New Support for Guest Worker Program

As border enforcement shrinks the labor force of undocumented fieldhands and immigration reform looms in Congress, growers have focusedwith renewed vigor on the need for a simplified federal guest workerprogram.

For Harry Singh & Sons, which imported nearlyhalf the agricultural visa holders in California last year, the federalprogram became a necessity in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. Withhalf its fields on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, the companysuddenly came under scrutiny by immigration officials. In a mid-harvestpanic, having lost three-quarters of its workers, the company turned tothe federal government. Click here.

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