Another Congress, another attempt at immigration reform.
Fulfilling President Biden’s promise to make immigration reform a priority, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., have introduced the bicameral U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021.
Farm groups didn’t give vocal support to the legislation but said it represented a starting point for a debate that could last into the summer.
“The National Council of Agricultural Employers is studying the legislation closely, particularly as it relates to agricultural employment and how it might be at variance with the bipartisan legislation that passed out of the House in December 2019,” said Michael Marsh, president and CEO.
“That legislation was negotiated between farmworker advocates and agricultural employers. Of course, the council is concerned with elements of any legislation harming the sustainability of America’s farm and ranch families.”
The Biden-backed immigration reform legislation would transition millions of workers in the U.S. without proper documentation to legal status, said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy at United Fresh Produce Association.
That would be good news for farmworkers already in the U.S., but agriculture groups want to make sure that any legislation also includes provisions for the future labor needs of growers.
There are increasing costs associated with the H-2A program — a 4.5% average wage increase is in place for 2021 — and wages top out at more than $16 per hour for H-2A workers in California, Oregon and Washington.
Marsh said he has heard of some growers who say they will drop out of the H-2A program because of its high cost and seek to find enough domestic workers. If that doesn’t work, Marsh said he is worried growers will stop producing entirely, effectively moving agricultural production out of the U.S. to other countries.
The conventional wisdom, Guenther said, is that immigration reform could most likely be accomplished in a series of smaller bills.
Guenther said industry leaders are hopeful that agriculture can be a part of any bipartisan legislation.
“The political folks acknowledge that to get a bipartisan approach, you are going to need to include agriculture,” he said.
“We have proven that a very strong bipartisan bill, like the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, can pass the House.”
Menendez said the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 (Senate version) said the legislation act:
- Creates an earned roadmap to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, providing young people brought to the U.S. as children, TPS holders, and some farmworkers with an expedited three-year path to citizenship, and giving all other undocumented immigrants who pass background checks and pay taxes with an eight-year path to citizenship without fear of deportation. P
- Reforms family-based immigration system to keep families together by recapturing visas from previous years to clear backlogs, including spouses and children of green card holders as immediate family members, and increasing per-country caps for family-based immigration.
- Makes changes to the employment-based immigration system, eliminating per-country caps, making it easier for STEM advanced degree holders from U.S. universities to stay, improving access to green cards for workers in lower-wage industries, and giving dependents of H-1B holders work authorization, and preventing children of H-1B holders from aging out of the system.
- The bill also creates a pilot program to stimulate regional economic development and incentivizes higher wages for non-immigrant, high-skilled visas to prevent unfair competition with American workers.
- Increases funding for immigrant integration initiatives and supports state and local governments, NGOs, and other community organizations that conduct inclusion programs, provide English language assistance, and make available naturalization resources to immigrant communities.
- Protects workers from exploitation and improves the employment verification process by requiring the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor to establish a commission involving labor, employer, and civil rights organizations to help improve the employment verification process and granting workers who suffer serious labor violations greater access to U visa relief.
- Supports asylum seekers and other vulnerable populations by eliminating the one-year deadline for filing asylum claims, reducing asylum application backlogs, increasing protections for U visa, T visa, and VAWA applicants, including by raising the cap on U visas from 10,000 to 30,000.
