Federal proposals to tackle illegal-alien disputes could transform the face of America’s labor pool bringing mixed blessings to some employers. 

The animal protein industry and immigration reform collided recently, when Hispanic workers abandoned their jobs to protest against a political move threatening criminal prosecution for illegal settlers. 

Similar scenes played in American cities where Hispanics and their sympathizers estimated at more than 1 million participated in national demonstrations on May 1, to increase public awareness of the plights documented and undocumented American workers face. 

At issue are two divergent immigration reform bills under consideration by U.S. legislators, who are divided over the best course of action – whether to crack down hard on illegal immigrants or recognize their vital contributions to the U.S. economy and impose less restrictive punishments.

Those on both sides of the issue apparently recognize that delaying immigration reform is not an option, given the long and controversial history tied to undocumented workers. The U.S. House of Representatives favors criminalizing illegal immigrants and employers who knowingly hire or assist hiring efforts, as evidenced by H.R. 4437 legislation brokered by James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The House passed the bill December 16,2005, naming it the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act. Basically, H.R. 4437 increases penalties for illegal immigration, while defining illegal aliens and their accomplices as felons.

Based on a survey commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Federation, such a crackdown could trigger U.S. agricultural production losses of more than $12 billion in its first four years. To be sure, H.R. 4437 is considered the catalyst behind the U.S. immigration reform protests taking place this year.  Meanwhile, a bipartisan U.S. Senate measure, co-sponsored by John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is considered less punitive and therefore more viable. Their proposal calls for allowing the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in America to pursue a multi-step path to citizenship, at the same time tightening border controls.

The Kennedy/McCain measure hit resistance in the final hours before Congress adjourned for Easter recess this year, however, but not before House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IIl.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) interceded with a compromise agreement to reduce unlawful immigration from a felony to a misdemeanor. No American business sector is more affected by immigration policies than the animal protein industry, whose labor force is increasingly of foreign descent. “This issue is extremely important to the meat and poultry industry in particular,” affirms J. Patrick Boyle, president, American Meat Institute. “The call for action is timely, given continuing unemployment rates and difficulty in filling positions in many regions of the country.

Immigration reform also will help ensure an adequate and stable workforce, and will even enhance our nation’s security by bringing foreign workers into U.S. systems.” Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the meat and poultry packing and processing industry’s employee base will increase by 7.6 percent in 2010, reflecting a total combined labor force of 540,000 – 150,000 for meat packing, 103,000 for meat processing and 251,000 for poultry processing. The industry employed a combined workforce of 235,000 in 1975, which increased to 500,000 by 2000. Most large meat and poultry packing plants of necessity operate in low-population, rural areas near livestock and poultry production sources. “Even without a nationwide labor shortage, these low-population areas pose unique labor challenges to the labor-intensive meat and poultry packing industry,” Boyle points out. 

The road to immigration reform is filled with potholes, to be sure, ensuring a bumpy ride ahead as migrants continue making their way into the United States legally and illegally. The Pew Hispanic Center, a non-profit, nonpartisan fact tank, reports that slightly more than 1.1 million migrants came to the United States starting in the early 1990s during the country’s rapid economic and job expansion period, and then declined as the economy went into a downturn after 2001.

The Mexican labor force represented the largest single source of U.S. immigrants by far. Moreover, the Hispanic population is growing faster in parts of the South than anywhere else in the United States from North Carolina to Arkansas and Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. “Hispanic populations have emerged suddenly in communities where Latinos were a sparse presence just a decade or two ago,” affirms Pew Hispanic Center researchers in last year’s “The New Latino South” report.  

 

Free immigration or open immigration is the belief that people should be able to migrate to whatever country they chose, free of substantial barriers.

A brain drain or human capital flight is an emigration of trained and talented individuals for other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflict or lack of opportunity…more

Anti-immigrant and anti-immigration are labels that are often considered inaccurate or prejudicial by those to whom they are applied. Immigration-reductionist is a more neutral term.

Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. An immigrant is usually someone who intends to reside permanently.

Civil rights groups in the U.S. have expressed their concerns over the implementation of biometrics in US passports, and what they see as the intrusive nature of biometrics technology.