April 1995, Volume 1, Number 2

Rural America

Drug Making in Rural California?
Some of the same rural residents who provide housing and transportation to newly-arrived farm workers also manufacture methamphetamine -- a white

Farm Workers

Farm Workers and Immigration
Farm workers are one of only three US occupations with one million or more workers in which the majority of workers are immigrants--the other two

Grape Suit Dismissed
The lawsuit filed by the California Table Grape Commission against the city of San Francisco for banning the sale of table grapes at city-owned

Legal Services Terminated for Elimination
The Republican-controlled Congress began hearings on March 24 to determine if it will cut or eliminate the $415 million budget the Legal Services

Committee Approves ALRB Budget
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act's, June 5, 1995, the state's Legislative Analyst proposed

Welfare Reform Protects H-2A Workers
The House in March 1995 approved a welfare reform proposal that would make most legal aliens ineligible for most federal means-tested benefits,

Farm Workers, Storms and the 1995 Agricultural Outlook
California produces about $20 billion worth of farm commodities annually, which makes agriculture about 2.5 percent of the state's $800 billion

Washington May Repeal Farmworker Safety Rules
A proposal in the Washington State Senate would exclude farm workers from tougher state worker safety rules. The proposed law would prevent the

Immigration

Illegal Immigration
Illegal immigration appears to be increasing, as indicated by surveys in Mexico of persons intending to emigrate, apprehension data, and reports

Predicting Mexico - US Migration
The spring and summer of 1995 will provide a test of how well beefed-up US border controls can cope with sharp increases in Mexican emigration

Guest Workers?
The United States today has 12 programs through which US employers can legally employ foreign workers as non immigrants, meaning that the foreign

Judge Curbs Police Immigraiton Rules
A federal judge in Oakland has ruled that Napa County sheriffs and local police can no longer conduct raids to search for undocumented or illegal

Mexican Farm Exports
One of the first beneficiaries of the peso devaluation were Mexican fruit and vegetable exporters who saw their potential profits rise 50 percent

Other

Naturalization
The number of immigrants electing to become naturalized US citizens jumped 75 percent in the first four months of 1995. In FY94, some 558,139

State Activities to Deter Illegal Immigration
Prop. 187 in California may have marked a new era in state and local government activism to reduce illegal immigration. Virginia is estimating the

Resources