Lianne Milton for The Bay Citizen

Workers, almost all migrants from Mexico, trim excess branches and leaves off vines at the Garvey Family Vineyards in St. Helena

This time of year, that means the workers are suckering vines — pulling off, by hand, tiny sprouts that might hinder the growth of healthy grapes.

Just as painstakingly, civic and business leaders in the county have been working on another key element of the harvest: cultivating their own immigration policy.

Federal laws prevent foreigners from residing or working in the United States without permission, and a sweeping national crackdown has been under way in recent years. A record 1 million illegal immigrants have been deported since President Barack Obama took office. Some states are more stringent. An Arizona law against hiring undocumented laborers was upheld Thursday by the United States Supreme Court.

But Napa is taking a different approach, providing affordable basic necessities for migrant workers — food, shelter and support — regardless of whether they are here legally or not.

The effort was born of compassion and practicality. Without migrant labor, most of it from Mexico, the wine producers in Napa would be hard pressed to fill a carafe, much less the valley’s 9 million annual cases.

Experts estimate that 8,000 to 12,000 illegal migrants reside (often seasonally) in Napa, although the number is impossible to confirm. Ten years ago, they could be found living in the woods in makeshift camps, sleeping on fetid mattresses and drinking from dirty streams. Today they receive subsidized housing, or can reside in three tidy dormitory complexes near St. Helena and Yountville where up to 180 workers pay $12 a day for room and board.

Courtesy of Angel Calderon

A decade ago, migrant laborers in Napa lived in the woods in makeshift camps

Luis V. Gutierrez, a Democratic congressman from Illinois and an advocate for immigration reform who visited St. Helena last month, called Napa’s approach “unique.”

“They’re being proactive in providing housing, providing counseling to the workers there,” Gutierrez said. “The immigrant community had a very strong fellowship with those around them.”

There is no federal financing for thumbing one’s nose at Washington policy, so Napa pays for its own efforts.

Vineyard owners pay an assessment of $10 per acre to help house and feed migrant fieldworkers, a program that costs more than $1 million a year. Financing and donations, including food, also come from county and municipal governments, churches, businesses, charities and concerned citizens — all contributing to a larger safety net that includes health care and job placement.

None of those involved appeared worried about running afoul of laws. Instead, they see a moral obligation.