Principles of Food Manufacturers Immigration Coalition Outlined
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In
testimony delivered today to the U.S. House
Subcommittee on Immigration and Border
Security, National Chicken Council (NCC)
President Mike Brown testified on behalf of a
broad food manufacturers coalition, including
North American Meat Association, about the need
for a stable and permanent workforce that can
help sustain the rural communities where meat
and poultry facilities operate.
Today’s
hearing, “From H-2A to a Workable
Agricultural Guestworker Program,” is the
second in a series of several hearings on
immigration issues in the subcommittee.
In addition to NCC President Mike Brown,
also testifying is: Bob Stallman, President,
American Farm Bureau Federation; Chalmers Carr,
President and CEO, Titan Farms; and Giev
Kashkooli, Political and Legislative Director,
Third Vice-President, United Farm
Workers.
“To date
much of the discussion has focused on the need
to retain highly skilled workers such as
scientists and engineers, and the need for
additional temporary agricultural workers,”
Brown said. “These are important
objectives, but they do not meet the needs of
our industry sector. We are
manufacturers, wanting a stable and permanent
workforce that can help sustain the rural
communities where we do
business.”
Brown in
his testimony highlighted five major themes for
immigration reform on which the coalition is
focused: border security; a very simple
improvement to the E-verify system as an
alternative to a national identity card;
clarity in anti-discrimination laws; an
occupational visa category that the meat and
poultry industry can use that could be tied to
local or regional employment; and, options to
effectively address the 11 million undocumented
workers in the shadows of our
economy.
“Some think
there is an economic incentive for
manufacturing employers to hire illegal
immigrants at below-market wages,” Brown
continued. “Nothing could be further
from the truth. Our industry needs a stable
workforce. We seek workers who will stay
on the job long enough to become skilled and
efficient, helping us to keep our food products
and employees
safe.”
In terms of
strengthening employment verification, Brown
noted that the government does not provide
employers with a reliable verification method
to prevent identity fraud and confirm whether
new hires are legally authorized to work in the
United States. “E-Verify is a step in
the right direction but does not work
adequately in its current form,” he said.
“If strengthened, this program will
serve as an effective and efficient ‘virtual
border.’”
Brown
said that the current system, however, does not
account for the meat and poultry industry’s
most common issue, identity fraud, e.g. a valid
Social Security number that does not relate to
the person presenting it. In addition to
documents such as a driver’s license or
social security card which are easily
falsified, the coalition believes employers
should be allowed to require an E-Verify Self
Check. E-Verify Self Check is an online
service that allows U.S. employees to check
their employment eligibility in the United
States before beginning a new
job.
In return for
participating in these and other aggressive
screening programs, Brown said that the
coalition supports providing a safe harbor for
employers that utilize the E-Verify Self Check
and follow the automatic referral process.
“An employer that does everything
possible to avoid hiring unauthorized aliens
should not be exposed to further liability,”
he
contended.
Continued
access to the labor pool is also a key element
of the coalition’s framework for immigration
reform. “An effective occupational visa
system may be the most important barrier to
illegal immigration,” Brown said.
“The right visa system with the right
screening tools will in effect be a second
‘virtual border.’”
The existing
temporary programs for general labor skilled
workers are for seasonal labor only, which does
not help manufacturers, whose occupational
needs are year-round and ongoing.
“Congress
must create a general labor skilled immigrant
visa for the manufacturing industry to
recognize that employer needs in industry are
permanent in nature, not temporary,” Brown
proposed. “Employers should have the
ability to recruit outside of the U.S. and
sponsor workers for a defined period of
time.”
A copy of the
full testimony including the coalition’s
complete framework of immigration reform
concepts, can be viewed by clicking
here.
The Food
Manufacturers Immigration Coalition is composed
of:
National Chicken
Council
National Turkey
Federation
U.S. Poultry & Egg
Association
North American Meat
Association
American Meat
Institute
California Poultry
Federation
Georgia Poultry
Federation
The Poultry Federation
(Arkansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma)
Virginia Poultry
Federation

