[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 18 (Thursday, February 12, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1272-S1275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMMIGRATION REFORM, GUEST WORKERS, AND AgJOBS
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, this afternoon the Judiciary Committee's
Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, on which I serve, held an
important hearing on immigration and guest worker reform. The hearing
focused on broad issues related to temporary guest worker, and
especially on the framework for reform proposed recently by the
President of the United States. Our chairman, the Senator from Georgia,
Mr. Chambliss, also welcomed statements from several Senators who have
introduced bills in this area.
Before this President came into office, the Federal Government led
the way as our Nation remained in denial, ignoring both the rapidly
growing number of undocumented persons in this country and the
increasing dependence of critical sectors of our economy on
undocumented workers. Some would say, with justification, that the
Nation actually spent the last four decades looking the other way.
Then, a real wake-up call came on September 11, 2001, on the need to
manage our borders effectively, and of the failure to do so for many
years before.
In the last 2\1/2\ years, we have made progress. President Bush has
demonstrated tireless leadership on and since September 11. The new
Department of Homeland Security has been established to bring
rationality to our border, immigration, and homeland security efforts.
With the hard work of the administration, our men and women in uniform,
and the Congress, our borders are more secure and our homeland is
safer.
However, a lot of work remains to be done, as recognized at this
hearing.
The President has proposed a framework for guest worker reform. I
applaud the administration's repeated assurance that it is not taking
any position on any one bill and has no intention to preclude any bill.
The President has said he wants to work out the details with Congress,
and we are ready to work with him.
I also appreciated the opportunity to highlight the fact that one
bill already introduced in Congress is ready to move. We have a vehicle
ready to road-test key principles in the President's framework. I also
believe this bill is consistent with the broad goals and principles of
several of our other colleagues who have introduced broad reform bills.
That bill is AgJOBS--the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and
Security Act, introduced as S. 1645 and HR 3142. The ranking member of
the Immigration Subcommittee, the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr.
Kennedy, is the bill's other principal sponsor in the Senate. The
principal difference from other bills is that AgJOBS deals with one
industry--agriculture.
AgJOBS is a thoroughly-developed product, fitted for the unique needs
of agriculture. It represents more than 7 years of work on these
issues. It reflects 4 years of tough, bipartisan negotiations. A
majority of the Senate are now cosponsors.
This bill gives us the opportunity to use reform in agriculture as
the demonstration program that will help us work out the details,
anticipate challenges, prevent problems, and fine-tune the mechanics of
an economy-wide reform package down the road.
Agriculture also has a unique history of guest worker programs and
migrant employment. We have the necessary data and experience to draw
on. There is no doubt in the minds of most of us that there really are
few American citizens today who want to work, on a seasonal and migrant
basis, at the hard physical labor of agriculture. In contrast, in some
other industries, there remains the controversy over the availability
of willing and qualified domestic workers and concern about their
displacement by guest workers.
Agriculture is the industry most impacted by dependence on
undocumented workers--not by anyone's design, but by circumstance and
necessity. The government's own data--based, incredibly, on self-
disclosure by workers, themselves--indicates that more than half of the
agricultural work force is undocumented. Responsible private estimates
run as high 75 to 85 percent. Farmers are going out of business today
because they cannot find legal workers at the times they are needed.
With AgJOBS, we could begin immediately to improve our homeland
security--and especially ensure the safety and security of our food
supply--by knowing who is planting and harvesting our crops, where they
came from, and where they are working.
With AgJOBS, we do not need to wait to start putting an end to the
inhumane risks and exploitation suffered by these most vulnerable of
workers. Every year, more than 300 persons die in the desert, or in
boxcars, or being smuggled in other hazardous transportation. That is
not tolerable in a humane society.
AgJOBS takes the same long-term approach consistent with the
President's framework and other bills--an
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improved guest worker program. It also addresses the need for a
transition program in the immediate term, by allowing workers the
earned adjustment to legal status. This is not amnesty.
This letter brings together employers and workers--from the American
Farm Bureau and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the United Farm Workers
and the AFL-CIO. Cosigners include the National Association of State
Departments of Agriculture, worker and legal-service advocates, large
and small employers, Latino groups, religious groups, social service
organizations, agriculture and other sectors of the economy,
immigration issue advocates, and others. Legislation involving major
labor and immigration issues simply does not become law, unless it
achieves this kind of bipartisan and broad-based consensus
I continue to invite all my colleagues to become cosponsors of AgJOBS
and look forward to working with them to move this bill forward this
year.
