ALTO PASS, Ill. (By Ray Quintanilla, Chicago Tribune) September 27, 2006 — Times have never been easy during two decades as migrant laborers, but as they sat in their camp here one recent afternoon, Hermelinda Cruz and her husband, Fidel, were debating whether it would make any sense at all to come back next year.

"We have a car we can't afford to fix, and the high cost of gasoline has eaten up any savings we have. It doesn't make sense for us to continue," she said, citing roughly $225 a week each earns in the fields.

In a hard line of work, this has been a particularly difficult year. Record gas prices cut deeply into the wages of migrant laborers. At the same time, many worried that they were less welcome than ever in a nation embroiled in a debate about immigration.

That led to a shortage of workers. In Illinois, some farmers took the unusual step of paying up to $100 per laborer to help cover high fuel prices earlier this year.

In other parts of the nation, the shortage of migrant labor has made it impossible to harvest acres of crops - leaving some of them to rot.

"Unfortunately, what is happening is the fallout from a wave of anti-immigrant bashing that's taking place," said Eloy Salazar, executive director of the Illinois Migrant Council, an organization providing social services and outreach to the state's field workers.

Of the state's 32,000 migrant and seasonal workers, Salazar said issues like those above are part of the reason 2,000 or so migrant laborers didn't arrive in Illinois this year.

"Workers will travel long distances to be here," explained Linda Brown, president of El Paso, Ill.-based Pfister Hybrid Corn Co. "These dollars do help them," she said, referring to funds offered to help pay fuel costs of migrant laborers.

The Pew Hispanic Center in Washington found there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Of that, about 7.2 million were employed in March 2005, accounting for about 4.9 percent of the civilian labor force. These immigrants also make up about one in four of those working in farming occupations, research showed.

Betty Sirles, an owner of Rendleman Orchards in scenic Alto Pass, a small farming community in southern Illinois, said there's no easy substitute for the two dozen or so immigrants who provide seasonal labor for her business.

"These are very hard-working people," she said, standing beside a row of fruit trees one morning at her orchard, 18 miles south of Carbondale. "I just don't see people who want to do the work they do. ... There are no applicants for those jobs."

Tom Nassif, representing some of the largest fresh produce firms in the country, said the western United States is struggling to find enough laborers to harvest this year's crops.

"With this increased concentration on arresting people who are here illegally, many people are afraid to move from region to region for fear of being caught in a checkpoint," said Nassif, president and chief executive officer of the Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers.

Crops rotting in the fields across California and Nevada may eventually boost retail prices for vegetables, he added. In the state of Washington, farmers complained about a shortage of workers to harvest cherries and apples. What's certain, Nassif explained, is that without a political solution, more of the nation's crops will be lost in the fields.

In some cases, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service actions have made seasonal crews nervous about being arrested and deported. Others worry about the political climate across the nation, and whether it has helped generate negative feelings toward them.

The California-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said an increase in municipal "English only" laws are just one of the factors that has helped boost animosity toward immigrants - whether or not the laws are adopted.

"These efforts tend to legitimize a lot of bad treatment," said John Trasvina, interim president and general counsel of the Los Angeles-based organization.

Lucia Montalvo, a seasonal worker temporarily living in Carbondale, resides in a large trailer park with dozens of other Hispanic seasonal workers.

One night the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service hauled away five people from her neighbor's house, she added. Today, hardly any of her neighbors will venture out of the trailer park.

"We want to work and that's all we want to do," said Montalvo, 23, from Veracruz, Mexico. "Other migrants don't like this mood in the country. When I leave in December, I'm not coming back."

Juanita Valdez, director of the South Texas-based La Union del Pueblo Entero, a social service organization that prepares migrants for their journey north, said fears like that have kept many migrants at home.

"This fear of deportation is really powerful today," she said. "I don't think it's beneficial for anyone to see crops rotting in the fields."

The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies said migrant labor hardships are unfortunate. But what is most important, they add, is the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

There can be no other solution, they say.

Anything other than strict enforcement of existing laws "is corrosive and not in keeping with the nation's heritage," explained John Keeley, a group spokesman.

Still, those who work closely with migrant and seasonal workers say there should be some measure of compassion for the people who harvest the nation's produce.

Angie Gomez, a social worker with Migrant Education Inc., located just outside Cobden, Ill., said life for migrants is "getting harder, and the worst is yet to come."

"I don't know what to think about life for migrant people next year," she said.

---

BY THE NUMBERS

11 million: Number of illegal immigrants in the United States, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

7.2 million: Number who were employed in March 2005, about 4.9 percent of the civilian labor force.

1 in 4: Proportion of workers in farming occupations who are immigrants.