BACKGROUND ON THE SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION, INC.
In the spring of 1985 a group of farmers in South Central Idaho met to discuss the problems of illegal alien employment in agriculture. This meeting was motivated by several factors:
- The number of seasonal farm jobs, especially for irrigators, was growing while the number of U.S. workers available to take these jobs was declining
- Many seasonal agricultural jobs were held by illegal aliens who were subject to outrageous treatment by coyotes and others who preyed on their illegal status
- Farmers' operations were increasingly subject to disruption and economic loss by apprehension and enforcement activities of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Border Patrol.
The INS agents had made repeated suggestions to farmers that if they could not obtain sufficient U.S. workers, they should apply for H-2 workers rather than employ illegal aliens. However, several hundred farmers had formed an association in the early 1970s and had spent thousands of dollars in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain H-2 certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. Nevertheless, they decided to again try the legal avenue for employing aliens when sufficient U.S. workers were not available. They formed the SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION, INC.
A series of informational meetings were held throughout Idaho in the summer and fall of 1985, under the sponsorship of the Food Producers of Idaho, an umbrella organization representing most of Idaho's agricultural organizations. More than 200 Idaho farmers joined the
SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION to participate in an H-2 program in the 1986 season. Since the H-2 program is occupation specific, and separate applications are required for each additional occupation, the Association decided to apply for certification of irrigators, because that was determined to be the occupation in which the need was greatest.
During the late summer of 1985, an intensive information campaign aimed at illegal alien irrigators was mounted by SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION members. Workers were told the farmers would no longer employ illegal aliens as irrigators and that they would be participating in the H-2 program. The aliens were told they would only be employed if sufficient qualified U.S. workers were not available, and that if they were needed they must enter the U.S. legally, with documents. The aliens were instructed as to what documents they needed and how to get them and were warned that they must not enter the U.S. illegally or come to Idaho with a coyote.
In early 1986, after extensive discussions with state and federal officials, H-2 applications were filed by approximately 220 employers for about 1,000 irrigators. And after further discussions, these applications were accepted. Following the required period for domestic recruitment, farmers were "certified" to employ approximately 950 alien irrigators.
Almost immediately upon hiring these irrigators, a lawsuit, inspired by the United Farm Worker's Union, was brought against the Association in order to block the growers from hiring alien irrigators. The lawsuit centered around the farmers' requirement that their irrigators have 20 days experience. The farm worker advocates claimed that anyone off the street can irrigate and that the experience requirement was just a tactic used by farmers to avoid hiring U.S. workers. Growers in the Association, knowing that they could not change their irrigation methods to accommodate inexperienced workers, fought a long and expensive legal battle to preserve the right to require experience. A settlement on this issue came about in the early spring of 1987, just as the
SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION was beginning to fill positions for irrigators for a second season, applying for some 1,841 alien irrigators. Approximately 325 U.S. workers applied and were hired, probably the largest domestic recruitment of irrigators ever accomplished in Idaho.
With the experience requirement intact, coupled with the Immigration and Control Act of 1986, the Association quickly grew to 467 members throughout Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Montana. The SNAKE RIVER FARMERS' ASSOCIATION has become recognized as the expert on issues of legal immigration and agricultural labor in the Northwest.
