The GOP guest worker plan expected from House Republicans this week could open more opportunities for agricultural workers. In what is likely an attempt to tap into the growing Hispanic voting bloc, Republicans appear ready to make immigration reform part of their agenda.
One component could have a major effect on agricultural labor in California’s Central Valley.
KMPH FOX 26 reports:
“House Republicans are expected to unveil their version of Immigration Reform by Wednesday, and one component of the bill package could have a major effect on the Central Valley.
“That’s because it would create guest worker program for the Agriculture sector.”
A guest worker program would welcome many people who want to enter the U.S. legally and work for a season. That is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t nearly enough.
Why target agriculture specifically?
Why Stop With Agriculture?
What about America’s struggling automotive sector?
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is pursuing a plan of his own. He wants Washington to make 50,000 employment-based visas available for skilled immigrants willing to live and work in Detroit over the next five years.
Snyder believes those immigrants could help rebuild Detroit’s economy. His proposal focuses on people with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities in science, the arts or business.
What will the GOP guest worker plan do for Michigan?
Immigration Is a Labor Question
The immigration debate often assumes that every immigrant worker takes a job that otherwise would have gone to an American.
The labor market is more complicated than that.
Economists have argued that both highly skilled and lower-skilled immigrants can complement parts of the existing U.S. labor force. New workers also become consumers, entrepreneurs and employers. The effect will not be identical in every industry or community, but immigration does not amount to a simple one-for-one exchange of jobs.
That is why limiting the discussion to agricultural workers seems unnecessarily narrow.
California may need seasonal farm labor. Detroit may need engineers, entrepreneurs and other skilled workers. Another city or state may face an entirely different shortage.
If Republicans recognize that immigration can help meet legitimate labor needs in agriculture, why not apply the same thinking more broadly?
America has people who want to come here and work. American businesses and communities need workers.
What are we waiting for?
About the contributor: Ronald Smith is a husband, father of eight and self-described professional geek, amateur rock star, armchair philosopher and theologian, and novice politician.