Farmers say they aren't hiring illegal aliens

As the economy tanked during the past two years, a debate has raged over whether immigrants are taking jobs that Americans want.

In southwest Michigan, where the jobs in question are seasonal and require being in the hot sun, long hours and sometimes working seven days a week, the answer appears to be no, according to some farmers here.

"In the course of the years I've farmed, our seasonal jobs have always been open to whoever wants to work," said Jason Stanton, farmer of Stanton Farms in Sherwood Township. "I hired three American workers this year and only one stayed. I'm going to hire people who want to work."

Stanton and his wife, Ashley, have been married about six years. They have two children, ages 3 and 4, and are the seventh generation to run the 500-acre Stanton Farm. He also rents another 1,500 acres.

The couple spends their days, along with Jason's father, Erwin Stanton, tending to the farm, which produces tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, green beans, corn, seed corn, soy beans and wheat.

Stanton is raising awareness that some farmers, although they are not speaking publicly, believe they are being attacked in the media about hiring seasonal workers who may be in the United States on a temporary work basis and are not United States citizens.

Stanton said he hires seasonal employees, whoever they are and wherever they come from, as long as they have the proper documents to work in the U.S.

"Farmers are being portrayed as criminals because we're not following laws, not doing paperwork on our seasonal employees and that's just not the truth," Stanton said during an interview on his farm. "We have all of their paperwork and we pay above minimum wage."

This is not just an issue in Michigan.

Since January, California farmers have posted ads for 1,160 farmworker positions open to U.S. citizens and legal residents seeking work.

Only 233 people applied after being linked with the jobs through unemployment offices in California, Texas, Nevada and Arizona. One grower brought on 36 U.S citizens or legal permanent residents. No one else hired any.

"It surprises me, too, but we do put the information out there for the public," said Lucy Ruelas, who manages the California Employment Development Department's agricultural services unit. "If an applicant sees the reality of the job, they might change their mind."

In Sherwood Township, Stanton said he has about 30 to 40 workers throughout the planting and harvesting seasons, from early spring through October, and many of them are returning employees.

Take Ramona Reyes of Bronson. She is from Mexico and has lived in Michigan for 11 years, she said. This season, which ends in about a week, is her fourth working at the Stanton farm.

"I love working here," Reyes said. "I love the seasonal working because I don't have to work all of the time. My kids are in school and I can work then."

Reyes has two children, ages 16 and 13. Her husband works a full-time job and is the main household provider, but Reyes said she works for the extra income and she enjoys that it still gives her time to be a mother.

Reyes is among 45,000 other seasonal workers or guest workers as called by the Michigan Farm Bureau. The employees are hired to pick fruits, vegetables and do processing jobs that no one else wants, said Ryan Findlay of the Michigan Farm Bureau.

"I think when you have domestic workers who are searching for jobs, people get frustrated when they hear of people with work visas getting these jobs and say they are stealing jobs," Findlay said. "When in reality, no one is willing to do that work seven days a week. Farmers need reliable people who they know will be at work. The pickles and the grapes and the tomatoes don't stop growing."

More than half of farmworkers in the United States are illegal immigrants, according to the Labor Department, and another fourth of them were born outside the country.
Proponents of tougher immigration laws -- as well as the United Farm Workers of America -- say farmers are used to a cheap, largely undocumented work force, and say if growers raised wages and improved working conditions, the jobs would attract Americans.

So far, a tongue-in-cheek effort by comedian Stephen Colbert and the UFW to get Americans to take farm jobs has been more effective in attracting applicants than the official channels.

The UFW in June launched the "Take Our Jobs Campaign," inviting people to go online and apply.

About 8,600 people filled out an application form, but only seven have been placed in farm jobs, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said.

Colbert joked to a congressional committee last week that spending a day picking beans in upstate New York for an episode was "really, really hard."

"I think Michigan farmers are saying this isn't funny, but this is a serious issue," Findlay said. "These folks really drive the industry. Farmers wouldn't be able to plant and harvest their crops without manual labor."

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