I-TEAM: North Augusta farmer battles to get legal workers
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - More than half of Americans say they want the president and Congress to make immigration a top priority this election year.
The national spotlight is on border control, but here at home along the Georgia-Carolina border is another immigration problem impacting the biggest industry of both states.
Our I-TEAM shows the battle farmers are fighting to get legal workers.
Zinnias draw bumble bees like the berry vines draw families.
And mid-summer rays tip into triple digits, signaling the end of harvest.
“If your children were with you for 19-20 years and once they’re gone, that’s how it feels the same thing. They are our family,” said Clyde Gurosik.
Goodbyes only grow more difficult with each ing year.
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“Yeah, I got my family in Mexico and the one here with these people,” said Augustín.
Every summer for nearly two decades, Augustín, his brother Mickey, and their cousin Arturo leave their wives and children in Mexico to work at Gurosik Berry Plantation.
“They all have unique gifts, talents and capabilities and it takes that combined to make an operation like this work,” said Clyde.
A career managing plutonium and tritium production at the Savannah River Site during the Cold War taught Clyde Gurosik that the success of any operation depends on its employees.
“Augustín, for example, is a total manager. Not only is he a hard worker but he is again, a total manager,” said Clyde.
Clyde pays thousands of dollars every year to get Augustín, Mickey and Arturo back to Edgefield County.
Paul Balducci is an immigration attorney.
“Clyde is not unique. There are many people that own and operate farms, and they rely on nonimmigrant workers that are brought in on the H-2A program, which is a temporary work visa program,” said Balducci.
Immigration data reveals Georgia and South Carolina farmers rely on tens of thousands of non-U.S. citizen workers to help meet the production demands of the two states’ largest industry.
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More than 500 farmers filed with immigration to bring more than 28,000 non-U.S. workers to Georgia this summer.
In South Carolina, nearly 170 farmers made the same request for 7,600 workers.
More than 3,000 are working at farms throughout the CSRA.
“We obviously need foreign labor for that. There’s just not nearly enough workers who are interested in working in agriculture,” said Balducci.
Clyde wants Augustín, Mickey and Arturo to come to work for him on a permanent basis.
He hired Balducci to make it happen. But four years later, he’s still in limbo with immigration.
“The years I was at the Savannah River Site, I carried a top-secret clearance, Q clearance, with access to all weaponry in the United States. I Could get that clearance in a year. I can’t get these guys a green card even though they have been totally vetted for 20-something years. This is crazy what’s going on,” said Clyde.
Balducci said: “If an employer wants someone on a permanent basis, then they have to go through a much different process.”
It’s a three-step process.
- Step one: Clyde must prove to the federal government he cannot find a qualified American worker interested in the job.
- Step two: Wait for the government to make a visa number available.
- Step three: The application.
Clyde has been stuck on step one for the past three years.
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“I wish I could tell you exactly how long this is going to take. It could be another year. It could be as long as two years,” said Balducci.
Clyde and Marilyn worry they may not have years. A heart attack nearly claimed Clyde’s life three years ago, and two strokes nearly ended Marilyn’s five years ago.
“We decided we need a very good transition plan and having no children meant finding someone who is willing to do both the hard work and management tasks it takes to run a big farm. We have not been able to find anybody with that capability, including agriculture graduates, because it takes both hands-on work and discipline planning. Very few people want to do the hands-on work,” said Clyde.
The couple plans to their farm on to Augustín, Mickey and Arturo.
“They want that legacy to continue, and these guys will make it happen very few others would,” said Clyde.
It will take citizenship to his legacy onto them.
“We don’t know how many years God will give us,” said Clyde. “But we hope we are still here and can do it and see it with these guys here with their families here and become U.S. citizens.”
The immigration attorney tells the I-TEAM that most employers become so frustrated with the process of getting non-U.S. citizens permanent jobs legally that they resort to hiring people here illegally.
Since the I-TEAM interviewed Clyde, immigration approved his request to sponsor his workers’ applications to become permanent legal workers, which is the first step in a very long process to become U.S. citizens.
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