Bush's 'midnight regulation' will hurt citizens and hurt farm workers

Opponents of illegal immigration and advocates for farm workers are blasting a 'midnight regulation' by President George W. Bush which would change the Labor Department’s H-2A Temporary Agriculture Worker Program, making it easier for agricultural employers to hire foreign workers.

The change would both undermine worker protections and set wage levels so low that U.S. workers could not compete with foreigners for jobs. The regulation allows agricultural employers to hire temporary foreign workers if not enough domestic workers are 'able or willing' to fill farm jobs.

Bush’s regulation is expected to take effect January 17, three days before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. ‘Midnight regulations’ are rules pushed by the executive branch in the waning days of a lame-duck president's term, but the incoming president is free to revise or revoke such last-minute changes.

The number of workers covered by the H-2A visas is only a small segment of the larger farm worker contingent that's close to 1.6 million, more than 80 percent of whom are foreign-born, said Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Association. Of those who are foreign-born workers, he said, nearly 75 percent are in the U.S. illegally.

Georgia statistics show effect of illegals on local workers

Recent Georgia statistics show that despite the claims of businesses, the increased numbers of immigrant workers have been accompanied by a significant decline in the percentage of less-educated natives holding jobs in the state.

• Between 2000 and 2006 the share of less-educated native-born adults (ages 18 to 64) in Georgia holding a job declined from 71 percent to 66 percent. (Less-educated is defined as having no education beyond high school.)

• Less-educated blacks in Georgia have seen a somewhat larger decline in employment, from 66 percent holding a job in 2000 to just 60 percent in 2006.

• There are nearly 800,000 less-educated native-born adults in Georgia not working. There are likely between 250,000 and 350,000 less-educated illegal aliens holding jobs in the state.

• Wages and salary for less-educated adults in Georgia have stagnated. Over the entire six-year time period of the study, real annual wages for less-educated adults grew by just 1 percent. If there was a labor shortage, wages should be rising fast.

• Immigrants (legal and illegal) increased their share of all less-educated workers in Georgia, from 7 percent in 2000 to 19 percent by 2006. Other research indicates that at least half of this growth was from illegal immigrants.

Record $23 billion sent to Mexico in 2006

Mexican immigrants sent a record amount of money back to their homeland in 2006 - $23 billion. Together with the growing number of migrants, the decreasing cost of sending money to Mexico is a factor in the continuing increase. Mexico's Central Bank noted in its quarterly report that the reduced costs to send money – due to greater competition by banks and other businesses – are a reason for the increase.

In recent years, U.S. banks and other businesses have tried to capture the money transfer business. In 1999, the cost to send $300 from Dallas to Mexico was $27. Last year, that same transaction cost $11.50.

State legislatures in Arizona and Texas have proposed taxing the money to pay for social services such as health care and education.

In 2006, labor participation rates were nearly 85 percent for Hispanic males, compared with about 76 percent for white males, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Texas seafood company faces $500,000 fine; its president faces jail and fine

This time, the federal investigators and the courts got it right. Clifforn Hillman, 64, president of one of Texas' largest wholesale seafood businesses, faces six months in jail and a $3,000 fine after pleading guilty in federal court to hiring illegal aliens after helping them fake social security.

But his company, Hillman's Shrimp and Oyster Co., faces a whopping fine of up to $500,000 for helping illegal aliens get work visas and tutoring illegal employees on how to create false identities to keep their jobs. Along with two employees, Hillman pleaded guilty this week in Galveston U.S. court to one misdemeanor count each of conspiracy to hire undocumented aliens. The company entered a guilty plea to a felony charge of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens.

An investigation by federal agencies revealed the Hillman company engaged in a scheme to employ illegal aliens.