Farmworker Justice Immigration Update 5/23/2014
Developments and Disappointments in the House
Pressure continues to build for the House to move forward on immigration reform. Many proponents of reform believe that the House has a narrow window of 2 or 3 months to act on immigration reform before the November elections become too close. Senate Gang of 8 immigration reform Democrats Schumer, Menendez, Durbin and Bennet, and Majority Leader Reid this week held a press conference and gave the House a deadline of July 31st to act, after which, per Sen. Schumer, “the President will have no choice but to act on his own.” Sen. Majority Leader Reid dismissed the House Republican’s blame the Obama Administration excuse by responding that any legislation can wait until 2017 to be implemented.
Voices from the conservative side are also calling for immigration reform. The President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, joked in a speech that if Republicans don’t pass immigration reform this year, “they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016.” Another call for immigration reform came from Sal Russo, co-founder of the Tea Party Express.
Meanwhile Speaker Boehner continues to flip-flop on the issue – on the one hand saying that he wants to pass immigration reform in the upcoming weeks, but on the other hand continuing to blame President Obama — stating that he needs to do something to build trust with Republicans in Congress first. Contrary to their indications that they support immigration reform, just this week the House Republican Leadership prevented a vote on Rep. Denham’s (R-CA) ENLIST Act, which he sought to offer as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (the ENLIST Act would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children before 2011 to join the military and gain permanent residence status). Despite his purported interest in legislation for DREAMers, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who controls the House floor said that the bill was not appropriate to be offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and has not schedule a floor vote on the ENLIST Act.
Some of the hesitancy may be due to still pending primaries. Cantor, for example, faces a June 10th primary against an anti-immigration reform tea party challenger. The failure to act on immigration reform due to fears about challenges from the tea party and other far right candidates appears unwarranted; however, as so far immigration reform has not been a major issue in most primaries. According to the media and political pundits, mainstream Republicans have overwhelmingly defeated tea party candidates. This is viewed as relevant to immigration reform because more mainstream Republican politicians support reform, whereas many tea party aligned candidates are vocally opposed to it. One race in North Carolina stood out because the incumbent, Rep. Renee Ellmers, has called for immigration reform while her primary opponent ran on an anti-immigration platform. Ellmers’ strong win is used to argue that a pro-immigration reform stance will not affect incumbents’ chances at the polls. Exits polls support this contention, with a finding that her stance on immigration reform had no effect on most voters’ decisions as to whether or not to vote for her.
Given these developments and the upcoming conclusion of most primaries, there is a real window of opportunity for the House to act on immigration reform in June or July. Consequently, many organizations are making a priority of contacting Members of the House of Representatives and educating the public about the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
If the House does move forward on immigration reform, it is not yet clear what the bill will be. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is reportedly working on an immigration bill that addresses the roughly 11 million undocumented. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), speaking at a National Journal policy summit Thursday, indicated that the House bill will not provide a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants and instead will likely include only a legalization program for most undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, who will be able to sponsor their parents. Gutierrez added that if such a plan passes he would keep working on getting citizenship for all in the future. While details are still vague, this proposal is deeply troubling as it appears to deprive many hard-working aspiring Americans of a path to citizenship merely because they don’t have qualifying family members in the U.S. Our nation’s long history of second-class status for farmworkers has shown time and again that access to citizenship and its fundamental rights is critical to ensuring an empowered constituency. As to the agricultural piece of immigration reform, fortunately Rep. Goodlatte’s Agricultural Guestworker Act, H.R. 1773, is widely recognized as lacking the support it needs to move forward in the House. As we’ve mentioned previously, the bill fails to stabilize the agricultural labor force by providing no path to citizenship for the current labor force and by proposing a massive, harsh guestworker program. The immigration solution for agriculture is the agricultural stakeholder agreement, which is included in H.R. 15 as well as the Senate passed immigration bill, S. 744.
What about Calls for an End to Deportations?
While the pressure continues for President Obama to take administrative action to reform harsh deportation policies and grant affirmative relief to the undocumented, there is some disagreement about when the Administration should act. Those urging delay until after the House has had the chance to act are concerned that any action by the President could provide an excuse for the House not to act. Other advocates disagree with the July 31 deadline and are urging the White House to take action now to address the deportations that are occurring everyday. As we’ve reported previously, the President has ordered a review of the immigration enforcement policies to make them more “humane,” and DHS is expected to release a memo making changes to the immigration enforcement system, including the Secure Communities program.
Farmworker Justice believes that the best way to address the immigration crisis is through legislation as only Congress can provide a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship. That being said, FJ also believes that the Obama Administration should take steps to end the needless traumatization of families, workers and communities by the immigration enforcement system. If Congress fails to pass positive immigration reform forward by the August recess, we believe that the Obama Administration must take immediate action to reform the immigration enforcement system. This action must include providing affirmative relief from deportation plus work authorization to farmworkers, their families and other aspiring Americans who do not present a threat to our community. The Administration must also take other measures to reform the immigration enforcement system to protect the civil liberties and legal rights of all undocumented individuals in the US.
