What Did You Think Would Happen?

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports on a recent meeting between Central New York farmers and Rep. Mike Arcuri (D-NY). Chief among the concerns raised by the farmers was the lack of available agricultural workers needed to work on the farms. The reasons for the labor shortages are simple: fear of arrest and deportation.

"Increased enforcement of immigration laws hit grape growers hard in 2006, said Tom Macinski, of Standing Stone Vineyards in Seneca County. The enforcement crackdown not only eliminated undocumented workers from the labor pool, he said, but also affected legal migrant workers.

They heard rumors about upcoming arrests," Macinski said. "They stayed away out of fear, even though their paperwork was entirely proper. . . . That made getting the grape crop in in 2006 much more difficult and also made it more expensive."

The call for tighter border restrictions and crackdown on illegal immigration comes primarily from conservative Republicans in the West and Southwest. The most notable proponent of tighter enforcement is Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Tancredo has launched a long-shot bid for the Republican Presidential nomination largely on a need to restrict the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.

Agricultual workers are rational actors interested in pursuing their own self-interests. Therefore, when the costs of working in the United States (harrasment, arrest, and deportation) exceed the benefits (wages), the labor pool will begin to dry up. This is how the free market works.

In order to counter the labor shortages, there are two available options: reduce the immigration crackdown or increase wages for agricultural workers. If Tancredo and his supporters are serious about reducing illegal immigration, then they should level with the American people about the increased price of food and agricultural commodities that will follow.