Republican farmers in Calif., Ariz. push their party to get on board with immigration reform

While Democratic-supported immigration reform remains in limbo, concern is growing in California, chiefly among Republican farm owners who are growing frustrated with their own party for stalling a bill that could bring much-needed relief to a business whose workforce relies heavily on immigrants, some of whom are in the U.S. illegally, Jennifer Medina reports for The New York Times. California has more illegal immigrants than any other state, with an estimated 2.5 million. (NYT photo by Matt Black: California's Central Valley relies heavily on immigrants)

Chuck Herrin runs a large farm labor contracting company in the Central Valley, where most of the workers are immigrants and about half are there illegally. Herrin, a lifelong Republican, told Medina, “What we have going on now is a farce — a waste of time and money. We need these people to get our food to market.” About a third of Herrin's workers are over 50, and he has struggled to fill open positions.

"A work force that arrived in the 1990s is aging out of heavy labor, Americans do not want the jobs, and tightened security at the border is discouraging new immigrants from arriving, they say, leaving them to struggle amid the paralysis on immigration policy," Medina writes. "No other region may be as eager to keep immigration legislation alive. The tension is so high that the powerful Western Growers Association, a group based in Irvine, Calif., that represents hundreds of farmers in California and Arizona, says many of its members may withhold contributions from Republicans in congressional races because of the party’s stance against a comprehensive immigration overhaul."

"A report released this month by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, two business-oriented groups that are lobbying Congress, said foreign-grown produce consumed in the United States had increased by nearly 80 percent since the late 1990s," Medina writes. "The report argues that the labor shortages make it impossible for American farmers to increase production and compete effectively with foreign importers. While the amount of fresh produce consumed by Americans has increased, domestic production has not kept pace, and the report attributes a $1.4 billion annual loss in farm income to the lack of labor."

All of which has led lobbyists like Tom Nassif, president of the Western Growers, to push Republicans to support the immigration bill. “We’ve had secure borders with Mexico for the last decade; we don’t have that argument at this point," Nassif told Medina. "Now we want people to see the real damage of not doing anything, which is a declining work force, and it means losing production to foreign countries. I can tell you if the Republicans don’t put something forward on immigration, there is going to be a very loud hue and cry from us in agriculture. We are a tremendously important part of the party, and they should not want to lose us.” (Read more)