Farmworker Justice Immigration Update June 20, 2013
House Judiciary Committee Passes New Agricultural Guestworker Program: Self-deportation for the Undocumented, Exploitation for U.S. Workers and Guestworkers
On June 19th, the House Judiciary Committee passed Chairman Robert Goodlatte's anti-worker, anti-immigrant Agricultural Guestworker Act, HR 1773, by a vote of 20-16 along party lines. Representatives King (R-IO), Marino (R-PA), Gohmert (R-TX) and Richmond (D-LA) did not vote on the bill’s final passage.
The bill would create a massive new agricultural guestworker program without an opportunity for undocumented farmworkers to earn immigration status or citizenship. Current undocumented farmworkers and their families are expected to self-deport. Farmworkers would be allowed to return as guestworkers if an employer sponsors them for a temporary work visa. They would not be allowed to bring their family members.
Respect for labor and concern for exploitation of foreign workers not in evidence in this bill
The new H-2C program would not contain most of the longstanding wage and labor protections in the current H-2A guestworker program. If the bill becomes law, U.S. farmworkers – citizens and permanent-resident immigrants — would be displaced and wages and working conditions for all farmworkers would deteriorate. Employers would not have to provide or pay for housing or transportation and 10% of farmworkers wages would be deducted from their salary, which they could receive from the consulate when they return to their home country. Future guestworkers in the bill are denied access to the justice system to remedy the few rights left to them, such as the right to the minimum or (newly-defined and lower) prevailing wage.
The number of potential guestworkers could be as high as 1.5 million as there would be a cap of 500,000 H-2C visas per year but the estimated 1.1 million undocumented farmworkers would be exempt from the cap.
A committee markup that provided no relief for farmworkers
The Judiciary Committee’s “markup” of the Goodlatte bill included speeches and debates over numerous proposed amendments to alter the bill. After Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA) spoke in favor of the bill, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) decried the bill’s cruel and unworkable plan for farmworkers to self-deport and come back as guestworkers. They urged the committee’s support of the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill, S.744, which contains a compromise on agricultural workers supported by farmworker groups and growers’ associations throughout the country. Rep. Gutierrez likened the bill’s program to slavery and indentured servitude. Both members submitted amendments that would offer undocumented farmworkers a path to citizenship. Republicans objected that these amendments were “out of order” because they are not “germane” to the bill, which only addresses temporary nonimmigrant visas, and no vote was held on them.
Reps. Lofgren, Nadler (D-NY) and Garcia (D-FL) spoke out against an amendment offered by Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT) regarding the bill’s requirement of withholding 10% of agricultural guestworkers' wages from their paychecks. The amendment says that when the workers don't obtain their withheld wages from a US consulate in their home country, the US Government will use the money to enforce immigration law. Garcia noted, “Living conditions are abject poverty in many cases… and we think punishing them will somehow make us a better nation?” But the amendment was adopted by majority vote of the Committee. Rep. Chu later submitted an amendment to strike the 10% wage deduction from the bill but it was rejected by a party-line vote.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) spoke eloquently against provisions in the bill that provide for the denial of temporary foreign workers' access to the courts via forced arbitration. Completely ignoring the imbalance of power between growers and farmworkers, Rep. Goodlatte responded that since growers sign agreements containing arbitration clauses with other businesses, it is appropriate that guestworkers sign such agreements. He also stated that any worker who doesn’t like arbitration of labor violations doesn’t have to work for employers who offer arbitration clauses in their contracts. As if guestworkers have the power to choose their employers. Rep. Johnson's amendment was rejected.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) was the rare Republican who showed any significant concern for the conditions of farmworkers. He moved to strike language in the arbitration provision that provides that workers and employers would split the cost of the arbitration. Rep. Bachus agreed with Rep. Johnson that it would be unjust to allow employers to shift all or most costs of arbitration to workers, and said that a worker who is cheated out of $200 would never even file for arbitration, which could cost $700 or more. Rep. Bachus agreed to work with Rep. Lofgren on a solution to the cost issue and withdrew his amendment.
