AHC Memorandum

To: AHC Member Organizations and Individuals – ACTION ALERT

From: American Horse Council

Re: Supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Date: February 13, 2006

We recently sent out a memo concerning comprehensive immigration reform and want to encourage your individual members for action as soon as possible.

The Senate is expected to take up the issue of immigration and foreign worker programs in the upcoming weeks. We are trying to generate as many contacts as possible. It is crucial that Senators hear from the horse industry within this time period.

The House of Representatives has passed “The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005” (H.R. 4437), which focuses on an “enforcement first” approach to the immigration. If the bill became law as passed by the House, it would result in new restrictions and penalties, but no change to the existing system to hire legal foreign workers.

Senators need to hear that the horse industry supports comprehensive immigration reform that ensures U.S. employers have access to a legal and stable workforce. The current H-2A and H-2B foreign worker programs do not adequately address the needs of the horse industry. Without provisions in place that address these needs, the horse industry could face a major labor shortage that will have severe affects on the industry and the U.S. economy.

Your members could make a difference if they contact their Senators. Please ask them to take action now. Personalized letters and phone calls are effective ways to have your voice heard by your Senators and influence this important debate. Attached is a sample letter to Senators that we encourage you and your members to personalize and fax to your Senator’s Washington, D.C. office. If you need contact information for your Senators, please visit www.senate.gov or call the AHC.

We would like to keep track of which Senators have been contacted so that we can follow up accordingly. After faxing a letter to your Senators, please fax us a copy of the letter at (202) 296-4031 or send an email to dmyers@horsecouncil.org. We have posted talking points and additional information at www.horsecouncil.org.

Please feel free to contact the American Horse Council at (202) 296-4031 if you have any questions. Thank you for your support

[Draft Letter to Senators]

The Honorable XXXXX
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator…

I am writing to you about an urgent issue that will have a tremendous effect on the horse industry, the agricultural industry and our national economy. As you are well aware, Congress has begun to focus its efforts on immigration enforcement and border security. As these debates continue, I respectfully urge you to include the desperate need for comprehensive immigrant and non-immigrant worker reform in the debate.

Maintaining a practical, streamlined guest-worker program is pivotal to the stability of the horse industry and our nation’s agricultural industry, particularly as we face a dire labor shortage.

The American Horse Council’s 2005 Economic Impact of the Horse Industry on the United States report documents that the horse industry has a total economic impact of $102 billion, supports 1.4 million jobs, pays $2 billion in taxes and includes 4.7 million Americans. As a [breeder, owner, rancher, trainer, etc.], my horse operation employees [explain your operation and any related figures].

In order to maintain this industry, we also rely on legal foreign workers who provide both semi-skilled and entry-level labor in jobs American workers are not filling. Many of these workers are seasonal, though some are not.

Currently, the H-2A guest worker program is not designed to meet the practical needs of the horse industry. Targeted reform bills, such as AgJOBS (S.359, H.R.884), would overhaul and streamline the current system. Other bi-partisan bills in both the Senate and House offer good ideas on comprehensive reform. I ask that you consider legislation that provides American employers’ access to a legal and stable workforce as part of any comprehensive action on immigration reform. It is critical that any final bill include changes to the current H-2A program and an earned adjustment provision so that the current employees, many of whom are in management roles, can transition into legal status without sharply disrupting American businesses that rely on them. This realistic approach to reform protects our national economy and our national security.

Please support comprehensive immigration reform as an important and necessary part of this national debate. If you have any questions about [Name of State and Business, farm, ranch], please feel free to contact us. Thank you for preserving our industry and livelihoods.

Sincerely,


POINTS IN SUPPORT OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
January 2006

The horse industry has long sought a solution to its labor and immigration challenges. Initial efforts focused on reform of the existing H-2A guest worker program. More recent efforts have also included approaches to retain experienced workers and transition in an orderly way to wider reliance on guest worker programs.

The horse industry and the rest of agriculture are seeing actual labor shortages, rather than just shortages of alien workers. These shortages are expected to get worse in the upcoming months as employers struggle to retain their work force and hire new employees.

In December, the House of Representatives passed a narrow, expensive, and anti-employer border security and internal enforcement bill (H.R.4437). If it becomes law, it would impose new burdens, fines, and penalties on employers; but it would do nothing to provide labor-intensive agriculture access to a legal and stable workforce.

The Senate is expected to take up the issue shortly. It is vital that the Senate pass a bill that ensures U.S. employers’ access to a legal workforce. Specific to the needs of agriculture, the following are reasons for reform:

Despite our best efforts to recruit U.S. workers, horse owners, breeders and training facilities still need legal H-2A foreign workers to fill positions involving the production, training and care of horses.

The horse industry employs many American workers. But there are not enough to fill what are termed semi-skilled jobs, but which are in reality positions requiring familiarity with horses. These jobs are important to our industry and to the health and welfare of our horses.

Before alien workers are allowed to be hired, a stringent, formal and regulated application process must be completed. U.S. employers must demonstrate to state and U.S. Departments of Labor that there are no available U.S. workers to fill the positions. Once that is accomplished, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service must approve the admission of foreign workers. This approval is transmitted to foreign consuls where the alien worker receives his approved visa.

The horse industry relies on the H-2A program as the only way it can legally hire alien workers for temporary positions when they cannot find Americans for the job.

Without the manpower provided by H-2A seasonal short-term workers, the horse industry could not operate or would be short-staffed. This could result in the termination of other jobs in the industry filled by U.S. workers.

Despite the best efforts of breeders and ranchers, seasonal and physically demanding jobs in the horse industry do not attract enough American workers with the knowledge of how to handle and care for horses. As a result, the industry relies on alien labor to fill some positions.

The American Horse Council’s 2005 Economic Impact of the Horse Industry on the United States report documents that the horse industry has a total economic impact of $102 billion, supports 1.4 million jobs, pays $2 billion in taxes and includes 4.7 million Americans. For every job we lose, we expect to also lose other jobs in related economic sectors – equipment, boarding, transportation, and services – that are supported by the horse industry. These are jobs filled by native-born Americans.

Congress is considering a range of border security and enforcement measures that are important and needed. Yet, many of these measures, if enacted without additional changes to the process to hire legal foreign workers, could have serious unintended consequences for the horse industry, other U.S. businesses and the U.S. economy.

U.S. agriculture supports more enforcement and border security, but an enforcement-only approach offers an incomplete solution to the problem of illegal immigration and alien employment. Despite significant increases in resources and personnel, we have not put a dent in the numbers; in fact, illegal immigration has increased. And we will not completely solve the problem unless we tackle the root cause, the pull of opportunities here and the lack of sufficient legal channels. We need a comprehensive approach to solve illegal immigration.

The Senate should pass a comprehensive immigration reform package. In addition to border security measures, such a package must include a temporary worker program for the unique needs of labor-intensive horse and agriculture industries. It must also include a realistic means for trained and experienced workers who lack proper legal status to earn status subject to conditions like future work and lawful behavior. The AgJOBS legislation (S.359) is a model for a workable approach to these needed reforms.

Please support comprehensive immigration reform that not only protects the U.S. and U.S. jobs but also makes it possible for those industries, like the horse industry, that must rely on legal foreign workers to have access to such workers in a reasonable, federally-regulated program.