"Work-site arrests of illegal immigrants have increased tenfold nationwide to nearly 5,000 last year, according to the federal government. Images of the raids have been splashed on television news reports and on the front pages of Spanish-language newspapers around the country...." http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-letters27-2008may27,0,7438900.story
Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2008
Due to the success of recent immigration raids, U.S. farmers are setting up operations in Mexico because they are having a hard time finding cheap labor that cannot be deported.
A recent survey by the Western Growers Associations shows that American companies now farm more than 45,000 acres and employ more than 11,000 people. Agricultural labor economist James Holt said that, "Employers can't find enough legal workers to replace this huge number of illegal workers....Their only option is to go where the workers are."
In the face of enormous opposition from both sides of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opted to drop the agricultural amnesty from the Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill.
Reid decided to drop language, submitted by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Larry Craig, that would have given a path to citizenship for 1.3 million illegal agricultural workers, as well as their families.
Our NumbersUSA Capitol Hill Team learned late Wednesday through both Democratic and Republican sources that Sen. Feinstein (D-Calif.) was preparing to add an agricultural amnesty to the Iraq bill Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"'For 18 years, I only spoke to my daughter by telephone,' Clara Rivas, 72, said in Spanish. 'Now I want to go home...'" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901906.html
The Washington Post, March 20, 2007
"A series of immigration raids in the town of Firebaugh have residents there concerned ... Immigration officers have arrested hundreds and they have created a sense of panic in farming communities. Even U.S. residents often have relatives or friends who are here illegally..." http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=5245535
ABC30.com (Calif.); April 27, 2007
