Federal inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor conducted spot inspections of farms across South Georgia on Tuesday, a week after many farmers complained the agency has failed to properly process visa applications for migrant workers.
“Wage and hour agent teams are in multiple locations across South Georgia today,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The agents inspect payroll and personnel records to ensure workers are fairly paid and that the workers are treated properly. The Department of Labor did not respond to requests for comment.
The AJC reported May 5 that many farms across the state were expecting to lose millions of dollars as crops died on the vines due to the Department of Labor's backlog on processing visa applications for seasonal migrant workers.
Days later, a bipartisan group of Georgia's congressional delegation wrote to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to ask that his agency expedite the applications before Georgia's top industry suffers even greater losses.
State Rep. Jason Shaw, R-Lakeland, the chairman of the Legislative Rural Caucus, said he heard Tuesday from several blueberry and produce farmers who said federal inspectors showed up unannounced.
“One farmer said they made him stop his harvesters so they could inspect them and his 15-passenger vans and go through his payroll records,” said Shaw, who is also a farmer. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out these folks are really busy right now.
“It’s unbelievable. It makes you wonder if they’re trying to pick on us for some reason.”
Andy Stone was working on his Clinch County blueberry farm when one of his workers spotted strangers in his fields. Federal inspectors were talking to his workers.
“They were there to look at our paperwork and everything,” Stone said. “After we got back to the office, our folks met with him. It was a very professional meeting. We’re fortunate in that we are one of the growers here that we got our H-2A workers.”
Stone said his paperwork was all in order, although an inspection of the housing he provides migrant workers had one problem.
“Unbeknownst to us, the most western unit or module was more than 200 feet from the restroom,” Stone said. “We’ll have to correct that in the next year.”
Stone said he would have preferred that the inspectors came stop at his farm office before venturing into the field. A U.S. Department of Labor fact sheet on wage and hour inspections indicates that should happen, too.
"The WHD investigator will identify himself/herself and present official credentials," the department's website says. "The investigator will explain the investigation process and the types of records required during the review."
American farmers import more than 100,000 foreign workers each year to work in fields on a seasonal basis through the federal H-2A visa program. Farmers apply to the Department of Labor months in advance. The program is designed so workers arrive when farmers need the help. But the agency is, in some cases, months behind in processing applications.
Congress created the H-2A immigration visa program in the 1990s as a way to verify that migrant workers who enter the United States for temporary or seasonal agricultural work are not criminals and that they are monitored and treated properly while in the country. The program is also designed to make sure farmers do not turn to immigrant labor if American workers are willing and available to do the work.
The American Farm Bureau Federation reported in April that the H-2A program is processing twice as many applications as a decade ago and that requests are up 13 percent this year from 2015. The increased demand is also contributing to the delays.
Department of Labor data show only 90 percent of H-2A applications received in the second quarter of the federal government’s fiscal year were processed in a “timely” manner, meaning 30 days before the farmer says he or she needs the workers to arrive. That’s down from 99 percent in the first quarter.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, one of the lawmakers who asked the Department of Labor to clear its backlog as quickly as possible, blamed President Barack Obama’s administration for the delays.
“This is yet another example of the Obama administration hindering hardworking Americans instead of helping them,” Carter said Tuesday. “Our farmers have enough on their plate right now due to the Department of Labor’s failure to address its backlog of H-2A applications. The DOL should be focused on one thing, and that is expediting these applications before Georgia’s fruit and vegetable industry suffers irreparable damage.”
More than 74,500 applications have been processed since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, including more than 6,000 from Georgia — the third-most in the country.
In 2015, the department processed 97 percent of nearly 140,000 applications on time.
“We have been hearing from our members who depend on H-2A ag labor so far this season and understand they have seen some delays,” said Gerald Long, the president of the Georgia Farm Bureau. “As a produce grower myself, I can tell you when fruits and vegetables are ready to pick it is a very short window, and many farmers in our state depend on this ag labor program.”
Russ Goodman, a blueberry farmer in the town of Alma, requested 500 migrant workers in January. Thirty have arrived. Now, he said he’s been told 110 more should arrive on Friday. Goodman estimates he’s already lost $200,000 to $300,000 worth of blueberries this year, and with nearly 400 fewer workers than he needed, those losses could climb.
“I don’t know whether to crawl in a hole and hide in the fetal position or come out with a sword,” he said Tuesday. “I’m between those two emotions.”
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