H2A VISA DELAYS Pt2

H2A VISA DELAYS Pt2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The delays we told you about yesterday in work visas for farm laborers in our state have cost some growers a bundle.

WAFLA's Dan Fazio says the cost of the delays have been considerable ...

DAN FAZIO ... "When we say 'a considerable amount of money, we're talking Millions you know, Millions with an "M" and so the good news is it's not Billions, right, but the bad news is we're talking about million dollar losses here and it's very very unfortunate."

Fazio says Citizens and Immigration Services is crucial because it provides employers with visa applications, which is necessary to set up consulate appointments for workers, so they'd really like some help in trying to find a solution ...

DAN FAZIO ... "CIS is getting more aggressive. When we talk with them they talk about fraud and the problems that they have with human trafficking and tightening the boarder. And the Department of Homeland Security is, at its root, an agency that wants to keep the homeland secure, so that is there job. We need to figure out how we can work with them to make the legal worker programs work."

I asked Fazio if it would be fair to say that CIS is being uncooperative...

DAN FAZIO ... "You know, I'm not going to go that far at this point. Talk to me in December or January, but if we have another year like this year it will be fair to say that they're uncooperative. Because we had problems last year with CIS and we've raised the issue and now it's incumbent on the executive branch to solve the problems."

Fazio says they hope to have some good news before the busy crunch of H2A season that begins after the first of the year.

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