Farmworker Justice Statement on Agreement Regarding Agricultural Worker Piece of Immigration Reform

Farmworker Justice President Bruce Goldstein issued the following statement following the announcement of the broad outline of an agreement among a key group of Senators, agricultural employers and the United Farm Workers on provisions that are expected to be included in a comprehensive immigration bill and would reform U.S. immigration policy regarding farmworkers:

“As details for an agreement continue to emerge, we will review the proposal. Farmworker Justice strongly supports legislation that would provide a roadmap to citizenship for our nation’s undocumented farmworkers and their families and ensure fair treatment for future farmworkers.

We are pleased that the agreement contains a program that would allow many of the undocumented farmworkers who have been producing our food, and their immediate family members, to earn legal immigration status and the opportunity for U.S. citizenship. The proposal also would replace the current H-2A agricultural guestworker program, which is fraught with abuses of foreign and domestic farmworkers, with a new program whose provisions are complex and will need to be analyzed.

We appreciate the efforts of the United Farm Workers to advance legislation that reflects a commitment to treat the men and women harvesting our food with dignity and improve agricultural labor practices.”
 

Farmworker Justice President Bruce Goldstein issued the following statement following the announcement of the broad outline of an agreement among a key group of Senators, agricultural employers and the United Farm Workers on provisions that are expected to be included in a comprehensive immigration bill and would reform U.S. immigration policy regarding farmworkers:

“As details for an agreement continue to emerge, we will review the proposal. Farmworker Justice strongly supports legislation that would provide a roadmap to citizenship for our nation’s undocumented farmworkers and their families and ensure fair treatment for future farmworkers.

We are pleased that the agreement contains a program that would allow many of the undocumented farmworkers who have been producing our food, and their immediate family members, to earn legal immigration status and the opportunity for U.S. citizenship. The proposal also would replace the current H-2A agricultural guestworker program, which is fraught with abuses of foreign and domestic farmworkers, with a new program whose provisions are complex and will need to be analyzed.

We appreciate the efforts of the United Farm Workers to advance legislation that reflects a commitment to treat the men and women harvesting our food with dignity and improve agricultural labor practices.”