House Republican leaders say they will call votes next week on two immigration bills dealing with so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as children by their undocumented parents. The bill favored by conservatives would create, as a sidelight, a new, year-round H-2C visa program for farmworkers and allow meatpackers, dairies, and the timber industry to recruit workers through the program for the first time.
A spokesman for the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives said the farmworker proposal “does have positive aspects. However, these … would be outweighed by programmatic shortcomings and the lack of a viable solution for the current workforce.” Undocumented workers already in the country would have to register with the H-2C program, return to their home countries, and then apply for re-entry. An estimated half of U.S. farmworkers — up to 1 million people — are believed to be undocumented. The farmworker proposal would also require employers to use the E-Verify database to assure job applicants can work legally.
“We have also heard that House leadership has committed to taking up ag guestworker legislation (presumably something besides the AG Act) in July ahead of the August recess,” said the NCFC spokesman. (“AG Act” refers to the H-2C program.) Details were not immediately available.
Republican leaders have said they are not certain there is sufficient support to pass the bill backed by conservatives. The leadership unveiled a more focused immigration bill on Thursday.
Representatives defeated the House farm bill a month ago, partly because of disagreements over how to proceed on immigration. GOP leaders said they would try to revive the farm bill by the end of next week, after the votes on immigration.