Farmworker Justice Immigration Reform Update: 8/23/13
The August Recess
While Members of Congress have spent time in their home districts during August, immigration reform advocates have held rallies and attended town halls and meetings to press them to support comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The recess activities appear to be largely successful so far with media outlets reporting that pro-reform advocates have been largely more organized and successful than the immigration restrictionists.
Op-eds and articles quoting pro-reformers have been abundant and diverse. Several focused on the need to legalize undocumented farmworkers. For example, a San Diego piece about Rep. Juan Vargas focuses on the importance of immigration reform to Southern California’s large agricultural sector. A Michigan paper quoted dairy farmer, Kerry Nobis, who said that immigration reform is for him, first and foremost, a humanitarian issue. Stressing that Latino dairy workers in Michigan are just trying to live out the American dream like the waves of immigrants before them, Nobis says, “I wouldn’t hesitate to call dairy farm work a skilled trade… every person here, they’re building a life – they’re members of the community, their kids are in school with my kids and they have a diverse group of friends.” He goes on to say, “They’re living the American dream, and as Americans we should facilitate that—we should be proud of that.” Washington State and Wisconsin farmers appear to agree that immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers and their families is urgently needed.
Unfortunately, some articles fail to distinguish between the positive agriculture stakeholder agreement between the UFW and the Agriculture Workforce Coalition and a bipartisan group of Senators – which was included in the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill – and Rep. Goodlatte’s, “Agricultural Guestworker Act,” HR 1773. A recent article in a Colorado newspaper conflates the stakeholder agreement with Rep. Goodlatte’s bill by erroneously calling it AgJOBS (the name of past compromise bills between growers and farmworkers) and saying it will likely be up for a vote in October. But Goodlatte’s one-sided Agricultural Guestworker Act is quite different from the stakeholder agreement.
Most importantly, the Goodlatte bill would not offer undocumented farmworkers or their family members an opportunity earn legal immigration status and citizenship. His Agricultural Guestworker Act would have them self-deport and allow them to attempt to come back as guestworkers on temporary work visas – which would be possible only if an employer chooses to sponsor them. Their spouses and children would not be given visas, which would separate families. As guestworkers they would not have opportunity for immigration status or citizenship.
The massive new guestworker program proposed in the Agricultural Guestworker Act greatly differs from the agricultural visa program contained in the Senate bill. It would strip guestworkers of rights they have in the current H-2A program, lower their wages, eliminate employer-provided housing and transportation reimbursement requirements and leave them with virtually no ability to enforce what few rights they would have left. The lack of government oversights combined with the program’s excessive visa limits would allow employers to displace U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants with vulnerable guestworkers and depress wages. Farmworker Justice’s comparison chart of the worker protections in the current H-2A program, the Agricultural Guestworker Act and the Stakeholder Agreement is available here.
The Agricultural Guestworker Act is not a solution that would stabilize the farm labor force and should not be confused with the stakeholder agreement in the Senate bill. Members of the House of Representatives should reject Rep. Goodlatte’s bill and instead support the positive agriculture stakeholder agreement backed by the United Farm Workers and other farmworker groups and major agricultural employers’ associations. Side-by-side op-eds on the agricultural worker immigration proposals by Rep. Goodlatte and Farmworker Justice’s Bruce Goldstein were published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Additional information is available on our website.
Actions:
50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
As part of a series of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, when Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech,” immigration reform advocates will join others tomorrow for a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Participants will march for the realization of a host of civil and human rights issues, including comprehensive immigration reform.
According to NBC Latino, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguia had this to say about the event:
“We will be marching so everyone knows that true justice involves enacting comprehensive immigration reform,”[ ]. “This is an opportunity for us in the Latino community to show that Dr. King’s words resonated not just with one community but with an entire nation.”
…
“We know that he inspired Cesar Chavez, who took up the mantle of Dr. King’s non-violence. We march this week to make sure that their sacrifices are honored,” Murguia said.
National Day of Dignity and Respect
Organizers around the country are planning a National Day of Action for Dignity and Respect. There will be a call with Congress Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez on Tuesday, August 27th in English at 8:00 pm EST and in Spanish at 9:00 pm EST. To join the call, please use call-in information: (559)726-1300; Access Code: 851233. For more information, visit www.octoberimmigration.org. There will be rallies in over 40 cities across the nation calling for commonsense immigration reform with legalization that leads to citizenship, legal immigration rules that promote family unity and protect worker rights, an end to the destruction of our families through deportations, and a halt to the rush towards massive wasteful spending on unneeded border militarization and for profit immigrant detention prisons.
