They are the people who tend to the cows for your milk and pick the apples for your pies. They are the ones who clear the dishes from restaurant tables, water your flowers, wash your floors and build your bridges.
And with the recent bills passed or proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, they have become the focus of the nation as the federal government seeks to enact one of the largest immigration reform efforts in years.
Protests across the country have attracted thousands of legal and illegal immigrants, the latter who are speaking out after years of silence. Similar efforts are starting to emerge locally.
Dr. Maritza Alvarado, executive director of the Spanish Action League of Onondaga County, is currently working with other local organizations to plan such a march in Syracuse.
Alvarado believes that immigration reform is needed to help the situation of an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented workers in this country, many of them Hispanic.
“We want the public here to realize this is not a big-city issue,” Alvarado said. “We want people to understand this affects us here in central New York. When you're sitting in the middle of the summer eating freshly grilled vegetables, who do you think is picking them?”
Last year, the House passed a bill that would create a wall along the Mexican border. If passed into law, the House's measures would make it a felony to be in this country illegally, and those who assist undocumented workers would be penalized.
The Senate has considered its own bill, one that provides for a guest-worker program for agricultural workers and also offers a path to legal permanent residency and citizenship for those here more than two years. That path includes stipulations such as learning English and paying a fine.
Senators tried to pass a bill earlier this month but did not do so before their two-week spring recess.
The issue of immigration reform is one that makes emotions run high, both on personal and professional levels.
Peter Gregg, spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau, which includes more than 35,000 member families, sees reform as “one of the most critical issues that has hit agriculture in a long time.”
If the House bill were to go into effect, it would be a devastating blow to farmers that could put many of them out of business, he said.
Under that bill, farmers could be heavily fined for hiring illegal workers.
They make every effort to verify laborers' legal status now, Gregg said, but often are handed falsified documents.
Couple that with classifying undocumented workers as felons, and Gregg believes it's a recipe for an agricultural disaster.
“We would lose our supply of labor,” he said. “It would just disappear. It would dry up.”
“We're all very hopeful that it's resolved so we can breathe easier,” Gregg continued. “We're on pins and needles as an industry.”
The Farm Bureau's focus has subsequently been the passage of a bill, like the one considered by the Senate, that includes a guest-worker program.
Such a provision would allow an estimated 12,000 seasonal and 20,000 year-round farmworkers in New York to stay in the country legally and would also eliminate problems farmers face with confirming legal status, Gregg said.
Many of these laborers not only enjoy their work but also make enough to send back home to their families, he added.
Kathy Barrett, projects director for Cayuga Marketing, a group of 22 local dairy farmers who market milk together, said that farmers in the area would support both a guest-worker program and an earned path to citizenship.
“(They're) really looking for legislation that combines border security and enables them to have a stable, legal workforce,” Barrett said.
While the Farm Bureau and other affected agricultural organizations have been lobbying for their interests, thousands of undocumented immigrants across the nation have taken to the streets of small and large cities, mostly to protest what they view as the unfair - and unrealistic - measures that would make illegals felons.
“You've got 12 million people,” Alvarado said. “What are you going to do, send them all back?”
Alvarado said that she agrees with parts of the Senate's proposal.
But she sees the real issue as total reform and believes the government needs to put some teeth behind the immigration laws already in place and simplify the system for those already here.
“This is just the latest wave of immigration,” Alvarado said, citing the nation's welcome to previous immigrants from Eastern Europe and other areas.
Though there are those who support varying degrees of citizenship avenues and temporary worker status, not all Americans favor the Senate's less strict proposal.
According to a Pew Hispanic Center poll, 53 percent of Americans say people who are in the United States illegally should be forced to go home. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 56 percent of respondents don't believe America should grant temporary worker status to foreigners who are here illegally.
Other opponents to the Senate's measures maintain illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans and put a strain on social services.
And though Latinos in general look favorably on immigrants, there is a percentage who view them as a burden to the labor market, housing and health care system, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
To Alvarado, statements such as these are frustrating. Illegal immigrants can be a boon to the U.S. economy, she said, noting that they are working and that, like legal residents, they pay for various consumer services.
Yolanda Rivera, founder of the Hispanic Community Center at SS Peter & John Episcopal Church in Auburn, believes people would view the situation differently if they had a mother or father who faced deportation.
Many undocumented immigrants currently live in fear and are afraid to go out of their house, Rivera said, and the bill passed by the House would make it even worse. She tells those looking to come to America to go to their U.S. embassy and do it according to the law but favors a way to legalize the undocumented immigrants already in the country.
“We have to secure our borders,” Rivera said, “but I don't think we should be nasty to (illegal immigrants). I think we should have a bigger heart to help them.”
Neither Alvarado nor Rivera asks about the legal status of a Latino when they assist them with translations or other services.
Rivera is concerned about how the House bill, which penalizes those who assist undocumented workers.
It would make her job very difficult, she said, noting that she would have no choice but to follow the law of the land.
