Farmworker Justice Applauds House Democrats’ Effort to Advance Immigration Reform

Farmworker Justice today praised the introduction of a comprehensive immigration reform bill by House Democrats to build momentum to reform the country’s broken immigration system. Bruce Goldstein, the president of Farmworker Justice, said the bill builds constructively upon measures included in the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate with broad support.

“Every day many farmworkers live and work in fear, unable to secure their immigration status and experiencing employer and other discrimination. The bill introduced today is not perfect, but it does include a path to citizenship for 11 million and the carefully negotiated agricultural compromise in the Senate-passed bill. This compromise was reached after months of negotiations between the United Farm Workers and a coalition of agribusiness associations.

“If enacted into law, these provisions would help stabilize the farm labor workforce and grant eligible farmworkers the opportunity to earn legal immigration status. It would help farmworker families remain together and build better lives, while affording growers access to skilled and reliable workers. This agricultural stakeholder agreement includes major concessions by all parties; farmworker interests should not be asked to give up more. 

“The farmworker provisions in the bill introduced today stand in stark contrast to Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s Agricultural Guestworker Act (HR 1773), which would create a massive new guestworker program that places current undocumented farmworkers in a permanent second-class status, and provides no status for their family members. HR 1773 will lead to job losses for today’s workers as employers would have access to up to 500,000 vulnerable guestworkers under a new federal program, which includes even fewer protections than the notorious Bracero program of the last century. Unlike the provisions for sensible reform introduced by the House today, HR 1773 would undermine immigration reform and worsen the agricultural immigration crisis. 

We are united as a nation by a deep respect for those who work hard for a living to make our nation stronger. Farmworkers labor under demanding conditions. We depend on them for our nation’s food security. They should be treated with dignity and respect, and, along with the remaining 11 million, be afforded an opportunity to earn an immigration status for themselves and their families that includes a path to citizenship. The House must act and should move forward with sensible immigration reform.
 

Farmworker Justice today praised the introduction of a comprehensive immigration reform bill by House Democrats to build momentum to reform the country’s broken immigration system. Bruce Goldstein, the president of Farmworker Justice, said the bill builds constructively upon measures included in the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate with broad support.

“Every day many farmworkers live and work in fear, unable to secure their immigration status and experiencing employer and other discrimination. The bill introduced today is not perfect, but it does include a path to citizenship for 11 million and the carefully negotiated agricultural compromise in the Senate-passed bill. This compromise was reached after months of negotiations between the United Farm Workers and a coalition of agribusiness associations.

“If enacted into law, these provisions would help stabilize the farm labor workforce and grant eligible farmworkers the opportunity to earn legal immigration status. It would help farmworker families remain together and build better lives, while affording growers access to skilled and reliable workers. This agricultural stakeholder agreement includes major concessions by all parties; farmworker interests should not be asked to give up more. 

“The farmworker provisions in the bill introduced today stand in stark contrast to Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s Agricultural Guestworker Act (HR 1773), which would create a massive new guestworker program that places current undocumented farmworkers in a permanent second-class status, and provides no status for their family members. HR 1773 will lead to job losses for today’s workers as employers would have access to up to 500,000 vulnerable guestworkers under a new federal program, which includes even fewer protections than the notorious Bracero program of the last century. Unlike the provisions for sensible reform introduced by the House today, HR 1773 would undermine immigration reform and worsen the agricultural immigration crisis. 

We are united as a nation by a deep respect for those who work hard for a living to make our nation stronger. Farmworkers labor under demanding conditions. We depend on them for our nation’s food security. They should be treated with dignity and respect, and, along with the remaining 11 million, be afforded an opportunity to earn an immigration status for themselves and their families that includes a path to citizenship. The House must act and should move forward with sensible immigration reform.