House committee will hold border hearing in Yuma

County seeks Congressional support with ag labor, immigration reform

The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, will soon hold a hearing on border issues in Yuma.

Several local officials and community members are scheduled to testify, however, the date and list of witnesses have not been released yet.

Yuma County Vice Chair Jonathan Lines announced the hearing on Monday during the Board of Supervisors meeting while discussing the border situation.

“We will have the opportunity to host the Judiciary Committee in Yuma within the next month. They’ll be holding a federal hearing here specifically on this stuff. So the sheriff and I have been preparing for that. It’s not announced yet,” Lines said, adding that the committee “will be here specifically to deal with the border issues.”

He noted that the hearing will be chaired by Jim Jordan, a U.S. representative from Ohio and chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Dr. Bob Trenschel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional Medical Center, will testify as well as others in the community, Lines said.

The House Judiciary Committee is currently working on H.R. 876, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to reform certain asylum procedures. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Lines announced the hearing while the board discussed federal priorities in preparation for the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference to be held Feb. 11-14 in Washington, D.C.

Immigration and agriculture labor are among the priorities that supervisors wish to discuss with federal officials. They plan to urge Congress to take up agriculture labor legislation as a means of improving the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program.

However, the supervisors agreed to refrain from using the word “reform” while discussing

agricultural labor as it has a “negative connotations” and might result in “pushback.” But they believe “reform” is appropriate when discussing the need for changes in immigration policies.

“Now, immigration reform, that one you can’t really tailor, but the other one (ag labor), I think more what we’re asking is support,” Supervisor Tony Reyes said.

AGRICULTURE LABOR

The agriculture labor “enhancements” to the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program that the supervisors are looking for include removing the cap on three-year visas “as it is arbitrary and unnecessary” and providing “sufficient” visas for fulltime agriculture workers.

The agriculture industry currently splits the number of visas with the dairy and cattle industry. Hence, the supervisors seek an increase to the number of visas allowed for full-time agriculture workers, without having to share them with other industries.

To back up their proposals, the supervisors will share the following data:

• In fiscal year 2022, out of 382,354 positions requested across the United States through the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program, the U.S. Department of Labor certified 371,619 positions, which resulted in an increase in the gap between the positions requested by producers across the nation and those approved by the U.S. DOL.

• In FY 2022, the U.S. DOL certified 13,731 H-2A positions in Arizona, accounting for 3.6% of all positions certified in the United States.

• In FY 2022, the U.S. DOL certified 3,526 H-2A positions in Yuma County.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

County officials will also urge Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform. To stress the need for changes to the immigration policy, the supervisors will offer the following information:

• Traditionally, the federal government exercises exclusive control over immigration policy. A fundamental principle of immigration law since 1790 is that the federal government has primary power and responsibility. These are related to several Constitutional provisions, including the power of Congress to “provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.” States and counties have no control over the flow of immigrants across their borders.

• The costs of the federal government’s “failed” immigration policy disproportionately affect all counties along the U.s.-mexico border.

• The number of asylum seekers and migrants entering Yuma County from Mexico continues to increase, with more than 310,000 apprehensions made by Yuma Sector agents in the fiscal year 2022 alone.

• In 2022, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office recovered 70 deceased migrants, a record-breaking number, who perished while attempting to cross into the United States. Each recovery took an average of five hours of a deputy’s time, which amounts to almost $20,000 just in deputies’ salaries.

• In 2022, the YCSO responded to 756 emergency calls by migrants who required emergency assistance.

• In 2022, the YCSO rescued more than 24 underage migrants in remote parts of the county.

• Yuma County installed portable toilets along the border to keep migrants from going into agriculture fields, with an estimated cost to the county of $70,000.

• The number of asylum seekers and migrants is expected to increase by 40% or more once Title 42 is lifted.

• The projected increase of asylum seekers and migrants has and will continue to strain the ability of medical staff and local hospital resources to provide essential and necessary medical care to Yuma residents as well as the migrant community.

• The increased numbers of asylum seekers and migrants have and will continue to place a severe strain on federal and state resources, nonprofit organizations, and others providing humanitarian and healthcare services.

After Alejandro Figueroa, the county’s economic development and intergovernmental affairs director, shared the above talking points with the supervisors, the board members asked for even more precise numbers, in particular, for the costs absorbed by the Sheriff’s Office and other agencies and organizations. For example, they pointed out that the current estimates do not include coroner and medical costs to retrieve bodies and treat rescued and/or other migrants as well as vehicle wear and tear and fuel.

Figueroa noted that a lot of the data is not readily available, however, supervisors asked that he try his best in coming up with estimates.

“I just don’t want them to think that’s all it costs,” Reyes said.

“I think it would be critical to try to put together some type of an estimate of the total cost. I know that it’s difficult,” Lines noted, adding that the numbers would be useful for sharing at the upcoming hearing.