Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the deadline for Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers who allege discrimination by the USDA in past decades to file claims has been extended until May 1.
The previous deadline was Monday.
“Hispanic and women farmers who believe they have faced discriminatory practices in the past from the USDA have additional time to file a claim in order to have a chance to receive a cash payment or loan forgiveness,” Vilsack said in a news release obtained by The Hagstrom Report. “USDA urges potential claimants to contact the Claims Administrator for information and to file their claim packages on or before May 1, 2013.”
The process offers a voluntary alternative to litigation for each Hispanic or female farmer and rancher who can prove that USDA denied his or her application for loan or loan servicing assistance for discriminatory reasons for certain time periods between 1981 and 2000.
Vilsack did not explain why the deadline was extended. But lawyers for the Hispanic and female farmers, and members of Congress led by Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Colorado Democrats, and Reps. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., had encouraged the extension on the grounds that many potential claimants had not been informed about the process and that the standards for claims are tough.
The National Council of La Raza and other Hispanic groups also urged USDA to extend the claims period.
Lawyers have complained that the Hispanic and female farmers are not getting the same treatment African American and Native American farmers got in their discrimination cases against USDA. However, the courts did not give the Hispanic and female farmers’ cases the class-action status that the other two groups got.
A lawyer for the Hispanic farmers expressed gratitude for the extension.
“We have been inundated by calls the last couple of weeks from Hispanic farmers just learning about the claims process and asking about how to participate in it,” said Phillip Fraas.
“So, this news today that USDA will extend the filing period until May 1 is both much-needed and the right thing to do. Secretary Vilsack should be saluted for taking this action. We are hopeful that the extension will enable all Hispanic farmers who suffered from discrimination at the hands of USDA in the past the opportunity finally to get the justice they have sought all these years.”
Marc Fleischaker, a lawyer for the female farmers, said today that he was glad Vilsack had extended the claims period, but that the extension is too short.
“The restrictive program conditions and onerous requirements for evidence supporting claims that are decades old that were not included in the settlements with African American and Native American farmers virtually guarantee that the program will fall short of the success promised by the secretary of Agriculture when the program was announced,” Fleischaker said.
“Nevertheless, we encourage women to submit claims, and we have helped a number of women to do so. We hope that the number of successful claims is larger than we currently anticipate, but cannot be optimistic based on the overly restrictive conditions that the government has imposed.”
When Vilsack became secretary in 2009, he said his first priority was to deal with USDA’s civil rights problems between farmers and agency employees, and to institute “a new era of civil rights” at the agency.
In February 2010, Vilsack announced the Pigford II settlement with African American farmers, and in October 2010, he announced the Keepseagle settlement with Native American farmers. Both of those settlements have since received court approval.
But settling the cased filed by Hispanic and female farmers over a decade earlier has been harder. The federal courts’ decision not to certify these cases as class-action suits was at the Justice Department’s urging during the Bush administration.
The claims process is voluntary. Hispanic and female farmers have the right to sue for claims, but it must be on an individual basis.
As announced in February 2011, the voluntary claims process for Hispanic and female farmers will make available at least $1.33 billion for cash awards and tax relief payments, plus up to $160 million in farm debt relief, to eligible Hispanic and female farmers and ranchers, USDA said. There are no filing fees to participate in the program.
Call center representatives can be reached at 1-888-508-4429, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Claimants may register for a claims package by calling the number or visiting the website, or may download the forms from the website.
