Senators Discuss Farmworker Immigration AgJOBS Bill in Hearing
Written by Bruce Goldstein Wednesday, 09 December 2009 19:09
The AgJOBS farmworker immigration bill received support during Senate hearing on Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano testified about immigration policy and enforcement.
The Committee Chair, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said: "I continue to fight for enactment of the AgJOBS legislation. I urge Secretary Napolitano to support these efforts." He stressed the labor needs of dairy farmers in Vermont.
Sen. Feinstein of California said that "we are destroying agriculture," that we depend on immigrants for agricultural work, and she is increasingly concerned about the inability to move legislation to give protection to workers in the form of the AgJOBS bill. "H-2A will not do it." "A country that is strong should produce its own food." She said, public policy must deal with the need for workers. She criticized the efforts to "drive anyone who is illegal out of the country no matter how valuable their labor may be."
Sen. Schumer, chair of the immigration subcommittee is a cosponsor of the AgJOBS bill, which Sen. Feinstein sponsored. Sen. Schumer is drafting comprehensive immigration reform. We expect Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois to introduce a comprehensive bill in the House shortly; he is a cosponsor of the bipartisan House AgJOBS bill, submitted by Rep. Berman (D.-Cal.) and Rep. Putnam (R.-Fla.).
Information about AgJOBS is available on our website at http://www.farmworkerjustice.org/Immigration_Labor/AgJOBS.htm.
We await the Department of Labor's new regulations on the H-2A agricultural guestworker program. We thank those of you who responded to our request for comments on the proposed regulations. Litigation is pending and agribusiness has promised to sue Secretary Solis if her proposal is finalized. See our newsletter article; download it at http://www.farmworkerjustice.org.
Your tax-deductible donations make our work on behalf of the nation's migrant farmworkers possible.
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