Rep. McCarthy Must Use His New Role as Majority Leader to Tackle Immigration Reform

Comprehensive Reform Would Benefit His Agricultural-Dependent District 

Today, House Republicans elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as their new majority leader, a position that gives him the power to bring long-stalled comprehensive immigration reform to the floor for a vote.

“Rep. McCarthy represents one of the most important agricultural areas of our country, which suffers under our broken immigration system,” said Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice. “Farmworkers in his district contribute to our country and communities through their hard work cultivating and harvesting our fruits and vegetables and must be given the opportunity to earn a path to citizenship. Growers in his district depend on these aspiring Citizens.”

Immigration reform must include the agricultural stakeholder compromise, a tough-but-fair agreement that was designed to address the needs of both grower and farmworker interests. The compromise is included in the bipartisan Senate bill, S. 744 that passed almost one year ago, and is in the bipartisan House bill, HR 15. It provides a roadmap toward legal residency and citizenship for farmworkers and their families and creates a new agricultural guestworker system which includes both difficult concessions and important new protections. This legislation would help stabilize the agricultural industry in McCarthy’s district.

“As majority leader, Rep. McCarthy now has the power with Speaker John Boehner to bring immigration reform to the floor of the House. Over the past year, McCarthy has said that he is committed to resolving our immigration crisis. He must seize this opportunity to address our country’s demand for immigration reform,” said Goldstein.

Comprehensive Reform Would Benefit His Agricultural-Dependent District 

Today, House Republicans elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as their new majority leader, a position that gives him the power to bring long-stalled comprehensive immigration reform to the floor for a vote.

“Rep. McCarthy represents one of the most important agricultural areas of our country, which suffers under our broken immigration system,” said Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice. “Farmworkers in his district contribute to our country and communities through their hard work cultivating and harvesting our fruits and vegetables and must be given the opportunity to earn a path to citizenship. Growers in his district depend on these aspiring Citizens.”

Immigration reform must include the agricultural stakeholder compromise, a tough-but-fair agreement that was designed to address the needs of both grower and farmworker interests. The compromise is included in the bipartisan Senate bill, S. 744 that passed almost one year ago, and is in the bipartisan House bill, HR 15. It provides a roadmap toward legal residency and citizenship for farmworkers and their families and creates a new agricultural guestworker system which includes both difficult concessions and important new protections. This legislation would help stabilize the agricultural industry in McCarthy’s district.

“As majority leader, Rep. McCarthy now has the power with Speaker John Boehner to bring immigration reform to the floor of the House. Over the past year, McCarthy has said that he is committed to resolving our immigration crisis. He must seize this opportunity to address our country’s demand for immigration reform,” said Goldstein.