Rep. Judy Chu (D.-Cal.) submitted an amendment that would grant farmworkers equal labor rights with other workers. She said that the negative effects of Goodlatte’s bill on farmworkers' conditions should be ameliorated by extending to farmworkers overtime pay, organizing rights, unemployment compensation and other labor protections that they are discriminatorily denied. Rep. Chu spoke about the history of official discrimination against farmworkers. Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) added, “There’s no work that’s less hard, that pays less, that has fewer protections against employer abuse… I feel embarrassment that we’re here arguing in support of continuing these kind of wage abuses.” Chu’s amendment was rejected as “not germane.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Cal.) offered an amendment to allow Legal Services Corporation-funded legal services programs to represent H-2C agricultural guestworkers to protect their rights (as they are now under the current H-2A program). Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) opposed the amendment, arguing that legal services attorneys use taxpayer money to harass H-2A workers and farmers. Rep. Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR), expressing incredulity at the denial of access to the justice system in the bill, defended the need for legal services for the poor. Jackson Lee’s amendment was defeated.
For some members, turning undocumented farmworkers into guestworkers and separating them from their families isn’t punishment enough. Rep. Steve King of Iowa offered an amendment to strike the provisions in the bill that would allow employers to bring in as guestworkers those farmworkers who had recently been inside the U.S. in undocumented status. In addition to King, Rep. Franks (R-AZ), Farenthold (R-TX), Collins (R-GA), DeSantis (R-FL) and Smith (R-MO) voted in favor of the amendment, which failed. Rep. King, who also helped organize a Tea Party rally against the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill yesterday, said that he could not support the bill’s final passage with such “amnesty” provisions. Rep. King also offered an amendment that would increase guestworkers’ wage deductions from 10% to 20%, but withdrew it after Rep. Goodlatte expressed his opposition.
On a positive note, Rep. Lofgren submitted for the record a Dear Colleague letter by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) who represents the largest agricultural district in the country, which expressed opposition to Goodlatte’s bill and support for the compromise agricultural provisions in the Senate immigration bill, S.744.
Whether or not Goodlatte’s bill will be brought to the floor for a vote will be decided by Republican leadership. Farmworker Justice will continue to work with the United Farm workers and many others to oppose this bill and support the agreement regarding agricultural workers in the Senate immigration reform bill, S.744.
An analysis of HR1773 and talking points on the bill’s treatment of undocumented farmworkers are available here. We encourage you to read and share our latest report, “Who Works the Fields? The Stories of Americans Who Feed Us,” and our earlier report about guestworker program, “No Way to Treat a Guest.” Both are available here.
House Judiciary Committee Passes New Agricultural Guestworker Program: Self-deportation for the Undocumented, Exploitation for U.S. Workers and Guestworkers
On June 19th, the House Judiciary Committee passed Chairman Robert Goodlatte's anti-worker, anti-immigrant Agricultural Guestworker Act, HR 1773, by a vote of 20-16 along party lines. Representatives King (R-IO), Marino (R-PA), Gohmert (R-TX) and Richmond (D-LA) did not vote on the bill’s final passage.
The bill would create a massive new agricultural guestworker program without an opportunity for undocumented farmworkers to earn immigration status or citizenship. Current undocumented farmworkers and their families are expected to self-deport. Farmworkers would be allowed to return as guestworkers if an employer sponsors them for a temporary work visa. They would not be allowed to bring their family members.
Respect for labor and concern for exploitation of foreign workers not in evidence in this bill
The new H-2C program would not contain most of the longstanding wage and labor protections in the current H-2A guestworker program. If the bill becomes law, U.S. farmworkers – citizens and permanent-resident immigrants — would be displaced and wages and working conditions for all farmworkers would deteriorate. Employers would not have to provide or pay for housing or transportation and 10% of farmworkers wages would be deducted from their salary, which they could receive from the consulate when they return to their home country. Future guestworkers in the bill are denied access to the justice system to remedy the few rights left to them, such as the right to the minimum or (newly-defined and lower) prevailing wage.
The number of potential guestworkers could be as high as 1.5 million as there would be a cap of 500,000 H-2C visas per year but the estimated 1.1 million undocumented farmworkers would be exempt from the cap.
A committee markup that provided no relief for farmworkers
The Judiciary Committee’s “markup” of the Goodlatte bill included speeches and debates over numerous proposed amendments to alter the bill. After Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA) spoke in favor of the bill, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) decried the bill’s cruel and unworkable plan for farmworkers to self-deport and come back as guestworkers. They urged the committee’s support of the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill, S.744, which contains a compromise on agricultural workers supported by farmworker groups and growers’ associations throughout the country. Rep. Gutierrez likened the bill’s program to slavery and indentured servitude. Both members submitted amendments that would offer undocumented farmworkers a path to citizenship. Republicans objected that these amendments were “out of order” because they are not “germane” to the bill, which only addresses temporary nonimmigrant visas, and no vote was held on them.
