Tom Tancredo: The former Colorado congressman and anti-illegal immigrant activist has been a hero to the new Know-Nothings for years, but he’s kept a low profile since leaving office, emerging only a few times in ’09 to bash then-Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor, accusing her of being a racist and characterizing her membership in La Raza as being “nothing more than a… Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.” Anti-immigrant fervor has traditionally been a part of recession-era wingnut eruptions in years past, but it has not been a focus of Tea Party populist anger to date. It will be interesting to see what role Tom Tancredo plays among the Tea Party faithful—is he a third-rail throwback or a prodigal son turned Pied Piper? His reception will offer insights into the direction that the Tea Party movement may take in 2010.

Avlon is the author of lety book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America. His chapter on Glenn Beck was also excerpted at the Daily Beast.

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“The sponsors had the best of intentions in mind with this legislation,” said Gabriela Flora of the American Friends Service Committee. “But it would only perpetuate a system wrought with problems and exploitation.”

House Bill 1325 calls for obtaining a waiver from the federal government to allow the state to handle steps in the processing of H-2A visas for agricultural workers. The measure has the backing of the state departments of Agriculture and Labor and Employment, as well as support from prominent farmer groups.

The bill’s sponsors, state Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, and state Senate President Pro Tem Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, introduced the measure to help Colorado farmers suffering from a shortage of workers. They say the federal H-2A application review system is too backed-up and slow to provide relief.

But opponents counter with data that shows the federal H-2A system to be fairly efficient for the majority of Colorado farmers who apply. 

“The fundamental problem with this bill is that it is a solution in search of a problem,” said Erik Nicholson, director of the guest-worker program for the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. “Every issue the proponents have put forward, we have been able to factually refute. We’ve heard stories about long waits, but the statistics just don’t bear that out.”

According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics compiled by UFW, 237 of the 245 petitions submitted by Colorado ranchers and growers for H-2A workers were approved in 2007, a denial rate of only 3 percent. Proponents of the bill claim some growers have had to wait up to 120 days for the federal government to formally approve or deny their H-2A applications. Yet Nicholson points out that there is an existing federal statute to provide expedited review of H-2A applications if the Department of Labor fails to process the application within 45 days. 

Rights groups also have concerns about specific provisions in HB 1325, especially one that calls for withholding 20 percent of a worker’s wages until he has returned to his country of origin. Tapia has said the measure is meant to appease immigration hardliners in the legislature who worry about immigrant workers disappearing once they are here.

“Withholding wages is wrong. Under federal and Colorado law, wages are due when they are earned. If not, it is a form of indentured servitude,” said Amber Tafoya, an attorney and policy coordinator for Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “Wages are not a privilege, wages are your right — you work for them, you get them.”

Nicholson calls the 20-percent provision “outrageous” and points out that no other workers in the country are subject to such a withholding. Workers who participated in the infamous Bracero program from the 1940s to 1960s had a percentage of their wages withheld, and Nicholson notes many of those workers have still not recovered the money.

HB 1325 would be paid for through fees to the employers and fines to the workers. This fiscal note raises further alarm among the bill’s opponents, who fear revenue dependent on worker fines would engender a system disinclined to relinquish the remaining 20 percent of owed wages. 

“Since the money goes to the Colorado Department of Labor if the worker doesn’t get it, that means there is an incentive to make that process as hard as possible, just from a practical standpoint,” said Tafoya.

Nicholson agrees.

“If you read the text of the bill, there is much more attention on how the state is going to allocate that 20 percent to its own agencies rather than how to make sure that money gets back into the workers’ hands.” 

On top of their specific concerns, opponents of HB1325 question the overall workability of the measure. They point out that the bill effectively seeks to create a new legal precedent and is likely to be pre-empted by existing federal law.

“We have repeatedly raised the constitutional and legal issues with the sponsors and supporters of this bill, yet they want to continue forward with it,” Nicholson said. “We are at a loss.”

Tafoya points out that the bill’s sponsors may prefer to ignore pre-emption issues as they try to convince the House State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee to approve the measure later today. But doing so will just mean in the long run more hassle and cost for the state, which will undoubtedly have to answer legal claims if the measure passes.

“You can’t waive statutes, you have to amend statutes. And getting the statute changed to allow the Colorado Department of Labor to take over functions of a federal agency is something no lawyer I have spoken with thinks is possible,” Tafoya said. “As the bill sits now it’s just asking for a lawsuit.” 

