By Carrie Pond
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-911483.mp3
Murray, KY – West Kentucky Migrant Education Program Director Haskell Sheeks says migrant workers traditionally "follow the crops," moving around the country as seasons change. He says dwindling migrant worker numbers in western Kentucky are prompted by two factors: they either immigrate or work through a second program.
"These guys are not migrant workers. These guys get into this country with my name on em, they can only work for me legally, and when I get done with them, they go home."
Murray tobacco farmer Mark Paschall has recruited workers from Mexico for nearly 18 years through the federal program H-2A. H-2A allows farmers to recruit temporary foreign workers to fill positions that they are unable to fill with American labor. Paschall says after years of advertising on radio stations, in newspapers and at unemployment agencies, he has only found a handful of Americans interested in his line of work, and most of them don't stick around for long.
"In 18 yrs I've had dozens of phone calls and until the last two years never had anybody show up on the farm. But the last two years I've had five boys actually show up on the farm, and three of them worked. One of them worked a week, one worked 5 hours and I just recently had a boy that spent six weeks here."
While pointing out the lack of interest from U-S citizens in working on his tobacco farm, he was quick to dismiss a common stereotype.
"These boys are not taking anybody's jobs, they're doing jobs no American wants to do, is basically what it amounts to. They're good people trying to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay."
Paschall says most of his workers come to the farm at the beginning of the summer and generally stay for generally 7 months, returning home in December in time for the holidays. He says many of the men have wives or families at home and buy American products to take back to them, such as cars, toys, or appliances.
Miguel Angel Guerra Cata o is one of Paschall's employees with a family back home. The 36-year-old father of 3 is from the state Nayarit, where he works as a taxi driver. He finds the offer to come to Paschall's farm every season too good to refuse, despite the separation from his family.
"Yes, yes it's difficult but, it's out of necessity. You have to do what you have to do. It's worth it, because otherwise my family doesn't do well, I don't live well."
He adds that if he could, he would bring his family to Murray and work on the farm permanently, but for now he plans to continue working for Paschall seasonally as long as the option is available.
Mark Paschall knows that many of his farm hands would like to stay in Murray year-round, but finds the procedure to bring them over permanently lengthy and inconvenient, for both him and his workers.
"The problem is it's a several year process and once you name this person it's gonna be 2/3 years to get him through all the channels, and he can't come up here and work while you're doing that."
Paschall says as immigration reform becomes a hot topic in politics, the government has added policies and procedures that make it increasingly difficult to bring even his regulars into the country.
"I've got one guy in there who's crossed the border for 18 years and he has more hassle and more trouble to get across the border than he did that first year. They're making it harder on everybody, and I don't if they've caught any more illegals to be quite honest."
He says controversy over immigration reform has killed any chance of improving the H-2A program because the two topics are linked together in politics, even though they are separate issues. He calls the illegal immigration debate "political football" and sees faults on both sides.
"You know, I've heard really conservative people say, Well, we need to round em up and send em home.' Well if that happens, in 2 or 3 weeks you wouldn't have anything to eat because there wouldn't be anyone to pick it and prepare it for market. Your construction jobs would dry up, and in the long term, that's not good."
He adds that the idea of granting citizenship to illegal immigrants isn't fair either, because it rewards those who came unlawfully. He says after many years of involvement with foreign workers, he is unsure if a compromise can ever be made.
For WKMS News, I'm Carrie Pond.