Developments and Disappointments in the House
Pressure continues to build for the House to move forward on immigration reform. Many proponents of reform believe that the House has a narrow window of 2 or 3 months to act on immigration reform before the November elections become too close. Senate Gang of 8 immigration reform Democrats Schumer, Menendez, Durbin and Bennet, and Majority Leader Reid this week held a press conference and gave the House a deadline of July 31st to act, after which, per Sen. Schumer, “the President will have no choice but to act on his own.” Sen. Majority Leader Reid dismissed the House Republican’s blame the Obama Administration excuse by responding that any legislation can wait until 2017 to be implemented.
Voices from the conservative side are also calling for immigration reform. The President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, joked in a speech that if Republicans don’t pass immigration reform this year, “they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016.” Another call for immigration reform came from Sal Russo, co-founder of the Tea Party Express.
Meanwhile Speaker Boehner continues to flip-flop on the issue – on the one hand saying that he wants to pass immigration reform in the upcoming weeks, but on the other hand continuing to blame President Obama — stating that he needs to do something to build trust with Republicans in Congress first. Contrary to their indications that they support immigration reform, just this week the House Republican Leadership prevented a vote on Rep. Denham’s (R-CA) ENLIST Act, which he sought to offer as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (the ENLIST Act would allow undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children before 2011 to join the military and gain permanent residence status). Despite his purported interest in legislation for DREAMers, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who controls the House floor said that the bill was not appropriate to be offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and has not schedule a floor vote on the ENLIST Act.
Some of the hesitancy may be due to still pending primaries. Cantor, for example, faces a June 10th primary against an anti-immigration reform tea party challenger. The failure to act on immigration reform due to fears about challenges from the tea party and other far right candidates appears unwarranted; however, as so far immigration reform has not been a major issue in most primaries. According to the media and political pundits, mainstream Republicans have overwhelmingly defeated tea party candidates. This is viewed as relevant to immigration reform because more mainstream Republican politicians support reform, whereas many tea party aligned candidates are vocally opposed to it. One race in North Carolina stood out because the incumbent, Rep. Renee Ellmers, has called for immigration reform while her primary opponent ran on an anti-immigration platform. Ellmers’ strong win is used to argue that a pro-immigration reform stance will not affect incumbents’ chances at the polls. Exits polls support this contention, with a finding that her stance on immigration reform had no effect on most voters’ decisions as to whether or not to vote for her.
Given these developments and the upcoming conclusion of most primaries, there is a real window of opportunity for the House to act on immigration reform in June or July. Consequently, many organizations are making a priority of contacting Members of the House of Representatives and educating the public about the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
If the House does move forward on immigration reform, it is not yet clear what the bill will be. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is reportedly working on an immigration bill that addresses the roughly 11 million undocumented. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), speaking at a National Journal policy summit Thursday, indicated that the House bill will not provide a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants and instead will likely include only a legalization program for most undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, who will be able to sponsor their parents. Gutierrez added that if such a plan passes he would keep working on getting citizenship for all in the future. While details are still vague, this proposal is deeply troubling as it appears to deprive many hard-working aspiring Americans of a path to citizenship merely because they don’t have qualifying family members in the U.S. Our nation’s long history of second-class status for farmworkers has shown time and again that access to citizenship and its fundamental rights is critical to ensuring an empowered constituency. As to the agricultural piece of immigration reform, fortunately Rep. Goodlatte’s Agricultural Guestworker Act, H.R. 1773, is widely recognized as lacking the support it needs to move forward in the House. As we’ve mentioned previously, the bill fails to stabilize the agricultural labor force by providing no path to citizenship for the current labor force and by proposing a massive, harsh guestworker program. The immigration solution for agriculture is the agricultural stakeholder agreement, which is included in H.R. 15 as well as the Senate passed immigration bill, S. 744.
What about Calls for an End to Deportations?
While the pressure continues for President Obama to take administrative action to reform harsh deportation policies and grant affirmative relief to the undocumented, there is some disagreement about when the Administration should act. Those urging delay until after the House has had the chance to act are concerned that any action by the President could provide an excuse for the House not to act. Other advocates disagree with the July 31 deadline and are urging the White House to take action now to address the deportations that are occurring everyday. As we’ve reported previously, the President has ordered a review of the immigration enforcement policies to make them more “humane,” and DHS is expected to release a memo making changes to the immigration enforcement system, including the Secure Communities program.
Farmworker Justice believes that the best way to address the immigration crisis is through legislation as only Congress can provide a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship. That being said, FJ also believes that the Obama Administration should take steps to end the needless traumatization of families, workers and communities by the immigration enforcement system. If Congress fails to pass positive immigration reform forward by the August recess, we believe that the Obama Administration must take immediate action to reform the immigration enforcement system. This action must include providing affirmative relief from deportation plus work authorization to farmworkers, their families and other aspiring Americans who do not present a threat to our community. The Administration must also take other measures to reform the immigration enforcement system to protect the civil liberties and legal rights of all undocumented individuals in the US.