Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday June 28 Citizenship applicant Ricardo Gutierez is fingerprinted by Diana Montoya of the Salt lake 1987 City office of the Utah Farm Bureau k PJew residency laws helping most By Cindy Yurth Benito shrugged “I have five children and a wife in Mexico"’ he said "They still need food He was being photographed and fingerprinted out Ricardo Gutierei was amuinglt was the first step toward becoming a legs I resident of the US Toni Quintana Gutierez’ American girlfriend was also smiling as she watched the procedure in the Farm Bureau office in Salt in Mexico" staff writer and clothes Those things are pretty expensive Gutierei and Benito represent a typical success and failure story under the Immigration and Control Act of 1986 The new law possibly the most sweeping immigration reform actinUS history pants amnesty to any illegal alien who can prove he has resided So far there9s been no rush on offices helping alien workers to apply for residency Explains Utah official Allan Speirs: Some workers are still afraid it might be a trap farm workers bet hurting seme help aliens in Utah get their applications in order before they submit them to the INS legalization office in Salt Lake City Still people are not exactly knocking the doors down in their rush to become legal residents of the United States of America The day The Herald Journal visited the legalization office no (me showed up The 369 aliens processed in the first month since the amnesty provision went into effect May 5 represent just over one percent of the 25000 to 80000 undocumented workers the INS estimates to be residing in Utah "We figured it would start out slowly" said Allan Speirs chief legalization officer for the INS in Utah Some illegal workers are still afraid it might be a trap he said "Plus the QDEs are being very careful to make sure the Individuals can prove their identity residence and that they’re financially responrible So there’s a backlog there while they get everything in order" Can people who've struggled for years not to leave a paper trail be expected to produce proof they've lived ami worked in the US for a certain time period? "It’s pretty hard not to leave a paper trail in this country" Speirs said “If you’ve ever paid a light bill or had a telephone or written a check there’s a record of that" But farmers struggling to legalize their existing work force fear the new law has already scared many Mexican laborers badly enough that they won't cross the border this year According C Booth Wallentine and chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau California growers are reporting a 25 to 40 percent shortfall in needed labor and fruit rotting on the vine "It may be a harbinger of things to come for July August and September" when most of Utah's fruit ripens Wallentine said "We're fearful that we're going to be short" Speirs has countered that farmers should raise wages and provide better living conditions to attract American nationals but Wallentine said that's not the only issue at stake "It's not a function of price it’s one of ability to do the work" he said "These workers can make well over 8100 a day on a piece-rat- e basis This notion that those people are terribly underpaid is Just wrong" Wallentine said farmers hiring local teenagers to pick cherries have found the average stay Is two to three hours before they vice-preside- nt Allan Speirs Utah's chief legalization officer Lake City "This is great" she said "I feel a lot better already" In the Farm Bureau office in Tremonton Benito (last name withheld upon request) was not smiling After 20 years working on and off in this country he had Just been told he did not qualify for amnesty under the new immigration laws He had taken a few too manyumg trips back to Mexico Benito could continue working for the farmer who had Just hired him until September Jerry Ferguson told him in Spanish after that he would be putting his employer in Jeopardy of a ticket from immigration authorities Benito was not smiling but he seemed unperturbed He had lived in California Arizona and Utah illegally for two decades and this wouldn't change things much except he might have more trouble getting a Job with the new sanctions against employers who hire mv?mhe stay here after the sanctions take effect Sept 1? continuously in the US since before Jan 1 1982 Under a separate program aliens who have at least 90 days in American agriculture for each of three years or between May 1985 and May 1986 can qualify for temporary resident status Benito didn’t qualify for that program either because he has worked mostly in construction not agriculture "This is one of the sad cases" said Ferguson a bilingual Orem fruit grower employed by the Utah Farm Bureau to help aliens with their legalization paperwork "Here's a guy who's been here 20 years and we have to tell him be cant be legal while a guy who came up and worked In the fields for six months last year gets a carl" But in general the law is working for the aliens Ferguson estimates he's had to reject only 5 percent of the 500ome who've come to the bureau which is one of nine "QDEs" -qualified designated entities certified by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to worked - quit "They don’t have the physical stamina and they don't have the ability" he said While picking fruit may look easy It takes time to learn how to do it fast and still not bruise the crop he said "I may have a $30000 investment in a field of peaches" Ferguson pointed out "I can't afford to hire someone who will pick 810 worth of fruit and ruin 830 worth" Things are better in Cache County where orchardists are pretty well Immune from fluctuations in the migrant labor market according to Logan apple grower Ron Zollinger “Most of the farms around here are small and not very Zollinger said “We're able to supply our needs with high school kids and the refugee community" But a Lewiston dairywoman who asked not to be identified had some strong words for the new law “It's Just stupid" she said “Didn't they get any farmers involved when they wrote it? " Congress claims it did consult both farmers and migrant labor representatives but the dairy owner said she felt slighted The 90 days of agricultural work required for legalization include only work in "perishable commodities" which Congress says doesn’t include dairy products "That’s crazy" the Lewiston woman said "What's more perishable than milk?" Dairy farmers and ranchers have found a workable loophole in that moving pipe to irrigate hayfields counts as work in a perishable commodity and most dairy workers do that at least part of the time But finding the papers proving which workers have been doing what when h “just absolutely horrendous" the dairy farmer said Dr John Bailey of the Bear River District Health Department has given about 50 aliens the physical examination required for legalization He said the Cache Valley hopefuls are mostly Latin Americans although he has also seen many other nationalities "They’re not only farm workers" Bailey said “There are school teachers and service workers — several different occupations More often than not they’re families rather than single Individuals" While he has found it "interesting and enjoyable" to meet so many people from other countries Bailey said the number of appointments made has put a strain on his small staff labor-intensiv- e" “We just don't have the manpower to handle “More doctors need to get certified to give these physicals It's really more appropriate for a private physician to handle — we're not set up to give a lot of this" m said physicals" Opinions vary about the new law and how well it's wotting but even most of its opponents concede the US with an undocumented population estimated at more than 12 million must gain control of its borders |