Hello Everyone,

Here is an interesting story that was in the Los Angeles Times recently.

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Colorado to use inmates to fill migrant shortage
Tough laws passed last year against illegal immigration have created a need for
farmworkers.
By Nicholas Riccardi, Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2007




DENVER  Ever since passing what its Legislature promoted as the nation's
toughest laws against illegal immigration last summer, Colorado has struggled
with a labor shortage as migrants fled the state. This week, officials announced
a novel solution: Use convicts as farmworkers.

The Department of Corrections hopes to launch a pilot program this month 
thought to be the first of its kind  that would contract with more than a dozen
farms to provide inmates who will pick melons, onions and peppers.

Crops were left to spoil in the fields after the passage of legislation that
required state identification to get government services and allowed police to
check suspects' immigration status.

"The reason this [program] started is to make sure the agricultural industry
wouldn't go out of business," state Rep. Dorothy Butcher said. Her district
includes Pueblo, near the farmland where the inmates will work.

Prisoners who are a low security risk may choose to work in the fields, earning
60 cents a day. They also are eligible for small bonuses.

The inmates will be watched by prison guards, who will be paid by the farms. The
cost is subject to negotiation, but farmers say they expect to pay more for the
inmate labor and its associated costs than for their traditional workers.

Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate said they were stunned by the
proposal.


"If they can't get slaves from Mexico, they want them from the jails," said Mark
Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which favors
restrictions on immigration.

Ricardo Martinez of the Denver immigrant rights group Padres Unidos asked: "Are
we going to pull in inmates to work in the service industry too? You won't have
enough inmates  unless you start importing them from Texas."

Farmers said they weren't happy with the solution, but their livelihoods are on
the verge of collapse.

"This prison labor is not a cure for the immigration problem; it's just a
Band-Aid," farmer Joe Pisciotta said.

He said he needed to be sure he would have enough workers for the harvest this
fall before he planted watermelons, onions and pumpkins on his 700-acre farm in
Avondale. But he's not thrilled with the idea of criminals working his fields.

"I've got young kids," he said. "It's something I've got to think about."


Pisciotta said he hoped the program highlighted what he viewed as the absurdity
of Colorado's position  dependent on immigrant labor but trying to chase
migrants away. He said the people leaving were not just those who entered the
country illegally.

"Some of them have said, 'We think our paperwork is in order, but how about if
it's not and we get caught on a glitch,' " he said.

Ever since the Democratic-controlled Legislature took a tough turn on
immigration, the new requirements have worried those in the country legally and
illegally.

Immigrant advocates allege that some sheriffs have authorized deputies to pull
over Latino drivers on supposed speeding violations and ask them whether they
are in the country legally.

And more stringent requirements put into effect last year made it harder to get
a driver's license. Numerous U.S. citizens, including the daughter of a state
legislator, were refused licenses because they lacked proper proof of
citizenship. A judge has since ruled that the requirements must be revised.

Social service agencies say they have discovered few illegal immigrants on
public assistance since the laws were passed.

Immigrant and business groups agree that the heated rhetoric has led to an
exodus of Latinos  though no one is sure how many. Businesses including
carwashes and construction firms have complained of a worker shortage.

"It's like, 'Don't go visit that house, there's a guy with a shotgun at the
door,' " said state Rep. Rafael Gallegos, who represents a heavily Latino
agricultural district in south-central Colorado. He voted against most of the
legislation.

Farmers on Monday met with state officials at the Capitol here to discuss using
inmate labor. The Department of Corrections expects to begin sending about 100
prisoners to work on farms near Pueblo this month.

Some of the state's 22,000 prisoners have agricultural experience. Convicts can
participate in programs on prison grounds to break wild horses and grow crops.
About 700 inmates work in other jobs outside prison, such as on fire crews.

Ari Zavaras, the executive director of the Department of Corrections, said he
knew of no other prison system in the nation using convicts to fill agricultural
labor shortages.

In California, where growers also have complained about a lack of workers,
inmates have not labored in private fields since the 1940s. Prisoners then were
used as farmhands while laborers were fighting in World War II, said Terry
Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections.

"The idea [of using prisoners on farms] has been floated before, but these are
not unskilled jobs. They're jobs that require a lot of training and
supervision," said David Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau
Federation. "It doesn't seem like a very practical alternative."

Krikorian, of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Colorado prison
experiment was "a sign that there are solutions other than importing foreign
labor."

He said "ultimately they're going to have to improve the wages and working
conditions" to attract legal workers, as well as to mechanize parts of their
farming operations.

Colorado's experience shows that hard-line measures have an effect on illegal
immigrants, Krikorian added, noting that arrests had dropped along the
U.S.-Mexico border since security was increased last year.

"We're seeing enforcement work, not just in Colorado," he said, "but all over
the country."




--
Josh Shepherd
National Center For Farmworker Health
Resource Center Manager
(512) 312-5463