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I was on a conference call earlier this afternoon with Craig Regelbrugge of SAFE (Save America’s Food and Economy) and California Representative Dan Lungren. The issue of the call is protecting America’s agricultural labor force in light of E-Verify and specifically HR-2164.

Here is their fact sheet page.

Current bill – H.R.2164 – “The Legal Workforce Act”

Summary, status and full text of legislation currently under consideration in Congress which mandates use of E-Verify by all employers in the United States. The bill was introduced on June 14, 2011 by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).

Background -
What is E-Verify?

A government primer on the Internet-based employee eligibility system managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Background -
E-Verify Wiki

Overview of E-Verify and its history, including references to federal and state government application.

Past proposals, AgJOBS -
S. 1038

Senate version of AgJOBS compromise legislation introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

Past proposals, AgJOBS - H.R. 2412

House version of AgJOBS compromise legislation introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA).

Analysis -
”Silent Raids” & E-Verify immigration enforcement are destroying U.S. farms

Commentary by Amherst College Copeland Fellow and migrant farm worker expert Daniel Altshuler examines the impact E-Verify, as it currently stands, is having on America’s farms.

Research & Analysis – “Why Domestic Agriculture Needs New, Workable Farm Labor Alternatives Now”

Key messages from the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) 2010 Survey of H-2A Employers.

Research - The Census of Agriculture

Every five years, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service releases a detailed census on the state of American agriculture.

Research - USDA Economic Research Service

The economic and policy analysis division of the USDA. Access to information and data on the U.S. agricultural industry.

And, Rep. Dan Lungren discussed his new legislation to work as a companion bill to HR-2164. A link to its summary is here.

So, why SAFE and why is Big AG (like the Western Growers Association) afraid of E-Verify?

Well, obviously, a large majority (maybe as much of 80%) of their agricultural labor is comprised of migrant illegal immigrants (probably most from Mexico). With a successful E-Verify program, they would lose all of their field workers, crops would not be harvested, cattle raised, milk gathered and their businesses would fail.

In the meantime, Americans would need to eat and would simply import fruit, vegetables and meat from other countries, like South American and China. America’s food supply would be outsourced as America’s farmlands lay fallow.

So, what does SAFE propose?

A guest worker program on the scale of a million plus workers a year. But, a program under the control of the United States Department of Agriculture. This is the essence of Rep Lungren’s bill.

We have a dilemma here.

America needs E-Verify to remove the “jobs magnet” for illegal immigration. However, America needs labor to harvest its food supply.

This proposal appears to be a suitable, temporary compromise. American agriculture needs to find better and more efficient methods to develop and harvest their crops in a less labor intense method.

America’s farmers and dairymen should NO LONGER be dependent upon foreign workers to conduct business. Our national security demands it.

Stay tuned, as I will have more later…..

These are my links for October 18th through October 19th:

• Issa: NLRB is Acting as a Rogue Agency – House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa snapped at National Labor Relations Board general counsel Lafe Solomon for openly defying his congressional subpoena.

  Not complying with congressional subpoena is technically an illegal act, and Solomon could be charged with contempt of Congress if Issa, a leading Republican, chooses to proceed down that path.

  “Your continued personal obstruction, lack of compliance with a validly issued congressional subpoena and false statements to the committee are unacceptable,” Issa said in a Monday letter to Solomon. “The NLRB is acting as a rogue agency that believes it does not have to fully answer to Congress.”

  Issa’s subpoenas relate to the NLRB’s ongoing case against the Boeing Company. The NLRB has echoed allegations by the International Association of Machinists union that Boeing committed an “unfair labor practice” by opening a new production plant in South Carolina instead of in Washington State, where the company’s other production lines are located. Since the allegations were made, Boeing has added more jobs in both Washington and South Carolina, but the Machinists union and the NLRB think the company’s chosen location for the new line was a “retaliation” against the union because South Carolina is a right to work state.