“I think it’s great for the students who live in the dorms to meet the people who are here every day cooking their food and cleaning their bathrooms,” said Keely Bannon, a junior business major from Chicago. “Hopefully this will allow them to make a human connection and put a face with the services they rely on.”

The event at Sewell Hall was part of the Boulder County Dialogues on Immigrant Integration, a community project designed to build understanding and improve the relationship between established residents and newcomers. 

“Because of the language barrier and socioeconomic differences, immigrants and people born in the United States don’t often have opportunities to interact,” said Leslie Irwin, coordinator of the Boulder County integration dialogues, a four-year project funded largely by a grant from the Colorado Trust. “So we are providing the opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist for these people to meet and talk to each other.”

Friday’s event was broken into hour-long segments that included guided discussion in small groups, a panel of immigration experts and activists with a question-and-answer session, and a movie about economic migration. Professors brought their classes to participate in the dialogues, and throughout the afternoon, students, immigrant workers and other Boulderites mingled with each other, asking questions and sharing stories.

“I don’t think the students know how hard it is for people to come here,” said Mireya Perea, a custodian at the university and an immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico. “I think it is very important that students know how much of a struggle it is to make it here. I think that opens up the world to them a little more.”

Rosa Telles, also a residence hall custodian and from Mexico, agrees students need to understand the economic reasons why people emigrate to the United States so they can appreciate the risks immigrants take to get here and the sacrifices they make to survive.

“I like chatting with the students; they are good kids,” said Telles, a legal resident of the United States who entered the country illegally in the 1980s, hiking for days through the Sonoran Desert with her 14-year-old son at her side and her infant daughter on her hip. “I spoke to two girls who were very interested in how we came here and how we have struggled since that time. It really touched me to see their reaction, which was quite emotional.”

A similar dialogue event at Sewell Hall last year turned into an intense discussion between students living in the large residence hall and the workers responsible for its upkeep. There had been problems with unruly students defacing the halls and bathrooms, breaking windows and furniture and peppering the walls with obscene graffiti. The workers used the dialogue session to voice their frustration.

“The workers expressed their anger and sorrow that they are the invisible workforce,” said Ellen Aiken, professor at CU, recalling last year’s integration dialogues. “The workers felt personally disrespected having to clean up after students who were obviously not thinking about the consequences of their actions.”

Since then, the situation has improved considerably, said Sonia Mejilla, a custodian in Sewell Hall who attended last year’s dialogue day as well as the Friday event.

“The teachers seem to have put more interest into stopping this kind of bad behavior,” said Mejilla. “This year we have seen a big difference, which is good because each year there is a new group of students, and they must understand what happened before and how they can be better.”

Taylor Levy, a senior at CU and member of the Student Worker Alliance Program, which offers free English, GED and citizenship classes as well as translation and interpretation services to the university’s immigrant workers, told dialogue participants that a lack of respect for the workers is still a persistent problem on campus.

“A university should be a place of learning and opportunity for everyone and also a place of respect for everyone,” Levy said.

Besides issues of courtesy and respect, the small-group discussions delved into themes of cultural difference and the process of adapting to a new environment.

Ayad Ismael, an immigrant from Iraq who works in a laboratory at a pharmaceutical company, told the group that he feels more comfortable with fellow foreigners. Ismael works in a group of six, all of whom are immigrants.

“We got together because we have a common cause between us,” Ismael said of his colleagues. “We segregate by choice because even though we are from totally different cultures, we feel more at home with each other than we do with Americans.”

The moderators, whose questions were translated by interpreters, asked people to talk about how the United States differs from their home countries.

“Everything goes so fast here,” said Rosa Aguirre of Mexico. “People are constantly thinking about the time, the time, the time. But in our country we don’t even look at the clock!”

When the moderator asked what people have had to sacrifice to come to America, Ignacio Acosta’s hand shot up.

“In Mexico I had 300 men working under me, but here I clean bathrooms and take orders from one woman,” Acosta said laughing. “But it’s fine — I’m happy, I’m content.”

Realizing Our Community, the name given to the Greeley-Evans integration project, has had trouble gaining traction among the town’s more conservative residents who suspect the group of advocating for illegal immigrants. 

But Christine Marston, professor at the University of Northern Colorado and chairwoman of the ROC board, says some of the skepticism has dissipated after months of reaching out to conservatives and assuring them the project is aimed at legal immigrants only. 

“We are continually having dialogues with people who represent a more conservative view,” Marston said. “I keep trying to focus on our positive message that we are trying to make Greeley a better place to live, work and play.”

