Cannon's immigration bill may pass in '07

WASHINGTON — Photos showing the result of an agricultural labor shortage — piles of pears with no one to process them — helped supporters of an immigration reform bill targeted at agricultural workers illustrate their need for legislation.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, continues to be a co-sponsor of the previously controversial legislation, which forced him into a primary election race in 2002. Supporters were optimistic Wednesday that it would pass.

However, Utah activists against illegal immigration contend the bill is simply a way to encourage circumventing the legal immigration system.

The bill creates a pilot program that would give legal immigration status to otherwise undocumented agricultural workers who have been working in the country for the past two years or more. Workers would get a "blue card" if they can prove they worked more than 150 days in the past two years. The bill caps the program at 1.5 million blue cards over five years.

Those getting the cards have to work in an agriculture job for at least 150 days a year for the next three years or for 100 days a year for the next five years. They can work in non-agriculture jobs once they meet the agriculture requirement.

Cannon said if the country wants an abundant supply of food it will have to support the agricultural industry's need for labor, which comes overwhelmingly from immigrants.

He said this is "not by any historic standard" what some critics would call the "A-word" — amnesty — but a way of helping people who have already worked here move toward getting their green card.

"It streamlines the process," Cannon said, adding that the bill fixes flaws in the current agriculture worker program that will help those who will pick fruit or do other such work in the future get temporary status. It doesn't circumvent any policies but actually takes a layer of bureaucracy out that is not working, he said.

However, Alex Segura, director of the Utah Minuteman Project, sees the reintroduction as an example of doublespeak by Cannon, who has said he doesn't support amnesty.

"It's just another way around coming in legally," Segura said. "It's just another form of amnesty."

Segura suggested that it would be better to streamline the existing process for legal immigration and looking at where jobs are needed.

"It's a family relocation bill," Segura said. "Agricultural jobs are a seasonal thing. Why do we want to bring people in for years on end?"