• WI Dems kick out reporter during recall Walker training  – The campaign to recall Gov. Scott Walker may be a grassroots effort as its organizers insist, but it proved less than transparent Tuesday evening when Wisconsin Reporter showed up to report on a recall training session.
  Graeme Zielinski, a Democratic Party spokesman with a history of threats against Wisconsin Reporter, ranted at the news organization’s reporter in attendance by phone and threatened Wisconsin Reporter again.
  More than 100 supporters turned out to the event at the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 40 office on Madison’s west side. The session, led by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, is designed to ensure that recall volunteers know how to collect signatures properly.
  Within minutes of arriving, however, a Wisconsin Reporter journalist who identified herself as a member of the media was asked to leave by an organizer who cited the campaign’s desire to keep the information out of the media.
  The reporter agreed to leave, but asked to speak with the person making the request. The reporter was then put on the phone with Zielinski.
  Zielinski called the reporter unprofessional, accused her of sneaking into a party function and then threatened to discuss the incident Wednesday with the statehouse press corps, of which Wisconsin Reporter is a member.
  “Get out,” Zielinski shouted. “Don’t come to our party functions anymore.”
  He then hung up the phone.
  The Wisconsin Reporter staff writer had signed up to attend the event on the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s website, using her name and wisconsinreporter.com email address.
  Tuesday wasn’t the first time Zielinski has threatened Wisconsin Reporter.
• Amnesty by Any Means – Analysis of a series of leaked memos from within the Department of Homeland Security’s highest ranks shows that the Obama administration has sought for the last year and a half to form a strategy to achieve amnesty for the illegal population without input from Congress. The goal? Ultimately, according to a June 2010 memo, the administration seeks to “reduce the threat of removal for certain individuals present in the United States without authorization.” Well aware of the potential political fallout among both Congress and the American people, the administration provided internal briefs on the pros and cons of varying strategies to gain an administrative amnesty.

  The course eventually decided on appears to be the now infamous June 2011 “prosecutorial discretion” memo issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton. This memo, embraced by the White House a few weeks ago, sets a course that prevents the enforcement of immigration law, provides a de facto amnesty, and is effectively worker authorization for much of the current illegal population. The current course of non-enforcement is in contrast to the initial proposed strategies of proactive immigration law rewrites.

  In this memo is a thorough analysis of the extent the Obama administration is willing to go to deceive America into accepting unprecedented executive branch immigration law rewrites and changes in immigration processing to get around their federal responsibility to enforce immigration law. Obama administration actions taken to peel back visa interviews abroad, reduce enforcement on our physical borders, replace worksite enforcement to worksite audits, take actions against states seeking to enforce the law but no action against sanctuary cities, and support of only two immigration enforcement programs — Secure Communities and E-Verify — make sense when placed against the backdrop of these memos. On September 29, 2011, more evidence that this agenda is on track came in a Washington Post front page story describing the Obama administration’s overt actions to discourage states from attempting to get their illegal populations under control:

• Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• Couple On The Run – > Nice Jeff RT @JeffGalloway: I was honored to write an "afterword" for a great new book about couples running to…:
• Untitled (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/oct/19/amgen-is-cutting-226-jobs-in-thousand-oaks/) – > Not good news for T.O. ! RT @vcstar: Amgen is cutting 226 jobs in Thousand Oaks, 380 jobs worldwide
• Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• GOP Ad Ties Democrat Rep. John Garamendi to Obama and a Bankrupt Solyndra | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – GOP Ad Ties Democrat Rep. John Garamendi to Obama and a Bankrupt Solyndra #tcot #catcot
• Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• Full-Court Press by California Republican Party for State Senate Redistricting Referendum » Flap’s California Blog – Full-Court Press by California Republican Party for State Senate Redistricting Referendum
• Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• MORE Facebook Friends Linked to BIGGER Brain Areas? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – MORE Facebook Friends Linked to BIGGER Brain Areas?
• Dilbert October 19, 2011 – Feed the Werewolf » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert October 19, 2011 – Feed the Werewolf
• Photo of the Day: Obama’s Canadian Made Bus | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – RE: I think Sen. McCain has been criticized for that as well.
• (500) http://flapsblog.com/2011/10/19/president-2012-gop-poll-watch-one-word-that-comes-to-mind-oh-my-rick-perry/ – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: One Word that Comes to Mind – Oh My Rick Perry! #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Las Vegas GOP Debate – Winners and Losers | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Las Vegas GOP Debate – Winners and Losers #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: October 19, 2011 – The Morning Drill: October 19, 2011
• Flap’s California Morning Collection: October 19, 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: October 19, 2011
• Day By Day October 19, 2011 – Gaming the System | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day October 19, 2011 – Gaming the System #tcot #catcot
• Politics, Political News – POLITICO.com – Rick Perry vs. Mitt Romney: Now it's personal – Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith -
• Rick Perry vs. Mitt Romney: Now it’s personal – Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith – POLITICO.com – RT @jmartpolitico: With @benpolitico, how Vegas revealed guts of the gop race to come:
• News from The Associated Press – RT @AP: BREAKING: Social Security recipients to receive 3.6 pct. cost-of-living increase, first since 2009: -ldh
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-19 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-10-19 #tcot #catcot
• CNN.com International – Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News – - Transcripts
• CNN.com – Transcripts – >FWIW RT @michellemalkin: FYI: CNN has full transcript of the GOP brawl in Vegas
• Rick Perry Wrote Letter Urging TARP Passage | National Confidential – RT @mleewelch: Perry's letter: . Santorum's right, and Perry was lying.
• BBC News – John Lennon’s tooth expected to make £10,000 at auction – Tired of the 9-9-9 discussion on the Presidential debate. How about this for raising capital?:
• President 2012: Las Vegas GOP Presidential Debate Tonight | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – I will be covering tonight's 8 PM Las Vegas Presidential debate on Twitter. Follow along @Flap
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• California Conservatives Propose 2012 Initiative to Limit Services to Illegal Immigrants » Flap’s California Blog – California Conservatives Propose 2012 Initiative to Limit Services to Illegal Immigrants
• President 2012: Obama on Occupy Wall Street Protests – “We Are on Their Side” | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Obama on Occupy Wall Street Protests – “We Are on Their Side” #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: First Malaria Vaccine Successful in a Major Clinical Trial – A malaria vaccine – FINALLY. What a wonderful development to fight this disease, especially in Africa.:
• President 2012: When Should Obama Start to Worry About 40% Approval Ratings? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: When Should Obama Start to Worry About 40% Approval Ratings? #tcot #catcot
• Poll Watch: 22% Approve of Occupy Wall Street Movement’s Goals | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: 22% Approve of Occupy Wall Street Movement’s Goals #tcot #catcot
• California “Scope of Practice” Turf War Dogs Veterinarians and Pet-grooming Services Over Canine Dental Hygiene » Flap’s California Blog – California “Scope of Practice” Turf War Dogs Veterinarians and Pet-grooming Services Over Canine Dental Hygiene
• Flap’s Links and Comments for October 17th through October 18th | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for October 17th through October 18th #tcot #catcot