Reps. Lofgren, Nadler (D-NY) and Garcia (D-FL) spoke out against an amendment offered by Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT) regarding the bill’s requirement of withholding 10% of agricultural guestworkers' wages from their paychecks. The amendment says that when the workers don't obtain their withheld wages from a US consulate in their home country, the US Government will use the money to enforce immigration law. Garcia noted, “Living conditions are abject poverty in many cases… and we think punishing them will somehow make us a better nation?” But the amendment was adopted by majority vote of the Committee. Rep. Chu later submitted an amendment to strike the 10% wage deduction from the bill but it was rejected by a party-line vote.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) spoke eloquently against provisions in the bill that provide for the denial of temporary foreign workers' access to the courts via forced arbitration. Completely ignoring the imbalance of power between growers and farmworkers, Rep. Goodlatte responded that since growers sign agreements containing arbitration clauses with other businesses, it is appropriate that guestworkers sign such agreements. He also stated that any worker who doesn’t like arbitration of labor violations doesn’t have to work for employers who offer arbitration clauses in their contracts. As if guestworkers have the power to choose their employers. Rep. Johnson's amendment was rejected.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) was the rare Republican who showed any significant concern for the conditions of farmworkers. He moved to strike language in the arbitration provision that provides that workers and employers would split the cost of the arbitration. Rep. Bachus agreed with Rep. Johnson that it would be unjust to allow employers to shift all or most costs of arbitration to workers, and said that a worker who is cheated out of $200 would never even file for arbitration, which could cost $700 or more. Rep. Bachus agreed to work with Rep. Lofgren on a solution to the cost issue and withdrew his amendment.
Rep. Judy Chu (D.-Cal.) submitted an amendment that would grant farmworkers equal labor rights with other workers. She said that the negative effects of Goodlatte’s bill on farmworkers' conditions should be ameliorated by extending to farmworkers overtime pay, organizing rights, unemployment compensation and other labor protections that they are discriminatorily denied. Rep. Chu spoke about the history of official discrimination against farmworkers. Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) added, “There’s no work that’s less hard, that pays less, that has fewer protections against employer abuse… I feel embarrassment that we’re here arguing in support of continuing these kind of wage abuses.” Chu’s amendment was rejected as “not germane.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Cal.) offered an amendment to allow Legal Services Corporation-funded legal services programs to represent H-2C agricultural guestworkers to protect their rights (as they are now under the current H-2A program). Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) opposed the amendment, arguing that legal services attorneys use taxpayer money to harass H-2A workers and farmers. Rep. Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR), expressing incredulity at the denial of access to the justice system in the bill, defended the need for legal services for the poor. Jackson Lee’s amendment was defeated.
For some members, turning undocumented farmworkers into guestworkers and separating them from their families isn’t punishment enough. Rep. Steve King of Iowa offered an amendment to strike the provisions in the bill that would allow employers to bring in as guestworkers those farmworkers who had recently been inside the U.S. in undocumented status. In addition to King, Rep. Franks (R-AZ), Farenthold (R-TX), Collins (R-GA), DeSantis (R-FL) and Smith (R-MO) voted in favor of the amendment, which failed. Rep. King, who also helped organize a Tea Party rally against the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill yesterday, said that he could not support the bill’s final passage with such “amnesty” provisions. Rep. King also offered an amendment that would increase guestworkers’ wage deductions from 10% to 20%, but withdrew it after Rep. Goodlatte expressed his opposition.
On a positive note, Rep. Lofgren submitted for the record a Dear Colleague letter by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) who represents the largest agricultural district in the country, which expressed opposition to Goodlatte’s bill and support for the compromise agricultural provisions in the Senate immigration bill, S.744.
Whether or not Goodlatte’s bill will be brought to the floor for a vote will be decided by Republican leadership. Farmworker Justice will continue to work with the United Farm workers and many others to oppose this bill and support the agreement regarding agricultural workers in the Senate immigration reform bill, S.744.
An analysis of HR1773 and talking points on the bill’s treatment of undocumented farmworkers are available here. We encourage you to read and share our latest report, “Who Works the Fields? The Stories of Americans Who Feed Us,” and our earlier report about guestworker program, “No Way to Treat a Guest.” Both are available here.