Gallegly Takes a Research Field Trip to Farm : Politics: He and another GOP immigration reform specialist tour a grove near Saticoy to gauge the impact of potential legislation.

Two of the most influential voices in Congress on the issue of immigration reform--Reps. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley and Lamar Smith of Texas--toured a lemon-and-avocado grove near Saticoy on Friday to gauge the potential impact of immigration laws on farmers.

Gallegly, who headed a congressional task force on immigration reform, toured the 130-acre farm with his fellow Republican to observe the harvesting techniques of local growers and ask owner Tom Pecht how pending legislation would affect his work force.

“We’re interested in the economic effects and the social effects of reform,” Gallegly said. “You have that responsibility to see what this is going to do to American jobs, American farmers.”

Smith, who is chairman of a powerful immigration subcommittee and has led GOP efforts to forge a comprehensive immigration bill, was on a two-day tour of California’s farms with members of the American and California farm bureaus. He made a brief stop in Ventura County at Gallegly’s request before flying to Fresno. He also plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego today.

Pecht said he welcomed the congressmen’s efforts to see firsthand how farmers do their work. He added afterward that he depends on Latin American farm laborers to maintain and harvest his groves and may be severely affected by efforts to limit their entry into the country.

“If we don’t have a steady flow of skilled workers, we’re going to have problems,” Pecht said. “The Bracero program was great for us. When they got rid of it, they expected our workers to fill the void, but they didn’t.”

The Bracero program, a joint U.S.-Mexican initiative begun in the 1940s, allowed Mexican farm workers to temporarily live and work in America. It was halted in 1964.

The judiciary subcommittee on immigration and claims plans to hold hearings in December to discuss agricultural labor needs, including the possible merits of a new guest-worker program.

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Gallegly said during the tour that he is still weighing the proposal to split the Republicans’ mammoth immigration reform package in half, creating separate bills for legal and illegal immigrants. Ten House Republicans from California have launched a drive to divide the legislation.

Although he generally believes that issues concerning illegal immigration should be handled separately, Gallegly said that some aspects of legal immigration are too intertwined with efforts to halt illegal immigration to be separated.

For example, he said, issues concerning visas and asylum status belong in a bill dealing with illegal immigrants because many immigrants come here legally but stay longer than allowed.

“My focus has been almost fully on the illegal immigrants,” Gallegly said. “But you can’t deal with illegal immigration without monitoring legal immigration.

“I like the idea of keeping them divided, but they cannot be divided for all things.”

Smith supports keeping the entire immigration reform package together.

Despite the impact it may have on his work force, Pecht said he understands that immigration reform is sorely needed and fully supports it.

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“Nobody wants illegal labor coming up and sucking the economy dry,” he said. “But we need workers. I check everyone’s papers the best I can, but I don’t think anyone can deny that there are a lot of fake papers out there.”

During the 20-minute tour of Pecht’s farm, Ramon Ortiz, a 36-year-old farm worker, was the focus of attention.

Ortiz climbed an avocado tree with the help of a large ladder and plucked several of the premature fruits to show the congressmen and farm bureau officials how the work is done.

“This is it--the bread and butter of the county,” Pecht said, rolling an avocado between his hands.

The tour then moved to the adjacent lemon grove, where Ortiz climbed a smaller ladder and yanked a few fruits to display the slightly different--but equally labor-intensive--picking technique.

After the politicians had pulled away in their trucks, Ortiz weighed in with his own views on immigration reform.

“What they want is to keep more Mexicans from coming here,” he said, smiling. “But I think they need us to do this work. The Americans don’t want to do it.”

Victorino Vasquez, 37, agreed with Ortiz: The growers need immigrant workers like him to stay in business.

“The work is excessive,” said Vasquez, who has worked on Pecht’s farm for three years. “They need immigrants to do it, because no one else will.”