Mexican-American farm workers harvest broccoli March 12, 2009 near El Centro, California

This is NOT really a shocker.

Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, a move some say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community’s traditional support for conservative candidates.

The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers — who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal documents — to check all new hires through E-Verify, a federal database run by the Department of Homeland Security devised to ferret out illegal immigrants.

Farm laborers, required like other workers to show that they are authorized to take jobs in the United States, often present Social Security numbers and some form of picture ID. Employers, many of them labor contractors providing crews to farms, have not been required to check the information and are discouraged by antidiscrimination laws from looking at it too closely. But it is an open secret that many farmworkers’ documents are false.

Supporters of E-Verify, an electronic system that is currently mandatory for most federal contractors but voluntary for other employers, argue that it would eliminate any doubt about workers’ legal status. But farmers say it could cripple a $390 billion industry that relies on hundreds of thousands of willing, low-wage immigrant workers to pick, sort and package everything from avocados to zucchini.

“This would be an emergency, a dire, dire situation,” said Nancy Foster, president of the U.S. Apple Association, adding that the prospect of an E-Verify check would most likely mean that many immigrant workers would simply not show up. “We will end up closing down.”

You know, California agricultural interests have been getting a subsidized ride for decades in using illegal immigrations, primarily from Mexico, for harvesting their crops. Crops which pay them BIG MONEY.

Here is how it works.

The illegal immigrations who are migrant and with no papers are allowed to use either forged “Green Card” documents or NO documents in order to work in the fields for below market wages or at least really low wages for back-breaking hard manual labor. They receive in some cases housing and very little in the way of employee benefits that most of us receive. This all to the benefit of the wealth land owners and often corporate agricutural interests.

They can sell their crops for a cheaper price but, of course, their profit is good – very good.

When these illegal folks need health care or education for their children (who are born here as American citizens), the government provides them – not the employer.

In a May letter to the members of the Judiciary Committee, Bob Stallman, the president of the American Farm Bureau, cited a Labor Department survey placing the percentage of illegal workers in the fields at more than 50 percent. Other groups say the figure is closer to 70 percent. Denying farmers that labor supply, Mr. Stallman wrote, would cost them $5 billion to $9 billion annually.

Mr. Smith’s bill has attracted more solid support from nonagricultural business leaders, opening a divide between them and agricultural interests. Many nonfarm businesses have concluded that some form of employee verification is inevitable.

National organizations of restaurant owners and home builders gave their backing. The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which unites Latino businesses in Mr. Smith’s district that have often been at odds with him, is leaning toward endorsing the bill, said Ramiro A. Cavazos, the president of the chamber.