Marston says so far there are 10 board members with another three possibly set to join. Applications for the coordinator position are being reviewed.

The ROC committee has identified six areas of focus for the integration project, including civic participation, culturally sensitive health care, education, community relations and English-language learning

The integration efforts in Greeley, Boulder and more than a dozen other communities throughout the state are funded by the Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families Initiative of the Colorado Trust, a private foundation. Local coalitions receive $300,000 over four years to use as they see fit to achieve the goal of more cohesive, compassionate communities. The terms of the grant expressly prohibit funds to be used in service of illegal immigrants.

“We think of it as immigrant integration, but the grant recipients think of it more as community integration,” said Susan Downs-Karkos of the Colorado Trust. “It’s about bringing together all people in a community and making sure that all people no matter their race or socioeconomic status have the opportunity to realize their potential.”

Local groups allied with a farmworker alliance based in Immokalee, Fla., staged a protest Saturday outside the Chipotle restaurant on 16th and Blake streets, just blocks from the company headquarters. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has targeted fast-food chains in its quest to raise wages and improve working conditions for migrant farm laborers who harvest tomatoes in south Florida.

“We think ‘food with integrity’ is a great idea,” said Jordan Garcia, of Coloradoans for Immigrant Rights, a member organization of the Denver Fair Food Committee. “The reason we have chosen Chipotle is because they have said very clearly that they believe in honest food.”

Chipotle, which at one point purchased about 20 percent of its tomato supply from Florida for 12 weeks a year, has responded to the CIW claims of farmworker abuse by ceasing to buy Florida tomatoes. But that’s not acceptable for those who want to see the company incorporate the fight against farmworker exploitation into its mission of “food with integrity.”

“We’re asking Chipotle to take a stand,” said Seth Donovan of Prax(us), an anti-human trafficking organization in Denver and ally of the CIW. “Fast-food chains have such huge buying power, they are in a position to pressure farmers to raise wages and protect workers.”

The CIW negotiated hard-fought penny-per-pound deals with McDonald’s Corp., and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands, Inc. – agreements that, if adopted industrywide, would essentially double wages for farmworkers. But those deals are in danger of collapsing under pressure from Miami-based Burger King, which has refused to sign on, and a tomato growers group that is threatening $100,000 fines against any farmer that participates. A spokesman for the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange called the penny-per-pound deals “un-American” because they allowed a third party to set wages. The growers also claim the deals are in violation of anti-trust laws but have so far offered no specifics.

Given the precarious future of these deals, Colorado organizers say it’s more important than ever that Chipotle, with its focus on humanely raised livestock and organic produce, become an industry leader in the struggle to improve the lives of farmworkers. Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold did not return repeated calls for comment. In a short e-mail Arnold wrote, “We certainly respect their right to protest, but we don’t buy any Florida tomatoes at all. We are reviewing practices among Florida tomato growers, but don’t have any plans in place to begin buying Florida tomatoes.” Arnold did not specify where Chipotle purchases its tomatoes. Florida supplies roughly 80 percent of the nation’s fresh tomatoes between November and February.

Farmworker advocates say Chipotle’s move does nothing to address the problem as the sub-poverty wages and abuse suffered by Florida pickers are well-documented and endemic throughout the tomato growing industry.

Migrant laborers – many of them illegal immigrants – have long been among the nation’s most impoverished and most exploited workers. Over the past 10 years, the Justice Department has prosecuted six cases of farmworker slavery in Florida. There, the backbreaking job of harvesting tomatoes takes place in hot, pesticide-laced fields, where the workers must stoop to pick and haul tomatoes for 10 to 12 hours a day. They earn a piece-rate of about 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket. That can mean up to $10 an hour for those who can fill more than 200 buckets a day – 6,400 pounds of tomatoes. But the work is not guaranteed, and tomato pickers get no health insurance and receive no overtime pay.

“Chipotle preaches ‘food with integrity,’ but if they’re not going to step up and protect the rights of human beings, I don’t see much integrity in that at all,” said Scott Kwasny, executive director of Colorado Jobs with Justice. His comment was in reference to Chipotle’s well-publicized efforts to buy all its pork and some of its chicken and beef from “free range” farms, seen as more humane, where the animals are allowed to roam rather than kept in small cages.

Sarah Gill, a Denver resident who came out for Saturday’s protest downtown, also said she’d like to see Chipotle’s practices fall in line with its rhetoric.

“If you say you care, I want to hold you accountable.”