I ask unanimous consent to print into the Record a letter of support
that Senator Kennedy and I have just received from some 420
organizations--national, state, and local organizations--asking
Congress to enact AgJOBS into law expeditiously.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
February 12, 2004.
Dear Member of Congress: The undersigned organizations
representing a broad cross-section of America join together
to support enactment of S. 1645 and H.R. 3142, the
Agricultural Job, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act
(AgJOBS). This landmark bipartisan legislation would achieve
historic reforms to our nation's labor and immigration laws
as they pertain to agriculture. The legislation reflects
years of negotiations on complex and contentious issues among
employer and worker representatives, and leaders in Congress.
A growing number of our leaders in Congress, as well as the
President, recognize that our nation's immigration policy is
flawed and that, from virtually every perspective, the status
quo is untenable. Nowhere is the status quo more untenable
than in agriculture. America needs reforms that are
compassionate, realistic and economically sensible--reforms
that also enhance the rule of law and contribute to national
security. AgJOBs represents the coming together of historic
adversaries in a rare opportunity to achieve reforms
supportive of these goals, as well as our nation's
agricultural productivity and food security.
AgJOBS represents a balanced solution for American
agriculture, a critical element of a comprehensive solution,
and one that can be enacted now with board bipartisan
support. For these reasons, we join together to encourage the
Congress to enact S. 1645 and H.R. 3142, the Agricultural Job
Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003, before the
2004 Congressional April Recess.
Sincerely,
Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform; American
Farm Bureau Federation; National Council of
Agricultural Employers, AFL-CIO; U.S. Chamber of
Commerce; U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; National
Council of La Raza (NCLR); Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF); League of United
Latin American Citizens (LULAC); William C. Velasquez
Institute; United Farm Workers (UFW); National
Cattlemen's Beef Association; National Association of
State Departments of Agriculture; Catholic Charities
USA; The Episcopal Church, USA; Farmworker Justice Fund
(FJF); American Nursery & Landscape Association;
Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP);
National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association;
Gulf Citrus Growers Association; Gulf Harvesting, Inc.;
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA);
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR); Moark
LLC; Turfgrass Producers International; Society of
American Florists; MAFO; Monrovia Growers (CA, OR, GA,
NC); National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
(NAPALC); National Employment Law Project; Arab
American Institute (AAI); National Farm Worker
Ministry; National Korean American Service & Education
Consortium (NAKASEC); Northeast Farm Credit Regional
Council;
OFA--An Association of Floriculture Professionals; Pan
American Recruiting; Northwoods Agri Women; Salvadoran
American National Network; People for the American Way;
Perennial Plant Association; Polish American Congress;
Pacific Egg and Poultry Association; Southern Nursery
Association; Together in America; Western Carolinas
Horticultural Alliance; Yankee Farm Credit; Telamon
Corporation; Southern Poverty Law Center; Catholic
Migrant Farmworker Network; Housing Assistance Council;
Alabama Nursery & Landscape Association; Amanecer (AZ);
Arizona Nursery Association; Arkansas Green Industry
Association;
Allied Grape Growers (CA); Almond Hullers and Processors
(CA); California Association of Nurseries and Garden
Centers; California Association of Winegrape Growers;
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa (CA);
California Apple Commission; California Association of
Winegrape Growers; Birds Eye Foods; Deere & Company;
Tyson Foods Inc.; Union of Needletrades, Industrial and
Textile Employees (UNITE); United Egg Producers;
National Christmas Tree Association; United Food and
Commercial Workers Union (UFCW); United Fresh Fruit &
Vegetable Association; U.S. Apple Association; U.S.
