Part of Immigration Law : Mahony Named to New U.S. Panel on Farm Labor

Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who has long been an advocate of migrant farm workers, has been appointed to the new federal Commission on Agricultural Workers provided under the recently enacted immigration reform law.

Just before he retired as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. named Mahony to the 12-member commission. The body will report to the House within five years on wide-ranging aspects of the U.S. agricultural system that go beyond the scope of the immigration law.

“With his background, Archbishop Mahony will be an important voice on the new commission,” said Archbishop Theodore E. McCarick of Newark, N.J., chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Migration. “The archbishop is by training and temperament ideally suited to the task, which could prove key to the future of some 2 to 3 million aliens expected to be legalized under the recently adopted legislation.”

Many to Seek Amnesty

The Los Angeles archdiocese is preparing to handle an estimated 250,000 amnesty applications through about 20 processing centers tentatively scheduled to open in March. Los Angeles County officials project that as many as 800,000 illegal aliens in the county may win legal residence through the program.

Mahony, who made no comment on the appointment, has served as secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Farm Labor. He is presently a member of the bishops’ newly formed Migration Committee and chairs its subcommittee on the pastoral care of migrants and refugees. In 1977, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. appointed Mahony the first chairman of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board.

Areas of review given to the new commission include examining the wages and working conditions of domestic farm workers, determining the extent to which aliens obtain lawful resident status, the impact of the legalization program and employer sanctions, the reliance of agriculture on a temporary work force, consideration of augmenting U.S. farm labor with foreign workers, unemployment among farm workers, and the relationship between the law and competitiveness of American crops in international markets.