Immigration Reform and Farmworkers

Last week, President Obama and members of Congress have been laying out their principles for comprehensive immigration reform. Millions of families' lives hang in the balance, including farmworkers across the country. Our food system relies heavily on an undocumented, marginalized workforce to provide the necessary labor for growing fruits and vegetables. It's vital that any serious reform include provisions for protecting all workers - including farmworkers - from discrimination and unfair treatment. Farmworkers should be included along with all other immigrants in the roadmap to citizenship. 

Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice, made the following statement:

With the announcement yesterday of a bipartisan group of Senators and today’s speech by President Obama, momentum is building to pass immigration reform that includes a roadmap to citizenship.

Our nation depends on the hard labor of farmworkers to cultivate and harvest our crops. Meanwhile, the majority of these workers live in poverty, unable to afford the very fruits and vegetables they harvest. Immigration reform is desperately needed to empower farmworkers to improve their wages and working conditions, as the majority lack immigration status.

Farmworker Justice welcomes the President’s commitment to passing immigration reform. We will encourage the President and Congress to promote immigration policies that enable current and future farmworkers to attain a roadmap to citizenship. To ensure fair treatment of farmworkers and our nation’s food security, we will continue to advocate for equal labor protections for farmworkers in any immigration reform.