Farmworker Justice Legislative Action Alert June 17, 2013

Please call the Members of Congress on the House Judiciary Committee, especially if they represent your district. The list is below. Tell them to OPPOSE the Goodlatte “Agricultural Guestworker Act,” H.R. 1773. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a “mark up” to debate, amend and probably vote on H.R. 1773. Rep. Goodlatte (R.-Va.) chairs the Judiciary Committee; his bill’s cosponsors include Rep. Gowdy (R-SC) chair of the immigration subcommittee.

This bill would establish a new H-2C agricultural guestworker program that would lower farmworkers’ wages, eliminate labor protections that have existed for decades under the H-2A and Bracero programs, minimize government oversight, allow displacement of US farmworkers and exploitation of vulnerable guestworkers, and deprive farmworkers of meaningful access to the justice system.

The bill would not allow undocumented farmworkers in the United States, or their family members, to earn green cards or the opportunity for citizenship. It does not fix our broken immigration system; it would make it far worse.

This anti-worker, anti-immigrant bill is inconsistent with the approach taken by the Senate “Gang of Eight” in the tough but acceptable labor-management compromise on agricultural workers in the bipartisan immigration proposal, S.744. Read the Farmworker Justice legislative analysis of the Goodlatte Agricultural Guestworker Act at our website page on Immigration Reform and Farmworkers.

Committee Members are listed below. You may reach them by calling the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Republicans

Goodlatte (R) Chairman, Virginia, 6th

Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R) Wisconsin, 5th

Coble (R) North Carolina, 6th

Lamar Smith (R) Texas, 21st

Chabot (R) Ohio, 1st

Bachus (R) Alabama, 6th

Issa (R) California, 49th

Forbes (R) Virginia, 4th

King (R) Iowa, 4th

Franks (R) Arizona, 8th

Gohmert (R) Texas, 1st

Jordan (R) Ohio, 4th

Poe (R) Texas, 2nd

Chaffetz (R) Utah, 3rd

Marino (R) Pennsylvania, 10th

Gowdy (R) South Carolina, 4th

Amodei (R) Nevada, 2nd

Labrador (R) Idaho, 1st

Farenthold (R) Texas, 27th

Holding (R) North Carolina, 13th

Collins (R) Georgia, 9th

DeSantis (R) Florida, 6th

Democrats

Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member, (D) Michigan, 13th

Nadler (D) New York, 10th

Scott (D) Virginia, 3rd

Watt (D) North Carolina, 12th

Lofgren (D) California, 19th

Jackson Lee (D) Texas, 18th

Cohen (D) Tennessee, 9th

Johnson (D) Georgia, 4th

Pierluisi (D) Puerto Rico, (At-large)

Chu (D) California, 27th

Deutch (D) Florida, 21st

Gutierrez (D) Illinois, 4th

Bass (D) California, 37th

Richmond (D) Louisiana, 2nd

DelBene (D) Washington, 1st

Garcia (D) Florida, 26th

Jeffries (D) New York, 8th