Custom Harvesters, Inc.; Western Growers Association;
Western Range Association; Western United Dairymen,
Essential Worker Immigration Coalition; Services
Employees International Union (SEIU); A. Duda & Sons;
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; American Horse
Council; General Board of Church and Society, the
United Methodist Church; Agricultural Affiliates; Agri-
Placements International; Al French, Former USDA
Director of Ag Labor Relations;
National Immigration Forum; National Potato Council; New
England Apple Council; Cobank; First Pioneer Farm
credit; Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO
(FLOC); National Association of Elected and Appointed
Latino Officials (NALEO); American Immigration Lawyers
Association (AILA); National Chicken Council; National
Council of Churches; National Milk Producers
Federation; South East Dairy Farmers Association; North
East Dairy Producers Association; Northwest
Horticultural Council; Wineamerica, the National
Association of American Wineries; Winegrape Growers of
America; American Jewish Committee (AJA); American
Mushroom Institute; Campaign for Labor Rights;
Cooperative Producers, Inc.;
Cooperative Three, Inc.; Council of Northeast Farmer
Cooperatives; Dairylea Cooperative; American Frozen
Food Institute; California Floral Council; California
Farm Bureau Federation; California Grain and Feed
Association; California Grape & Tree Fruit League;
California Institute for Rural Studies; California
Landscape Contractors Association, Inc.; California Rural
Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF); California Seed
Association; California Strawberry Commission; California
Women for Agriculture; Catholic Charities, San Diego;
Central American Resource Center (CA); La Clinica de la
Raza (CA);
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
(CHIRLA); Franciscan Friars of St. Barbara Province
(CA); Harry Singh & Sons (CA); Imperial Valley
Vegetable Growers Association; John Harris Farms Inc.
(CA); Korean Resource Center, Los Angeles; Lassen
Canyon Nursery, Inc. (CA); Los Angeles Coalition to End
Hunger & Homelessness; Marin Interfaith Task Force for
the Americas; NiSEI Farmers League (CA); Northern
California Growers Association; Nursery Growers of
Southern California; Our Lady of Victory Missionary
Sisters (CA); Raisin Bargaining Association (CA);
Ventura County (CA) Farm Bureau; Southern California
Ecumenical Council; United Food and Commercial Workers
Union (UFCW) Local 1442 (CA); Universal Immigration
Service (CA); Colorado Nursery Association;
Colorado Sugar Beet Growers Association; Estes Valley
Multicultural Connections (CO); Northern Colorado Onion
Association; Sisters of Loretto (CO); Connecticut Farm
Bureau; Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association;
Connleaf, Inc. (CT); H.F. Brown Inc. (CT); The Lyman
Farm, Inc. (CT); Delaware Nursery & Landscape
Association; Latin American Community Center (DE);
Latin American Youth Center (DC); Migrant Legal Action
Program (DC); Big Cypress Housing Corporation (FL);
Centro Campesino (FL); Carlos Rosario Int'l Career
Center and Public Charter School; Caribbean Immigrant
Services Inc. (FL); Catholic Charities of Orlando,
Inc.; Coalition of Florida Farmworker Organizations;
Everglades Community Association, Inc.;
Everglades Hammock, Incorporated; Fair Food America (FL);
Farmworker Association of Florida, Inc.; Farmworkers
Self-Help (FL); The Fellsmere Community Enrichment
Program (FL); Florida Catholic Conference; Florida
Citrus Mutual; Florida Citrus Packers, Inc.; Florida
Farm Bureau Federation; Florida Immigrant Advocacy
Center; Florida Impact; Florida Fruit and Vegetable
Association; Florida Nurserymen & Growers Association;
Florida Strawberry Growers Association; Fundacion
Salvadorena de la Florida; Guatemalan Unity Information
Center (FL); Immokalee Multicultural Multipurpose
Community Action Agency, Inc. (FL); Indian River Citrus
League (FL); Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc.
