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Failure of immigration bill will hurt CO, some employers sayDENVER (AP)--Colorado farmers, builders and others squeezed by a labor shortage will be pinched even more by the death of President Bush's immigration proposal in the Senate, business leaders said June 28. "Our labor supply is going to continue to diminish," said Mike Gilsdorf, leader of Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform. "I can see a lot of overtime expenses," he said, describing the shortage as "horrific." New state immigration laws that some business owners blame for frightening off legal immigrant workers have prompted farmers to shift to less labor-intensive crops that can be mechanically harvested, state Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp said. Because some of those crops, like corn, are less valuable, Colorado's agricultural output is expected to drop this year, Stulp said. "There are still producers taking a risk and putting in crops, hoping to get laborers in time for the late summer, fall harvest," Stulp. He and Gilsdorf, chief executive officer of Arapahoe Acres Nursery in suburban Littleton, spoke at a forum of the Colorado Employers for Immigration Reform. Gilsdorf said his business is turning down work and paying employees 10 hours of overtime a week because he can't find enough help. Gilsdorf said the labor shortage eventually will affect his ability to buy phones, computers, trucks and items from suppliers. "This doesn't just affect people who want to plant trees. It affects everybody's job in Colorado," he said. Colorado stumbled when it passed laws giving it a reputation as a state tough on illegal immigration, Stulp said after the forum. One law requires employers to verify whether their workers are legal. Now even some legal immigrant workers are staying away, perhaps for fear they will be harassed or because they have undocumented relatives, Stulp said. Stulp's office generally has sought a system that U.S. producers can rely on for workers and that workers can rely on for moving between their home countries and the U.S. legally. Census data show foreign-born workers filled almost 27 percent of jobs in agriculture, 25 percent of cleaning and maintenance jobs, and 21 percent of construction trade jobs in 2000. Immigrants held 267,576 jobs, according to 2000 data, or far more than the 89,000 Coloradans seeking work in May, suggesting that the unemployed would not be able to pick up the slack if immigrant labor were not available, private economist Tucker Hart Adams said. "Immigrant workers benefit all of us by keeping the economy growing and healthy," she told the forum. Adams has forecast a recession for the Colorado and U.S. economies late this year or early next year. Fewer immigrant workers could mean less production and money circulating in the economy, she said. "It's not just about jobs and income," Adams said. "We get many things cheaper because they were made in other countries or because of immigrant labor. That gives us additional money to spend on other things that create new jobs." Rep. Tom Tancredo, a vocal opponent of illegal immigration, cheered the death of the president's immigration plan. He advocated securing national borders and enforcing laws prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants, who have been blamed by opponents for lowering wages, and stressing health care and welfare systems. "To all the people who have been so frustrated about their government, I just want to tell them to take heart. The system still works," said Tancredo, R-CO, in a written statement. Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, who helped craft the immigration bill, compared the immigration debate with other civil rights struggles and blamed its demise on "senators, mostly from the Deep South, who wanted to kill this bill for whatever their motivations would be." Salazar, a Democrat, said the bill would have addressed the need to fix the nation's porous borders, served employers who rely on immigrant workers and helped the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country get on a path to legal status. "Today we have a system of chaos and disorder. Those who killed the legislation today, for whatever reason, have compromised the national security of the United States," he said. Date: 7/26/07
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