WAFLA on Immigration Fears Pt 2

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Protest and social media are giving a lot of attention to President Trump's immigration policy.

But, WAFLA Director Dan Fazio says they've spent a lot of time on the phone with member workers and employers, trying to ease their fears ...

DAN FAZIO ... "Absolutely, we've been getting calls and we've been making calls and we're looking for an executive order now on how the Administration is going to deal with protecting jobs for American workers and that's part of the immigration equation. The President was very clear in stating that the immigration system needs to serve the economic needs of America and we've got a program that can do that. It can help workers and it can employ more workers and it can help farmers produce food domestically and even export American produce."

Fazio says he's optimistic the new Administration is on board ...

DAN FAZIO ... "It's no secret that jobs are the magnet for undocumented immigration and so we've always contended, and I think the Administration will agree us, that if you make it easier for people to do it legally it takes the pressure off for people trying to do it illegally. And I think they're on-board with that. They want to turn off the spigot for undocumented immigration and we expect to see that there will be some advantages to growers who maybe will step up and use the E-Verify program. That's a concern."

Fazio says there's always concern, but he's confident a case can be made for making the H2A program easier for workers to come into the U.S. legally and making it a user-friendly system that also works for American employers.