisions on fact, logic, and reason rather than on heightened emotions or on the whims of constituents who may not fully comprehend the impact similar laws have already had in other states.”

Farm Bureau does not support hiring illegal immigrants and the membership organization encourages all business to comply with existing federal employment laws requiring proof of citizenship or legal worker status like the federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form process.

“Farmers have also been accused of paying substandard wages to immigrants as a means to cheating US citizens out of work,” Winkles said, “But that’s not the case. Farmers pay a fair wage and many participate in the federal H2A seasonal labor program that requires farmers to provide housing, pay higher wages, and give preference to citizens for jobs.” The Farm Bureau president said the entire South Carolina peach industry has participated in the H2A federal program for a number of years in order to get enough workers to harvest the nation’s second largest fresh peach crop each summer (second only to California). “I’ve had farmers tell me there are no local folks who want to work out in the peach orchard in the middle of the summer, even for payment well above the minimum wage” Winkles said.

While Farm Bureau continues to push for a congressional solution to immigration reform, the organization is certain legislators will pass some type of State immigration legislation this session. Winkles said, “I just hope that what they pass won’t put businesses in a position to choose between following federal or state regulations. And I hope that whatever is passed does not create a mass exodus of Hispanic South Carolinians who are here legally and are productive of their communities.”

Farm Bureau is a non-profit advocate organization for family farmers and rural lifestyles in South Carolina with more than 100,000 member families.

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RSH
2/19/08

 
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