(FL); Live Oak Villas, LLC (FL);
Little Manatee Housing Corporation (FL); Migrant
Farmworker Justice Project, Florida Legal Services,
Inc.; Mujer (FL); Pinellas Support Committee (FL);
Ranch One Cooperative, Inc. (FL); Redlands Christian
Migrant
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Association (FL); Retail Systems Consulting (FL);
Sarasota/Manatee Farmworker Supporters; Sisters of the
Humility of Mary--Indian River (FL); Skinner Nurseries
(FL); Sugar Cane Growers Co-op of Florida; Unite for
Dignity, Inc. (FL); Center for Pan Asian Community
Services (GA); Georgia Green Industry Association;
Georgia Rural Urban Summit; Idaho Commission on
Hispanic Affairs; Idaho Community Action Network; Idaho
Farm bureau; Idaho Food Producers; Idaho Grain
Producers Association;
Idaho Migrant Council; Idaho Nursery & Landscape
Association; Potato Growers of Idaho; Snake River
Farmers Association (ID/MT); Centro Romero (IL);
Chicago Jobs With Justice; Conguate (IL); Disciples
Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ) (IL);
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights (IL);
Hispanic Lawyer's Association of Illinois; Illinois
Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Illinois
Landscape Contractors Association; Illinois Migrant
Council; Illinois Nurserymen's Association; Immigration
Project (IL); Instituto Del Progreso Latino (IL);
Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC),
Chicago; Law Office of Shirley Sadjadi (IL); Law Office
of Douglas W. Worrell, Chtd. (IL); The Midwest
Immigrant & Human Rights Center (IL);
Project Irene (IL); The Resurrection Project in Chicago;
Central Indiana Jobs With Justice; Indiana Nursery &
Landscape Association; Immigration Outreach Office,
Catholic Charities/Archdiocese of Dubuque; Immigrant
Rights Network of Iowa and Nebraska; Iowa Nursery &
Landscape Association; Iowa Project; Sisters of Charity
(IA); El Centro, Inc.--Kansas; Kansas Farm Bureau;
Kansas Nursery & Landscape Association; Kentucky
Nursery & Landscape Association; Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of New Orleans; Farm Credit of Maine; Maine
Nursery & Landscape Association; Angelica Nurseries
(MD); Bell Nursery (MD); CASA of Maryland;
Centro de la Comunidad, Inc. (MD); John Shorb
Landscaping, Inc. (MD); Maryland Aquatic Nurseries,
Inc.; Maryland Nursery & Landscape Association; Migrant
and Refugee Cultural Support, Inc. (MIRECS) (MD);
Quinn's Kingsville Farms (MD); Robin Hill Farm Nursery
(MD); Speakman Nurseries, Inc. (MD); Centro Presente
(MA); Irish Immigration Center (MA); Massachusetts Farm
Bureau; Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy
Coalition; Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape
Association; Eastern Michigan University's Bilingual
Bicultural Education; Teacher Training Program;
Michigan Farm Bureau; Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance
Project; Michigan Nursery & Landscape Association;
Leitz Farms LLC (MI); Zelenka Nursery, LLC (MI);
Jewish Community Action (MN); Minnesota Nursery &
Landscape Association; St. Joseph The Worker Church
(MN); Centro San Martin Deporres (MS); Mississippi
Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA!); Office of Hispanic
Ministry, Catholic Diocese of Jackson (MS); Rich Smith,
Pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Paulding (MS); The
Social Concerns Committee of the Catholic Community of
St. Francis of Assisi (MS); Daughters of Charity in St.
Louis (MO); Human Rights Action Service, St. Louis
(MO); Latin American Action Team, Giddings-Lovejoy
Presbytery (MO); Mission Effectiveness, School Sisters
of Notre Dame, St. Louis; Missouri Nursery & Landscape
Association; Montana Nursery & Landscape Association;
Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public
Interest; Nebraska Nursery & Landscape Association;
Culinary Workers Union, Local 226--Nevada; Nevada
Landscape Association; Comite de Apoyo a Los
Trabajadores Agricolos (NJ);
Irrigation Association of New Jersey; Mexican American
Association of Southern New Jersey; Migration and
Refugee Services Diocese of Trenton; New Jersey Farm
Bureau Federation; New Jersey Immigration Policy
Network, Inc.; New Jersey Nursery & Landscape
Association; Rural Housing Incorporated (NM); Brennan
Center for Justice at New York University School of
Law; Cabrini Immigrant Services (NY); Cayuga Marketing,
LLC (NY); Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan (NY); Centro
Independiente de Trabajadors Agricolos (CITA)--(NY);
Centro Salvadoreno, Inc. (NY); Christian Brothers
(NY); Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Albany, NY; Empire State Council of
Agricultural Organizations (NY); Farm Credit of Western
New York; Farmworkers Legal Services of New York; Lake
Placid Groves LLC (NY); New York Association for New
Americans; New York Farm Bureau; New York State
Horticultural Society;
New York State Apple Growers Association; New York State
Cherry Growers Association; New York State Nursery &
Landscape Association; New York State Vegetable Growers
