Why? Because there are not enough workers to pick the crop, and farmers say that Congress' failure to approve a program to allow immigrant workers to enter the country on a temporary basis is part of the reason.

Congress, in fact, has declared immigration reform a dead issue for the few weeks that remain of this session before lawmakers return home for the final stretch of the fall campaign. Earlier this year, it appeared that Congress was poised to pass comprehensive immigration policy reform. But the effort ran aground when hard-liners in the House could not reach a compromise with senators on a balanced bill.

The Senate had produced and passed legislation that addressed both issues of border security and the need to set a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants now in the country. The Senate bill received strong bipartisan support as well as the support of President Bush.

But the House bill focused solely on border security, including calls for fences along the border, funding for more border patrol agents and punishment for illegal immigrants now living in the United States. House members refused to consider proposals to allow foreign workers to work here legally or a plan to allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.

This week, as Congress reconvened, Republican leaders announced that they have all but abandoned a broad overhaul of immigration laws. Key lawmakers said they now believe it would be politically risky to try to advance an immigration bill that would showcase divisions within the party.

The irony, of course, is that Bush made immigration reform a priority during his first term and lobbied hard for the Senate version passed this summer. The president even devoted an entire prime-time address to the need for reforms.

We think the measure supported by Bush and members of both parties in the Senate was a rational bill that struck a balance between enforcement and extending citizenship. While the supporters of security-first try to paint themselves as the realists in this debate, the opposite is true. The United States does not have the technology or the manpower -- or, more importantly, the will -- to completely seal off the border with Mexico. Nor does it have the means or desire to deport 12 million illegal immigrants already living here, often as productive members of their communities.

Republican leaders may be politically savvy in deciding not to address immigration reform during the waning days of the session. But they do the nation a disservice by failing to deal with one of its most pressing issues. And make no mistake, it is the hard-line House Republicans who are the obstructionists in this effort.

The rotting pears in California are only one example of how this nation relies on immigrant labor. Congress needs to deal with the reality of the situation, not some fantasy of sealed borders and an America with no illegal immigrants.

IN SUMMARY
GOP leaders in Congress decide that tackling immigration reform is too risky.