DREAM Act Portal Forum - Agjobs reappear

It was introduced yesterday.

AgJOBS Reintroduction: Congress is Serious About Immigration Reform

Washington, DC – Today, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Adam Putnam (R-FL) introduced in both chambers of Congress the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, or AgJOBS, bipartisan legislation supported by both business and labor, that will stabilize labor markets in the agricultural industry while providing a path to earned citizenship for eligible farm workers. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan pro-immigrant advocacy group in Washington.

Today’s reintroduction of AgJOBS, another critical component of comprehensive immigration reform, moves us closer to the debate over a broad immigration proposal backed by the President in Congress this year. Senator Feinstein and Representatives Berman and Putnam are taking the initiative to move the ball forward. They and the diverse array of co-sponsors they are gathering show that Members of Congress care about the future and continued competitiveness of American Agriculture. Farms and related enterprises are engines of American commerce and self-sufficiency, and steps taken to insure their continued viability benefit the economy and all American families. We see AgJOBS as an essential part of the broad immigration reform debate to take place in Congress this year.

The need for immediate help for our nation’s farmers cannot be overstated. A high percentage of the farmworkers who plant and harvest our food are undocumented, often subject to low wages and poor living and working conditions. AgJOBS would address Agriculture’s long-term need for a legal, steady labor supply while reinforcing farmworkers’ labor rights and protections.

AgJOBS is a win-win piece of legislation benefiting workers, employers and the economy at large. It is the result of a delicate and historic agreement between farmworker advocates and unions and the agriculture industry. It serves as a model for how business and labor can come together on a solution to put in place rules on immigration without undermining American workers. Both groups recognize the need for a stable, legal workforce, the need for better working conditions for farmworkers, and the need to improve U.S. farm productivity.

Around the country and inside the beltway, momentum is building around immigration reform. Congress is lining up the key elements with measures like AgJOBS and the DREAM Act —legislation that will benefit unauthorized immigrant children who attend college or serve in the military. Both AgJOBS and DREAM enjoy strong, bipartisan support in Congress and motivated, engaged constituencies at the grassroots across the country. We commend Congress for taking action towards immigration reform; they recognize—as the American public does— the urgency for comprehensive immigration reform that reaffirms America’s values and responds effectively to the economic and labor needs of our country.

http://www.immigrationforum.org/pres...ration-reform/