Association; PRO-FAC Cooperative (NY); Public Policy
Committee, Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, NY;
Rural and Migrant Ministry (NY); Torrey Farms (NY);
Willet Dairy (NY); Workplace Project (NY); YKASEC--
Empowering the Korean American Community (NY); El
Pueblo, Inc. (NC); Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry (NC);
High County Amigos Inc. (NC); Immaculate Concepcion
Church (NC); Latino Community Credit Union (NC); Nash
Produce Company, Inc. (NC); North Carolina Association
of Nurserymen; North Carolina Farm Bureau; North
Carolina Justice and Community Development Center;
North Carolina Landscape Association; Student Action With
Farmworkers (NC); Triangle Friends of the United
Farmworkers (NC); Vitalink (NC); Zelenka Nursery, LLC,
(NC); Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (OH); En
Camino, Migrant and Immigrant Outreach, Diocese of
Toledo; High Stakes Farms (OH); Immigrant Worker
Project (OH); Northern Ohio Growers Association; Office
of Hispanic Ministry, Catholic Diocese of Cleveland;
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Inc.; Ohio Fruit Growers
Society; Ohio Landscapers Association; Ohio Nursery &
Landscape Association; Ohio Vegetable & Potato Growers
Association; United Church of Christ Justice and
Witness Ministries (OH); Vlasic Pickle Growers (OH);
Asian American Community Service Association, Inc.;
Oklahoma Nursery & Landscape Association;
Venezuelan American Association of Oklahoma; CASA of
Oregon; Farmworker Housing Development Corporation
(OR); Hood River Grower-Shipper Association (OR);
Northwest Workers' Justice Project (OR); Oregon
Association of Nurseries; Oregon Farm Bureau; Oregon
Farm Worker Ministry; Oregon Law Center; Pineros y
Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon; El Vista
Orchards (Wexford, PA); Five Forks Fruit (Waynesboro,
PA); Friends of Farmworkers (PA); Hollabaugh Brothers,
Inc. (Biglerville, PA); Pennsylvania Farm Bureau;
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition;
Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association; Peter
Orchards (Gardners, PA); Sisters of the Humility of
Mary--Villa Maria, Pennsylvania--(Sister Ruth Mary
Powers); State Horticultural Association of
Pennsylvania;
Feinstein Center for Citizenship & Immigration Services
(RI); Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Assn, Inc.;
South Carolina Greenhouse Growers Association; South
Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association; South
Carolina Upstate Tree Growers Association; Catholic
Hispanic Ministry, Diocese of Knoxville (TN); Mid-South
Interfaith Network for Economic Justice (TN); Tennessee
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition; Tennessee
Nursery & Landscape Association; Centro de Salud
Familiar le Fe (TX); Ellison's (TX); El Paso Central
Labor Union; Equal Justice Center (TX); Houston
Community Services; Jovenes Immigrantes por un Futuro
Mejor (TX); Midland Community Development Corp. (TX);
Migrant Clinicians Network, Inc. (TX); Rio Grande
Valley Sugar Growers, Inc. (TX); Texas Agricultural
Cooperative Council; Texas Nursery & Landscape
Association;
Texas Poultry Federation; Texas Egg Council; Texas
Broiler Council; Texas Poultry Improvement
Association; Texas Produce Association; Texas Seed Trade
Association; Texas State Florist's Association; Texas
Turkey Federation; Texas Vegetable Association; Turfgrass
Producers of Texas; Utah Farm Bureau; Utah Nursery &
Landscape Association; Catholic Diocese of Richmond,
Virginia; Hampton Roads Coalition for Workers' Justice;
Hispanic Committee of Virginia; Refugee and Immigration
Services, Catholic Diocese of Richmond; Southwest Virginia
Nursery and Landscape Association; Virginia Green Industry
Council; Virginia Council of Churches; Virginia Justice
Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers;
Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association; El Centro de la
Raza (WA); Grupo Mexico of Washington State; Lutheran
Public Policy Office of Washington State; Marsing
Agricultural Labor Sponsor Committee (WA); Underwood
Fruit and Warehouse Company (WA); Washington
Association of Churches (WA); Washington Growers
Clearing House Association; Washington Growers League;
Washington Potato & Onion Association; Washington State
Commission on Hispanic Affairs; Washington State
Nursery & Landscape Association; Washington Sustainable
Food & Farming Network; Commercial Flower Growers of
Wisconsin; Gardens Beautiful Garden Centers (WI);
Grounds Management Association of Wisconsin; Northern
Christmas Tree Growers & Nursery (WI); Office of
International Student Services, University of
Wisconsin-Platteville; South Central Federation of
Labor, AFL-CIO (WI); UMOS (WI);
Wisconsin Council of Churches; Wisconsin Landscape
Contractors Association; Wisconsin Landscape
Federation;
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Wisconsin Nursery Association; Wisconsin Sod Producers;
Ivan Kohar Parra, Executive Director, Latino Community
Development Center.
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