Should ag businesses get a state program for undocumented workers?

Immigrant workers picking green beans in an unidentified state. (BigStock image)

The hot-button issue of filling tough jobs in the country’s dairies, feedlots and fields — jobs typically held by illegal immigrants — has landed in the heartland.

A Kansas business coalition that has watched the devastating toll that anti-illegal immigration laws have taken on the agriculture industry in states like Arizona have come up with what it calls a sensible approach to managing undocumented workers.

On Thursday, a bill was introduced in the Kansas Legislature that would create a state program to assist undocumented workers in getting federal authorization to stay and work here.

But critic Kris Kobach — the Kansas Secretary of State who helped draft the Arizona law – calls it a “political fantasy.”

House Bill 2603’s authors are quick to say that the bill does not seek a federal waiver or provide a state amnesty program.

With support from participating businesses, the program will help workers seeking Homeland Security documentation who can prove they’ve been in Kansas for five years, don’t have a criminal record, and are working on English proficiency.

“Logic tells us that having the support of the state and having confirmation that you will work in a business that needs workers may help them remain in the United States,” said Allie Devine, a Topeka attorney who helped craft the bill.

The coalition of some two dozen businesses, ag advocacy groups and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce has been working together since it started seeing Arizona-style bills being introduced in Kansas five years ago, Devine said.

“We were, shall we say, skeptical when they first came out,” she said. “We had heard what had happened in Arizona and talked to business groups… who didn’t organize and (the law) went through quickly. We basically said, ‘Wait a minute – this is not what we want to do here.’”

Kobach was immediately dismissive of the plan and said it will never pass because it’s legally impossible and politically unfeasible.

In an interview with Laura Ziegler of Harvest Public Media’s partner station KCUR, Kobach said the federal government can’t grant a waiver to a state that would allow undocumented workers to stay here nor will Kansas lawmakers approve the plan.

“I think it’s a fantasy for some people in the meat-packing industry to have these workers given some state-level amnesty,” he said.

What do you think?

Help us report this important national story that affects the ag industry in every state. Harvest Public Media, with partner stations and reporters in four Midwestern states, is teaming up with the Southwestern public radio network Fronteras, to cover this issue.

Do you think Kansas should create a program that will allow agri-businesses to hire illegal immigrants? Click here to share your experience with the Harvest Network.