JoseCuervo
New member
CJ,
THis is the Senior Senator from Idaho, who refuses to acknowledge there is a problem with the Salmon. I knew he was in trouble before, but crossing CJCJ is gonna' get his phone ringing...
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Migrant worker bill gains support
Legal, protected workforce would aid U.S. agriculture
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provisions of the AgJOBS bill
Here´s what the bill would do:
• Give temporary resident-immigration status to people who performed agricultural work for 575 hours or 100 workdays, whichever is less, during any 12 consecutive months between March 1, 2002, and Aug. 31, 2003.
• Allow temporary residents to work in any employment when not working in agriculture and to cross the border. The spouse and minor children of workers living in the United States would be protected from deportation.
• Give permanent status to temporary workers who work in agriculture for at least 360 days in a six-year period, beginning Sept. 1, 2003. At least 240 of those agricultural workdays must occur during the first three years.
• Eliminate much of the red tape to legally hire migrant farmworkers.
• Give farmworkers the right to join unions and enjoy the same labor-law protections as other U.S. workers.
WASHINGTON — Republicans, Democrats, agribusiness representatives and farmworkers lined up Tuesday in a rare show of support for a bill that would overhaul the nation´s migrant farm worker program.
Three years in the making, the bill would give farmers a dependable, legal work force and give an estimated 500,000 undocumented workers who are in the country illegally the opportunity to earn permanent legal status, backers said.
“We want and need a stable, predictable, legal work force in American agriculture,” Idaho´s Sen. Larry Craig said during a packed Capitol Hill news conference. The conservative Republican is sponsoring the Senate bill with the liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
“This is real progress on one of the overarching and aching problems that this country has faced for far too long,” Kennedy said.
No one knows how many undocumented workers plant, harvest and process the food Americans eat. Estimates range from 30 percent to 70 percent of the 1.6 million agricultural work force. The United States has an estimated 8 million to 9 million undocumented workers.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates that the state had 4,000 farmworkers in 2000. It is unknown how many undocumented migrant workers come to Idaho to work each year.
The country´s current migrant farmworker program allows just 42,000 people to enter the country to work each year. The rest usually pay human traffickers thousands of dollars to smuggle them across the border. Traffickers often use inhumane or even deadly methods.
The bill, called AgJOBS, would let farmworkers live without fear of being deported, said Arturo S. Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America.
“Like other immigrants before them, this agreement frees immigrant farmworkers so they can finally join American society instead of being hidden from it,” Rodriguez said.
The legislation is not perfect, but it´s good, said Bob Vice, co-chairman of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform, a group that represents 95 agricultural organizations. Farmers complain that they can´t find enough workers and that immigration raids disrupt their operations.
Despite its bipartisan support, the bill will have a tough fight in Congress. Some, like Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., say bills like AgJOBS reward illegal immigration. Others, like Rep. Thomas Tancredo, R-Colo., are trying to tighten immigration laws as a way to reduce terrorism.
But Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the bill would improve national security.
“By encouraging people to come out of the shadows and be reviewed by our government,” she said, “this measure also will enhance our security by helping us know who lives and works within our borders.”
Craig said he and his House sponsors have met with White House officials several times to discuss the bill, but the Bush administration has not endorsed it.
GNS reporter Sergio Bustos contributed to this report.
Edition Date: 09-24-2003
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
THis is the Senior Senator from Idaho, who refuses to acknowledge there is a problem with the Salmon. I knew he was in trouble before, but crossing CJCJ is gonna' get his phone ringing...
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Migrant worker bill gains support
Legal, protected workforce would aid U.S. agriculture
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provisions of the AgJOBS bill
Here´s what the bill would do:
• Give temporary resident-immigration status to people who performed agricultural work for 575 hours or 100 workdays, whichever is less, during any 12 consecutive months between March 1, 2002, and Aug. 31, 2003.
• Allow temporary residents to work in any employment when not working in agriculture and to cross the border. The spouse and minor children of workers living in the United States would be protected from deportation.
• Give permanent status to temporary workers who work in agriculture for at least 360 days in a six-year period, beginning Sept. 1, 2003. At least 240 of those agricultural workdays must occur during the first three years.
• Eliminate much of the red tape to legally hire migrant farmworkers.
• Give farmworkers the right to join unions and enjoy the same labor-law protections as other U.S. workers.
WASHINGTON — Republicans, Democrats, agribusiness representatives and farmworkers lined up Tuesday in a rare show of support for a bill that would overhaul the nation´s migrant farm worker program.
Three years in the making, the bill would give farmers a dependable, legal work force and give an estimated 500,000 undocumented workers who are in the country illegally the opportunity to earn permanent legal status, backers said.
“We want and need a stable, predictable, legal work force in American agriculture,” Idaho´s Sen. Larry Craig said during a packed Capitol Hill news conference. The conservative Republican is sponsoring the Senate bill with the liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
“This is real progress on one of the overarching and aching problems that this country has faced for far too long,” Kennedy said.
No one knows how many undocumented workers plant, harvest and process the food Americans eat. Estimates range from 30 percent to 70 percent of the 1.6 million agricultural work force. The United States has an estimated 8 million to 9 million undocumented workers.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates that the state had 4,000 farmworkers in 2000. It is unknown how many undocumented migrant workers come to Idaho to work each year.
The country´s current migrant farmworker program allows just 42,000 people to enter the country to work each year. The rest usually pay human traffickers thousands of dollars to smuggle them across the border. Traffickers often use inhumane or even deadly methods.
The bill, called AgJOBS, would let farmworkers live without fear of being deported, said Arturo S. Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America.
“Like other immigrants before them, this agreement frees immigrant farmworkers so they can finally join American society instead of being hidden from it,” Rodriguez said.
The legislation is not perfect, but it´s good, said Bob Vice, co-chairman of the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform, a group that represents 95 agricultural organizations. Farmers complain that they can´t find enough workers and that immigration raids disrupt their operations.
Despite its bipartisan support, the bill will have a tough fight in Congress. Some, like Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., say bills like AgJOBS reward illegal immigration. Others, like Rep. Thomas Tancredo, R-Colo., are trying to tighten immigration laws as a way to reduce terrorism.
But Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the bill would improve national security.
“By encouraging people to come out of the shadows and be reviewed by our government,” she said, “this measure also will enhance our security by helping us know who lives and works within our borders.”
Craig said he and his House sponsors have met with White House officials several times to discuss the bill, but the Bush administration has not endorsed it.
GNS reporter Sergio Bustos contributed to this report.
Edition Date: 09-24-2003
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
