After a nine-day delay, the U.S. State Department began issuing visas again for Mexican farmworkers stranded at the U.S.-Mexican border wanting to head north for jobs.
Visas were issued June 17 for a majority of some 200 people headed to Washington state to work in cherry harvest and other tree fruit work, said Dan Fazio, director of the Washington Farm Labor Association in Olympia.
The State Department issued a statement saying the problem is with a computer hardware failure affecting visas into the U.S. around the world but that urgent humanitarian cases and temporary agricultural workers are being prioritized for approval.
Basic questions remain concerning whether the government is capable of administering a legal worker program that can meet the strict timelines set by Mother Nature, Fazio said.
“The State Department is not the culprit,” he said. “The culprit is a system which requires seamless coordination by six government agencies.”
WAFLA, with the help of Tom Roach, a Pasco immigration attorney, petitioned for visa waivers. The State Department supported the petition but the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection balked, asking for an additional $591 per worker on top of fees already paid, Fazio said. The law provides for waiver of fees in emergencies, he said.
Eventually, the State Department issued visas for about 90 percent of workers WAFLA had waiting at the border from southern Mexico.
Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., all helped to resolve the situation, Fazio said.
Washington farmers may end up hiring about 15,000 H-2A visa foreign guestworkers this season to get through a labor shortage, but it is difficult to navigate six separate government agencies, Fazio said.
“Farmers have invested heavily in this legal program. Workers love high wages, free housing, stable employment, better working conditions and the dignity of legal presence,” he said. “Not it is up to the government to show that it supports the legal H-2A program.”
Source: www.capitalpress.com