Immigrants Would Leave Big Hole

By LINDSAY PETERSON and CHRIS ECHEGARAY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 27, 2006

TAMPA - Twenty years ago, most Americans rarely encountered undocumented workers. Most of these immigrants lived in states along the Mexican border or worked out of sight on rural farms.

Today, they span much of the labor market. They plant trees in your front yard and lay the carpet in your living room. They change the sheets and do dishes in your hotel. They pack the poultry you buy at the grocery store.

On Monday, immigrants nationwide plan to stay away from their jobs and out of stores to make a point - that the U.S. economy needs them. Immigrants with and without green cards plan to take part in the boycott, but their goal is to call attention to undocumented workers and raise a question: What would happen if they weren't here?

In the Tampa area, business owners in key industries, such as construction and agriculture, say they would be ruined.

The agriculture and horticulture industries "would come to a stop. Vegetables would rot in the field," said Richard Martindale, manager of Keep-It-Green nursery in Apollo Beach.

"Lawn maintenance, drywall, stucco, roofing, we might have to shut down without these workers," said Ed Breit, of Ed's Landscaping in Tampa. "We spoke to our congressman and said we want to sponsor them and make them legal. Most of the workers in this business are legal, but everyone knows some aren't."

About 575,000 people working in Florida, about 7 percent of the work force, are not legal residents, said Jeffrey Passell, of the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. Nationwide, it's about 7.2 million, or 4.9 percent of the work force.

Nearly 30 percent of the agriculture workers nationwide are undocumented, he said, as are nearly 30 percent of roofers and more than 20 percent of housekeepers and dishwashers.

'Dire, Dire Straits'

No one has estimates of where undocumented immigrants work in Florida, but the percentages are likely to be high because Florida has so many construction, service and agricultural jobs.

Construction is an "enormous industry" in Florida, said David Mendes, director of communications for the American Subcontractors Association. "This is an important issue for subcontractors in so many areas."

Across Florida, "construction would come to a halt" if undocumented immigrants were to disappear, said Bruce Nissen, director of research at the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University in Miami.

"You would have entire industries in very bad shape," Nissen said. "Nursing homes, landscaping, where at least 70 percent are immigrants, would be in dire, dire straits."

Undocumented workers often get into the work force by purchasing fraudulent Social Security cards. Business owners say they don't know - and are not required to prove - whether workers' numbers are legitimate.

What Would Happen?

Although economists agree that employers would miss having undocumented workers, there's little consensus on how their absence would affect the economy.

Some studies have shown that without undocumented immigrants, the wages of workers at the bottom of the economic ladder would go up roughly 3 percent.

Others see a different picture. "The least-skilled U.S.-born would gain very little," said Giovanni Peri, economics professor at the University of California, Davis. But professionals would suffer.

Some businesses would close or cut back, and those cuts would hurt managers, accountants and other professionals, he said.

Whether people like undocumented immigrants or not, "our economy is more dependent on them," said John Gay of the National Restaurant Association.

"As our work force gets older and more highly skilled, they leave a gaping hole," he said. "If we want to grow, we need these foreign workers" to take the low-wage jobs. "But we need them to be legal and permanent."

Others say there are plenty of Americans willing to perform these jobs, but the wages are too low and will stay low until the government seals its border with Mexico.

"We'll never be able to reduce poverty if we keep importing poor people who will work for nothing," said John Hendrix of the Tampa Bay chapter of the Florida Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.

Showing Their Value

The opposing views are represented in legislation from the U.S. House and Senate. In December, the House passed a restrictive bill that would deport undocumented immigrants and tighten border security. The Senate is considering a different proposal that focuses on border security but would give millions of undocumented immigrants a chance to become legal residents.

Employer groups, such as Gay's, are lobbying senators hard, fearing they will weaken the legalization provisions.

Martindale, a 43-year veteran of the agriculture and nursery business, wishes the senators knew what he has learned.

"We have created a society of people who don't want to do this kind of work," he said. "It's hot, and it's dirty. Our kids want nice office jobs."

"The Mexicans are the ones who want to work," said Breit, owner of Ed's Landscaping. "They're all willing to work every day. They're very reliable. They're not underpaid. They are willing to learn English."

Also, he said, "we take taxes out of their paychecks."

He wonders whether people realize the consequences of taking these workers away. Are they willing to pay higher prices as wages go up or as competition drops?

Groups representing the workers are trying to show their value. The Florida Immigrant Coalition has hired Juan Pablo Chavez to work with 52 local organizers.

"This is a crucial moment," Chavez said. "I see there's a serious appetite for alliances and working in favor of migrant rights. Immigrants are an elephant, the giant contributing forcefully to this country. They are the gas, the cheap gasoline."