“This is a bill that will grant full rights and responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants and their families”
Today, the House approved the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 5038), a bipartisan bill to put hundreds of thousands of farmworkers on a path to citizenship. The bill was the result of lengthy negotiations between Democrats and Republicans as well as growers and farmworker advocates, and was authored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA). It passed by a margin of 260 to 165 with support from 226 Democrats and 34 Republicans. A summary of the legislation is here.
The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
Even in the face of Trump’s withering attacks on immigrants and immigration and despite the bitter partisan winds, a bill that legalizes hundreds of thousands of farmworkers and their families was approved today the U.S. House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis.
The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) deserves enormous credit for this breakthrough. In their fight to improve the wages and working conditions of farmworkers, they have long recognized that the largely undocumented agricultural workforce needs immigration reform with a path to citizenship. The growers and their Republican allies deserve credit for this breakthrough as well. They came to the table in good faith, found common ground with worker advocates, and resisted both the nativism emanating from the White House and the opposition mounted by hardline anti-immigrant groups.
This is a bill that will grant full rights and responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants and their families. It’s long overdue and we urge enactment in the Senate. Moreover, we won’t rest until all of our nation’s 10.5 million undocumented immigrants are formally recognized as the Americans they already are.
