Bakersfield.com

Illegal immigration has been an ongoing social issue in the United States for hundreds of years.  Immigrants have faced discrimination, have been forced into assimilation, and have been denied access to social services. They have been demoralized, disenfranchised, prohibited from human rights, and been intimidated through governmental regulations.

Illegal immigrants have been faced with economic hardships due to the lack of employment or exploitation, finding themselves within the lowest income strata of the US economy (Rosen, 2005). The federal government has allowed for immigration to be a subsidy for the agricultural industry, which in turn encourages its growth. Therefore, immigrant workers continue to earn below poverty level incomes (Martin, 1994). As a result of their illegal status, they are unable to advocate for their own rights, thus leaving them more vulnerable to be further reliant on the employers that are responsible for their current disposition. Though fear tactics employers are left with the ability to control wages and whether to report illegal immigrants to the INS. In addition, the farm industry is minimally regulated by the government causing hazardous work conditions.

Historically, guest worker programs have exploited immigrants as cheap labor.  In the past, policies such as the Bracero program have capitalized on this population and then sent them back to their “homelands” (Martin, 1994).

AgJOBS bill has been recently integrated into the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The AgJOBS bill is two parts: (1) an earned legalization program for undocumented farm workers and (2) changes to the H-2A agricultural guest worker program” (Farmworker Justice, 2007, p. 1). First, AgJOBS would provide undocumented farm workers an opportunity to have a voice and advocate for themselves by earning temporary legal status to eventually attain permanent residency status after having worked three to five years in agriculture. Secondly, it would provide a revision to H-2A in which the guest worker program would be balanced by only allowing the hiring of foreign workers through seasonal employment. The H-2A program would only hire additional immigrant workforce when there is a higher demand for them (Farmworker Justice, 2007).

Although AgJOBS does not address all immigration issues, it is a start towards providing social justice to this vulnerable population. In order to stabilize our agricultural labor force please visit this website: http://www.ufwaction.org/ca... and sign the petition promoting the enactment of the AgJOBS bill.