GROUP URGES IMMIGRATION REFORM
Additional Appeal for
IMMIGRATION REFORM IS AGENDA
By Laurie Greene, Associate Editor
IMMIGRATION CRITICAL
Immigration Reform Update
Agricultural producers report difficulty in locating qualified, available, authorized workers—both foreign and domestic—as one reason for the high rate of undocumented labor. Moreover, there continue to be insufficient U.S. workers to fill labor needs; 71 percent of crop workers surveyed between 2007 and 2009 were foreign born. By providing a path to earned citizenship for currently unauthorized farmworkers, the Senate bill gives these workers and their families the security needed to further their skills and education and pursue higher-paying employment.
“We deal with an immigration system that is now in its third decade and completely incapable of being responsive to an ever-changing national economy and hypercompetitive global marketplace. Today, the problems with our immigration system have grown and multiplied to become an emerging threat to the current and future productivity, ingenuity and competitiveness of key sectors of our economy, including agriculture, housing, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, tourism, engineering and technology.”
GROUP URGES IMMIGRATION REFORM