INS Office for Farm Workers Opens : Calexico Center Designed to Prevent Field Hand Shortage

Acting to avert a shortage of farm workers, U.S. immigration authorities formally opened a special processing center here Friday where agricultural laborers from Mexico can apply for legal U.S. residence under the terms of the new immigration law.

The center, situated at the U.S. Port of Entry in this Imperial Valley border town 120 miles east of San Diego, is distinctive from the 107 other legalization offices nationwide in that it is aimed strictly at farm workers now living in Mexico. Mexican farm workers can apply directly at the office here and avoid the disruption of having to travel to the three sites in Mexico where legalization applications will be accepted--at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and the U.S. consulates in Hermosillo and Monterrey.

Officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said the center is a “pilot” program whose success will be evaluated after 30 days. If it is successful, officials said, they will consider opening similar centers at other border points, notably the busy crossings at San Diego and El Paso, Tex., in order to insure the presence of workers in the fields.

“We intend to see that we have an adequate agricultural work force,” said Harold W. Ezell, INS western regional commissioner, who spoke at a news conference here.

The new center, put together in only two days, was clearly a concession to farm groups worried about a shortfall of farm workers in California--with its $14-billion-a-year farm industry--and other Western states where undocumented workers are common. However, farm organizations said that the creation of the new office here and other recent concessions are too little, too late to avert a feared agricultural labor crisis in coming months.

‘Just a Trifle’

“This is just a trifle thrown at us,” said Barbara Buck, spokeswoman for the Western Growers Assn., a trade group.

Farm groups are pressing for a series of more substantial concessions. Chief among their demands is a loosening of the requirements that farm workers initially present detailed documents--such as paycheck stubs and affidavits from employers--demonstrating their cases for legalization. Critics say the requirement is unrealistic and is preventing thousands of Mexican farm workers from receiving authorization to work in the United States.

INS officials said it is likely that the agency will announce next week a further liberalization of the farm worker guidelines--perhaps even a concession allowing farm workers to enter the United States temporarily, based largely on sworn personal statements. Lawmakers from the large agricultural states--notably U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.)--have been pushing for such a revision.

The differing perceptions of the INS and growers form part of a growing war of words between the government agency and agricultural interests, despite official talk of “cooperation.”

Ezell said Friday that, with the opening of the new processing center here and several other INS concessions, “the ball is now in the growers’ court.” He suggested that they increase efforts to recruit Mexican workers.

However, Buck of the Western Growers Assn. said the comment was misleading.

“It’s an insult to the industry to have . . . Ezell even suggest that the ball is in our court, because we have been working on this for seven months,” Buck said.

Under the new immigration law, undocumented laborers who have worked in the United States may be eligible for legal status if they can demonstrate that they performed at least 90 days of farm work during the one-year period ending May 1, 1986.

Center Is Unique

Farm groups are hopeful that enough workers will qualify under the relatively liberal guidelines to provide labor to harvest summer crops in California and other Western states. The new immigration law makes it illegal for growers to continue their longstanding practice of hiring undocumented workers.

The Calexico center is unique because it allows for the processing of undocumented farm workers who attempt to enter the United States after Friday. None of the other 107 INS legalization processing centers will accept applications from undocumented farm workers who entered the United States after Friday; applicants will instead be directed to file at appropriate U.S. embassies or consulates in their countries of residence.

The Friday deadline is itself a source of controversy. Farm groups and advocates for undocumented workers maintain that it is improper and irrelevant, but the INS insists that it is necessary to avoid a rush of Mexican workers to the border.