Agriculture employers are complaining that the INS’ crackdown on illegal immigration across the US-Mexican border is leading to a severe shortage of farm workers. Congress is considering a program to admit 25,000 foreign workers each year during a two year test program. Congress recently held hearings to consider such legislation (H.R. 2733) and elicited testimony from farm employers and employer organizations. Bob Vice, director of the National Council of Farm Employers and of the National Farm Bureau Federation told the House Immigration Subcommittee during a September hearing that the existing programs are too expensive, complex and time consuming and are only used by truly desperate employers. The testimony was contradicted by statements from Zoe Lofgren and Howard Berman, Congressmen from California who questioned whether there really is a labor shortage. Labor groups also criticized the proposed legislation.
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