Rivera is open to the idea of organizing some type of march or demonstration in Auburn. Now is the time to do so, she said. Once the legislation is passed, it will be too late.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
Protests across the country have attracted thousands of legal and illegal immigrants, the latter who are speaking out after years of silence. Similar efforts are starting to emerge locally.
Dr. Maritza Alvarado, executive director of the Spanish Action League of Onondaga County, is currently working with other local organizations to plan such a march in Syracuse.
Alvarado believes that immigration reform is needed to help the situation of an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented workers in this country, many of them Hispanic.
“We want the public here to realize this is not a big-city issue,” Alvarado said. “We want people to understand this affects us here in central New York. When you're sitting in the middle of the summer eating freshly grilled vegetables, who do you think is picking them?”
Last year, the House passed a bill that would create a wall along the Mexican border. If passed into law, the House's measures would make it a felony to be in this country illegally, and those who assist undocumented workers would be penalized.
The Senate has considered its own bill, one that provides for a guest-worker program for agricultural workers and also offers a path to legal permanent residency and citizenship for those here more than two years. That path includes stipulations such as learning English and paying a fine.
Senators tried to pass a bill earlier this month but did not do so before their two-week spring recess.
The issue of immigration reform is one that makes emotions run high, both on personal and professional levels.
Peter Gregg, spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau, which includes more than 35,000 member families, sees reform as “one of the most critical issues that has hit agriculture in a long time.”
If the House bill were to go into effect, it would be a devastating blow to farmers that could put many of them out of business, he said.
Under that bill, farmers could be heavily fined for hiring illegal workers.
They make every effort to verify laborers' legal status now, Gregg said, but often are handed falsified documents.
Couple that with classifying undocumented workers as felons, and Gregg believes it's a recipe for an agricultural disaster.
“We would lose our supply of labor,” he said. “It would just disappear. It would dry up.”
“We're all very hopeful that it's resolved so we can breathe easier,” Gregg continued. “We're on pins and needles as an industry.”
The Farm Bureau's focus has subsequently been the passage of a bill, like the one considered by the Senate, that includes a guest-worker program.
Such a provision would allow an estimated 12,000 seasonal and 20,000 year-round farmworkers in New York to stay in the country legally and would also eliminate problems farmers face with confirming legal status, Gregg said.
Many of these laborers not only enjoy their work but also make enough to send back home to their families, he added.
Kathy Barrett, projects director for Cayuga Marketing, a group of 22 local dairy farmers who market milk together, said that farmers in the area would support both a guest-worker program and an earned path to citizenship.
“(They're) really looking for legislation that combines border security and enables them to have a stable, legal workforce,” Barrett said.
While the Farm Bureau and other affected agricultural organizations have been lobbying for their interests, thousands of undocumented immigrants across the nation have taken to the streets of small and large cities, mostly to protest what they view as the unfair - and unrealistic - measures that would make illegals felons.
“You've got 12 million people,” Alvarado said. “What are you going to do, send them all back?”
Alvarado said that she agrees with parts of the Senate's proposal.
But she sees the real issue as total reform and believes the government needs to put some teeth behind the immigration laws already in place and simplify the system for those already here.
“This is just the latest wave of immigration,” Alvarado said, citing the nation's welcome to previous immigrants from Eastern Europe and other areas.
Though there are those who support varying degrees of citizenship avenues and temporary worker status, not all Americans favor the Senate's less strict proposal.
According to a Pew Hispanic Center poll, 53 percent of Americans say people who are in the United States illegally should be forced to go home. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 56 percent of respondents don't believe America should grant temporary worker status to foreigners who are here illegally.
Other opponents to the Senate's measures maintain illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans and put a strain on social services.
And though Latinos in general look favorably on immigrants, there is a percentage who view them as a burden to the labor market, housing and health care system, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
To Alvarado, statements such as these are frustrating. Illegal immigrants can be a boon to the U.S. economy, she said, noting that they are working and that, like legal residents, they pay for various consumer services.
Yolanda Rivera, founder of the Hispanic Community Center at SS Peter & John Episcopal Church in Auburn, believes people would view the situation differently if they had a mother or father who faced deportation.
Many undocumented immigrants currently live in fear and are afraid to go out of their house, Rivera said, and the bill passed by the House would make it even worse. She tells those looking to come to America to go to their U.S. embassy and do it according to the law but favors a way to legalize the undocumented immigrants already in the country.
“We have to secure our borders,” Rivera said, “but I don't think we should be nasty to (illegal immigrants). I think we should have a bigger heart to help them.”
Neither Alvarado nor Rivera asks about the legal status of a Latino when they assist them with translations or other services.
Rivera is concerned about how the House bill, which penalizes those who assist undocumented workers.
It would make her job very difficult, she said, noting that she would have no choice but to follow the law of the land.
Rivera is open to the idea of organizing some type of march or demonstration in Auburn. Now is the time to do so, she said. Once the legislation is passed, it will be too late.
Staff writer Linda Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or linda.ober@lee.net
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Phil O'Brien wrote on Apr 16, 2006 2:55 PM: