President George
Bush announced Jan. 7 that he will propose immigration reform, which
would affect millions of undocumented workers in the United States.
In this proposal, Bush calls for the ability of undocumented workers
to apply for temporary worker status that will give them legal employee
benefits, including minimum wage. Under the proposal, illegal workers
would also be able to apply for a green card and travel freely between
their home countries and the United States. It is expected that Bush
will also propose to increase the number of green cards granted each
year.
“Our laws should allow willing workers to enter our country
to fill jobs Americans aren’t filling,” President Bush
said in a Web-cast Jan. 7. “We must make our immigration laws
more rational and more humane.”
Bush also said that he opposes amnesty programs for illegal immigrants.
“We’re very excited that the president is back in the
game,” said Sharon Hughes, executive vice president of the National
Council of Agricultural Employers. “We really appreciate his
support of trying to do something with guest worker programs and recognizing
that we do have a problem with undocumented workers.”
Hughes said that the information she has seen on Bush’s proposal
is in line with the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Securities
Act (AgJOBS), which has been introduced in both houses of Congress.
“We hope that the president’s support for this action
means we can get AgJOBS done early this year,” Hughes said.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced
a revised version of AgJOBS Sept. 23, 2003. The legislation, if passed,
would take a two-step approach to guaranteeing a stable, legal, safe
workforce according to Craig’s office. First, it would streamline
and expand H2A and provide a one-time adjustment to legal status for
farm workers already working in the United States.
“We think that the fact that we were able to get so much support
early on for AgJOBS after many, many years of hard work probably helped
lay the groundwork to help the president move forward,” said
Will Hart, Sen. Craig’s communications director. “Sen.
Craig thinks that this is a good move that shows leadership on behalf
of the president. Immigration reform is critical to better manage
our borders and to assure humane treatment is given to the most vulnerable
treatment in our nation – millions of undocumented workers.”
The president’s proposed plan would apply across all sectors
of labor, whereas AgJOBS specifically relates to agricultural employment,
Hart said.
“Obviously, it (AgJOBS) is more narrowly focused than the broad
set of principles that Bush announced,” he said. “Sen.
Craig looks forward to working with the president on the details of
his proposal. He (Craig) feels we have a great vehicle in AgJOBS to
road test some of the principles.”
Hart said that Bush’s introduction of this proposal will be
helpful in getting even more support for AgJOBS.
“I think that the proposal brings it (immigration) to the national
forefront; it has brought a lot of attention to it,” he said.
“We think the attention is positive. We hope we can use it as
a starting place to expand the debate about immigration reform in
our country that our president obviously considers a priority.”
Bush’s proposal is also modeled on legislation introduced last
year by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and representatives Jim Kolbe,
R-Arizona, and Jeff Flake, R-Arizona.
“At this point, we just see it as a positive that he (Bush)
is endorsing the outlines of what we have set ahead in AgJOBS,”
Hughes said. “We would like to see AgJOBS go through first and
be a prototype for the others – it is primed and ready to go.”
Hart said they are still collecting cosponsors for AgJOBS and that
they are hoping for a judiciary hearing on AgJOBS – and the
other immigration reform bills – in the next few months.
Not everyone is supportive of Bush’s proposal. Pineros y Campesinos
Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) – Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers
United – has issued a statement criticizing the proposal.
“Rather than express active support of legislation such as AgJOBS
and the DREAM Act (to grant legal residency and eventually citizenship
for undocumented college students), two pieces of legislation that
support earned benefits and security safeguards for undocumented immigrants,
President Bush failed to make any mention of this already-introduced
legislation,” according to PCUN’s Web site (www.pcun.org).
“He instead proposed the creation of a potentially huge new
guest worker program that would essentially create a workforce with
second-class status with no meaningful access to legal status or citizenship.
The President also neglected to provide a timeline or plan as to when
he hopes to draft legislation or introduce this plan to Congress.”
The PCUN article went on to state that Bush’s plan disregards
the principle of workers earning legal status.
“This proposal is clearly beneficial to employers, who could
hire temporary workers as long as there were no U.S. citizens interested
in the job, while the immigrant worker would be in the position of
working for three to six years and then facing deportation when his
or her work permit expired. It is also highly reminiscent of the “bracero”
program of the 1940’s, which similarly sought to reward temporary
workers for returning to their country of origin; the President’s
proposal suggests allowing undocumented workers to receive Social
Security pensions from the money they paid into the system if they
return to their country of origin.”
The article also criticized the plan as an attempt for Bush to sway
Latino votes in the upcoming presidential election. Other immigrant
rights groups across the country have also voiced concern over Bush’s
proposed immigration reform.
Bush’s
proposal
Principles of immigration reform:
