Farm-state lawmakers are to unveil today a “farm workforce modernization bill” that would update the U.S. guest worker program while providing a path to legal status for undocumented farm workers. Congress has been stymied for years on both of the issues, which often are ensnared in the deadlock over comprehensive immigration reform.
Ahead of a news conference, sponsors described the bill in general terms. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, said it “offers stability to American farms” and legal status for farm workers. Rep. Dan Newhouse, Republican from Washington state, said the bill “offers a strong, bipartisan workforce solution to provide certainty to both farm owners and workers through an accessible, employment-based program. This bill is the solution our agricultural industry needs.”
Lofgren, the number two on the Judiciary Committee, which handles immigration law, filed a bill in January to create a “blue card” for undocumented farm workers who have worked in agriculture for at least two years, pay any fines and processing fees and pass a law enforcement check. A similar proposal died in the last session of Congress. Republicans have tended to focus on overhauling the agricultural guest worker program, H-2A, often criticized as unduly complicated and slow to respond to requests for seasonal workers for harvesting crops and other chores.
Representatives of two U.S. farm groups were expected to attend the news conference along with the former president of the United Farm Workers union.
A staff worker for the Judiciary Committee described a potential farm labor package earlier this month that would grant legal status to undocumented farm workers and require employers to use the E-Verify, a federal database, to assure that in the future they hire only people legally allowed to work in the United States, reported Stateline.