HR 2419 … Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act … next week
S 340 … AgJobs …Threatens to be added to this Farm Bill
Agricultural guest worker amnesty bill from Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein … Republican Larry Craig
AgJOBS bill:
…gives amnesty to at least 1.5 million illegal alien …includes agricultural workers… H-2A
…adds their families … potentially 3 million people
…gives blue cards after 150 days of agricultural work
…gives temporary workers chance to apply for a green card
…increase green cards for nurses and physical therapists
…relaxes standards for legal status
…gives same legal status for families
…will be treated as a legal permanent resident in the interim
…gives U.S. benefits after five years
…will be allowed to travel freely to and from the U.S
…will be put on a path to citizenship
…gives amnesty for social security and crimes ,,, like buying and selling SS numbers
…relaxes the requirements of the existing worker program
…makes it easier for agribusiness to import foreign labor
…seeks to expand to poultry processing and meatpacking jobs
…shortens the H-2A application process
…lowers the housing benefits received by H-2A workers
…relaxes employer advertising requirements to recruit U.S. workers
To see FAIR’s legislative analysis of AgJobs go to:
http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=ntmvcX02XOV5igNU_g6UWw
AgJobs bill is listed as S 237 and S 340 so you may see references to both.
The farm bill, HR 2419, passed the House. 231-191
In October Bush Administration announced that it was revising its rules
governing the agricultural guest worker program in order to increase the
number of foreign workers who could be brought into the country
under the program. The agricultural guest worker program, called the
“H-2A program,” currently permits agribusiness to import an
unlimited number of foreign workers into the country to perform agricultural
work. (New York Times, October 10, 2007)The current program provides many protections to U.S. workers that
would be lost with this bill.
