The Other Side of Immigration Story

* My hat goes off to Dana Parsons, who had the curiosity and gumption to seek out the other side of the story in his July 1 column about the controversial billboard that says, “Welcome to California, the Illegal Immigration State.” Parsons focused on strawberry field workers.

I am president of Western Growers Assn., a trade association that represents 1,200 fresh produce farmers in California and Arizona.

As Parsons accurately pointed out when he visited Murai Farms (a member of WGA), the great majority of people in Orange County would be unwilling to perform field labor, no matter what the wage, because it is very hard work.

The fact that high school graduates have the opportunity to earn more in the fields than flipping hamburgers or working in a retail store fails to bring these graduates out to pick strawberries for the summer.

The General Accounting Office claims there’s not an agricultural labor shortage so long as the Immigration and Naturalization Service continues with its inadequate enforcement efforts.

Agriculture does not desire to be at the mercy of the enforcement efforts of an overburdened federal agency.

Farmers want to ensure a legal work force, and this is why WGA is supporting the proposed Guest Worker Program legislation as a step in the right direction.

DAVID L. MOORE

Irvine