It is time for the Congress to pass E-Verify and end the BIG subsidy to the agricultural interests. If they cannot staff their fields with LEGAL workers, then they have some remedies.

One remedy would be increased mechanism and efficiency in the fields. Maybe if illegal immigrants did not work in the fields at such low wages, the AG interests would invest in machines to do the harvesting without the back-breaking labor.

Also, the Agricultural folks could seek Guest-Worker legislation in the Congress that identifies and returns workers to their country of origin after a period of time of working in the United States. Costs associated by these workers would be paid up front by the AG interests. Children born of these workers in the United States would NOT be considered native born citizens (although there might be a time consuming Constituional issue here) and would have to return with their parents after a period of time.

The prospects of a E-Verify mandate passing in the House this year is good. In the Democrat controlled Senate, not so good and I am positive President Obama would veto the legislation anyway.

Then, there is the pressure from the AG interests on the Republicans.

Mr. Smith’s E-Verify bill also includes a three-year grace period before growers would have to comply. But such caveats have done little to quell opposition from farm groups, who have been pleading for years for an overhaul to allow a legal immigrant work force.

And that discontent could manifest itself in elections, farm representatives warn.

“Most of our folks are Republicans,” said Paul Wenger, the president of the California Farm Bureau. “But if the Republicans do this to them without a workable worker program, it will change their voting patterns or at very least their involvement in politics.”

Democrat and Republican Members of Congress have turned a blind eye to illegal immigration and agriculture for decades, since before World War II. Money talks in politics and the AG folks spread their money around and have donated a lot to Republicans.

But, American voters understand that these farming companies are prospering to the detriment of the taxpayer and we now have huge social/financial costs dealing with the generations of illegal immigrants that have been allowed to come into this country.

The time to enforce immigration law is long past.

Unfortunately, it will not occur with mandatory E-Verify until after the 2012 Presidential election or even 2016, if Obama is re-elected President.

These are my links for July 13th from 11:02 to 11:24:

• Mandatory E-Verify Will Devastate California Agriculture group claims? – Uh No… – A new report released today from America’s Voice highlights the fact that mandatory E-Verify legislation being pushed by a number of California Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives would impose new burdens on American workers and businesses, devastate California’s agriculture industry, and further their Party’s political problem with Latino voters.

  According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “What is it about the California GOP that they would gladly burden small businesses with new costs and regulations, cripple their home state’s agriculture industry, tie up job seekers in mountains of red tape, and remove billions of dollars in revenue from the federal tax coffers – all for a forced E-Verify program that doesn’t even work half the time?  One would assume the answer is politics.  But in this case, the politics of this issue are working against the California Republicans, as bill co-sponsors like Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), and Dan Lungren (R-CA) are threatening their own political careers while ensuring that the California Republican Party continues to have problems with Latino voters.”

  Among the key report findings:

  ======

  Read all of the rest of the foolishness……

  E-Verify will start to eliminate the jobs magnet of illegal immigration.

  It won't pass the Senate this year because the Democrats are dependent upon the Hispanic vote to win elections, especially Obama's re-election in 2012.

  But, it will force California big business agriculture to hire legal workers or to mechanize their fields instead of dumping the social costs of illegal immigration on taxpayers.

  The report is laughable as if this far left immigration group cares about the California GOP and GOP Congressman who will probably retire in the near future anyway.

• ‘Amazon tax’ deserves a ‘no’ vote – State Controller John Chiang reported Monday that California received $351 million less in May and June than politicians allowed for in the budget signed two weeks ago. No wonder legislators scramble to wrench cash from out-of-state companies.
  News reports say Amazon also is likely to fight the California tax in court as unconstitutional, but a ballot measure works more quickly. As soon as the referendum is approved for the ballot, it will suspend the online tax, pending the vote.
  Amazon and other out-of-state online retailers canceled contracts with thousands of California-based affiliates when the law went into effect June 29. "Each termination represents lost jobs and lost income for California – losses that could have been easily avoided had the governor and Legislature exercised a little common sense," said George Runner, a member of the tax-collecting agency the Board of Equalization. "Clearly, the 'Amazon tax' is not working."
  The Amazon tax must go. Legislators also should consider the economy-boosting benefits of abolishing all sales taxes, which would give consumers nearly 10-percent discounts across the board and stimulate commerce. Then, legislators should scale back state spending accordingly. More unjust taxes are not the answer to California's economic woes, or to the state's budgetary problems.

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  Read it all

  Absolutely correct….