Torrey testifies

This release today from the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform.....


LEADING GROWER CALLS FOR ACTION ON IMMIGRATION REFORM

Maureen Torrey, a national leader in the fresh produce and dairy industries, testified before the House Small Business Committee to warn of the dangers of continued Congressional inaction on immigration reform. Torrey, an 11th generation farmer whose family produces vegetables and milk in western New York, called on Congress to move beyond debate and to finally enact comprehensive legislation.

Torrey described a status quo full of contradiction, dysfunction, and dangers for agricultural producers, farmworkers, and local communities. Since 1981, Torrey Farms has cooperated with the New York State Department of Labor to recruit and refer workers. Every job opportunity is filled by these referrals.

Yet, cooperating with the state agency has provided no assurance of a stable or legal workforce. Last fall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents kicked in the door of one of the farm’s housing facilities and rounded up 34 workers who had been placed in these jobs by the state labor department. “Put simply, one arm of government recruits and refers our workforce, and another arm of government takes it away. It is a crying shame that our great nation has failed to implement a rational legal system,” Torrey testified.

The dangers go well beyond the livelihoods of individual producers or farmworkers. Torrey described the payroll, taxes, small business job creation and positive economic ripple effects that farms like hers and those of her neighbors have in their communities. She also shared with the Small Business Committee data developed in a study by New York Farm Credit which forecasts the demise of at least 900 farms and the loss of almost $200 million in production value if Congress fails to enact stabilizing reforms this year.

Torrey’s testimony came at a time when nearly all eyes are focused on the Senate, where efforts to broker a new immigration deal are underway. For agriculture, Torrey called for an overhaul of the existing H-2A agricultural worker program, and an opportunity for experienced and trusted farmworkers to earn legal status subject to strict conditions, including years of future commitment to farm work.

Such reforms are features of the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007, or AgJOBS (S.340 and H.R.371). AgJOBS, first negotiated in 2003, enjoys broad bipartisan support as the agricultural element of a comprehensive immigration reform solution. “In my own state, we have the support of almost all our Republican House members, and both our Democratic U.S. Senators. We urge Congress to finally get the job done, this year,” Torrey concluded.

TK: Torrey has been on Capitol Hill in season and out of season in the past year. Arguably, no member of the trade has done more for this issue. If - no, when - immigration reform passes this year, Torrey's influence will not be overlooked.