The August Recess
While Members of Congress have spent time in their home districts during August, immigration reform advocates have held rallies and attended town halls and meetings to press them to support comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The recess activities appear to be largely successful so far with media outlets reporting that pro-reform advocates have been largely more organized and successful than the immigration restrictionists.
Op-eds and articles quoting pro-reformers have been abundant and diverse. Several focused on the need to legalize undocumented farmworkers. For example, a San Diego piece about Rep. Juan Vargas focuses on the importance of immigration reform to Southern California’s large agricultural sector. A Michigan paper quoted dairy farmer, Kerry Nobis, who said that immigration reform is for him, first and foremost, a humanitarian issue. Stressing that Latino dairy workers in Michigan are just trying to live out the American dream like the waves of immigrants before them, Nobis says, “I wouldn’t hesitate to call dairy farm work a skilled trade… every person here, they’re building a life – they’re members of the community, their kids are in school with my kids and they have a diverse group of friends.” He goes on to say, “They’re living the American dream, and as Americans we should facilitate that—we should be proud of that.” Washington State and Wisconsin farmers appear to agree that immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers and their families is urgently needed.
Unfortunately, some articles fail to distinguish between the positive agriculture stakeholder agreement between the UFW and the Agriculture Workforce Coalition and a bipartisan group of Senators – which was included in the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill – and Rep. Goodlatte’s, “Agricultural Guestworker Act,” HR 1773. A recent article in a Colorado newspaper conflates the stakeholder agreement with Rep. Goodlatte’s bill by erroneously calling it AgJOBS (the name of past compromise bills between growers and farmworkers) and saying it will likely be up for a vote in October. But Goodlatte’s one-sided Agricultural Guestworker Act is quite different from the stakeholder agreement.
Most importantly, the Goodlatte bill would not offer undocumented farmworkers or their family members an opportunity earn legal immigration status and citizenship. His Agricultural Guestworker Act would have them self-deport and allow them to attempt to come back as guestworkers on temporary work visas – which would be possible only if an employer chooses to sponsor them. Their spouses and children would not be given visas, which would separate families. As guestworkers they would not have opportunity for immigration status or citizenship.
The massive new guestworker program proposed in the Agricultural Guestworker Act greatly differs from the agricultural visa program contained in the Senate bill. It would strip guestworkers of rights they have in the current H-2A program, lower their wages, eliminate employer-provided housing and transportation reimbursement requirements and leave them with virtually no ability to enforce what few rights they would have left. The lack of government oversights combined with the program’s excessive visa limits would allow employers to displace U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants with vulnerable guestworkers and depress wages. Farmworker Justice’s comparison chart of the worker protections in the current H-2A program, the Agricultural Guestworker Act and the Stakeholder Agreement is available here.
The Agricultural Guestworker Act is not a solution that would stabilize the farm labor force and should not be confused with the stakeholder agreement in the Senate bill. Members of the House of Representatives should reject Rep. Goodlatte’s bill and instead support the positive agriculture stakeholder agreement backed by the United Farm Workers and other farmworker groups and major agricultural employers’ associations. Side-by-side op-eds on the agricultural worker immigration proposals by Rep. Goodlatte and Farmworker Justice’s Bruce Goldstein were published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Additional information is available on our website.
Actions:
50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
As part of a series of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, when Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech,” immigration reform advocates will join others tomorrow for a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Participants will march for the realization of a host of civil and human rights issues, including comprehensive immigration reform.
According to NBC Latino, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguia had this to say about the event:
“We will be marching so everyone knows that true justice involves enacting comprehensive immigration reform,”[ ]. “This is an opportunity for us in the Latino community to show that Dr. King’s words resonated not just with one community but with an entire nation.”
…
“We know that he inspired Cesar Chavez, who took up the mantle of Dr. King’s non-violence. We march this week to make sure that their sacrifices are honored,” Murguia said.
National Day of Dignity and Respect
Organizers around the country are planning a National Day of Action for Dignity and Respect. There will be a call with Congress Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez on Tuesday, August 27th in English at 8:00 pm EST and in Spanish at 9:00 pm EST. To join the call, please use call-in information: (559)726-1300; Access Code: 851233. For more information, visit www.octoberimmigration.org. There will be rallies in over 40 cities across the nation calling for commonsense immigration reform with legalization that leads to citizenship, legal immigration rules that promote family unity and protect worker rights, an end to the destruction of our families through deportations, and a halt to the rush towards massive wasteful spending on unneeded border militarization and for profit immigrant detention prisons.