Coloradans urge USDA to extend deadline for Hispanic, female discrimination claims
January 23, 2013 | 04:30 PM
Three Colorado lawmakers this week urged the Agriculture Department to give Hispanic and female farmers and ranchers more time to submit discrimination claims related to lawsuits over the way USDA offices treated them when they applied for operating and disaster loans.
The three — Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Rep. Scott Tipton — asked the USDA to extend the March 25 filing deadline.
The cases, known as Garcia v. Vilsack and Love v. Vilsack, have been pending for many years. The Obama administration has set up a process for the farmers to file claims through an administrative procedure, but lawyers for the plaintiffs have found a number of problems with the process.
“We write to request that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) extend the claims period for loan discrimination cases against Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers,” Udall, Bennet and Tipton wrote.
“We believe that extending the claims period will provide a better opportunity for achieving justice by ensuring that claimants have full and fair consideration of their claims.”
The Colorado lawmakers noted that USDA and the Justice Department are requiring the Hispanic and female farmers to provide proof that they had filed a written complaint to USDA, while African-American and American Indian farmers were allowed to use verbal complaints.
Lawyers for both the Hispanic and female farmers have said that the address listed on the website for filing requests for USDA to provide them information related to their cases has been wrong, and they have also asked USDA to extend the deadline.
Lawyers in the Love case have said that some of the female farmers have found their requests for information returned. Lawyers in the Hispanic case have also questioned whether USDA has been as vigorous as possible in informing potential claimants about the case.
A spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Hagstrom Report last week that the correct address is: FOIA Advisor, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 4068, Stop 0506, Washington, DC 20250.
But the spokesman also said that the filing deadline remains March 25.
Vilsack said when he first became secretary in 2009 that resolution of civil rights cases at USDA would be his highest priority.
The three — Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Rep. Scott Tipton — asked the USDA to extend the March 25 filing deadline.
The cases, known as Garcia v. Vilsack and Love v. Vilsack, have been pending for many years. The Obama administration has set up a process for the farmers to file claims through an administrative procedure, but lawyers for the plaintiffs have found a number of problems with the process.
“We write to request that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) extend the claims period for loan discrimination cases against Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers,” Udall, Bennet and Tipton wrote.
“We believe that extending the claims period will provide a better opportunity for achieving justice by ensuring that claimants have full and fair consideration of their claims.”
The Colorado lawmakers noted that USDA and the Justice Department are requiring the Hispanic and female farmers to provide proof that they had filed a written complaint to USDA, while African-American and American Indian farmers were allowed to use verbal complaints.
Lawyers for both the Hispanic and female farmers have said that the address listed on the website for filing requests for USDA to provide them information related to their cases has been wrong, and they have also asked USDA to extend the deadline.
Lawyers in the Love case have said that some of the female farmers have found their requests for information returned. Lawyers in the Hispanic case have also questioned whether USDA has been as vigorous as possible in informing potential claimants about the case.
A spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Hagstrom Report last week that the correct address is: FOIA Advisor, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 4068, Stop 0506, Washington, DC 20250.
But the spokesman also said that the filing deadline remains March 25.
Vilsack said when he first became secretary in 2009 that resolution of civil rights cases at USDA would be his highest priority.
