Release Date: March 2006
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Crossing the Line 

Jerry Kozak
President/CEO

Most of us have seen the bumper stickers that say, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”  A more contemporary version of that sentiment might read, “If you’ve eaten today, thank an immigrant.”

Perhaps it’s a secret to some, but it’s no secret in the dairy industry that a significant portion of the nation’s milk supply wouldn’t be produced two or three times a day if it weren’t for immigrant laborers, some of them not yet legal U.S. citizens.  The same situation exists in other areas of production agriculture – that’s long been the case in the fruit and vegetable fields across the country.  Immigrant labor is also essential to the operation of the nation’s meat packing plants, and also to the nation’s restaurants and hotels.  So it’s not a stretch to make the case that without the labor provided by immigrant workers, the U.S. would have a hard time producing food for all its people.

Immigration has become a hot-button political issue lately due to the confluence of a variety of factors, some social, some economic.  Certainly, America’s inability to secure its borders is a potentially major security concern.  Many also question the true cost-benefit equation of relying on immigrant workers, given the costs to the government of providing education and health care to them and their children.

At the same time, however, we have to be realistic about the fact that even if we could completely seal our borders tomorrow, there are an estimated 11 million illegal workers who would like remain in this country.  And that’s assuming there won’t be more to come at some point in the future.

One response to this situation is creating a very punitive approach to immigration policy, evicting all illegal workers and applying criminal penalties to those that hire them.  That’s the approach the House of Representatives took late last year, when it passed a bill that imposes criminal penalties not just on illegals, but also on business people that hire illegal workers (even if those workers provide documents asserting they are authorized to work here). 

It goes without saying that while such a bill may address some of our political concerns about national security, it does little to address the real issue of national security.  And it doesn’t address the economic hardships this approach would impose on the U.S. economy, especially production agriculture.

Millions of cows (and their milking equipment) would literally be left hanging if such workers were to vanish overnight.  Dairy operators likewise would be in a tenuous position if they were to have to become experts in immigration law, and verify if certain documents have been forged. 

This isn’t just an issue for large farms along the Mexican border in the Southwest, either.  There was an article last October in the Franklin County Courier, way up next to the Canadian border in Vermont, which reported that 75% of the dairy farms there employed at least one Hispanic worker.

"It's just the changing face of agriculture. The [immigrant] numbers in the last five years have grown tremendously, and we expect it to continue to grow," said Glenn Rogers, who works for the University of Vermont Extension office. "I can tell you that they're a valuable part of our employment scheme.” 

That same sentiment in rural Vermont was echoed by a number of dairy farmers that attended NMPF’s recent Dairy Producer Conclave meetings across the country.  Farmers from across the country related stories that they would lose valued employees, many of them with families, who are now playing an essential role in fostering the health of our dairy industry.
Recognizing that bad immigration policy is a threat to the economic viability of all dairy farms, NMPF formed a task force last year to reflect the needs and interests of our producers, as the debate now shifts in Washington to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to pass its own immigration reform bill this spring.

The position taken by NMPF’s Immigration Task Force calls for legislation containing the following: