Obama’s executive
action, which he announced Thursday night in a televised address from the
White House, will protect up to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S.
illegally from deportation. Obama said the directive was a "commonsense" plan consistent with what
previous presidents of both parties had done for the past 50 years.
"To
those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration
system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has
failed, I have one answer,” Obama said. “Pass a bill.”
Frank
Gasperini, CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, said he is
worried that the debate and controversy surrounding Obama’s action will make it
more difficult for Congress to achieve the goals outlined by the Agriculture Workforce Coalition
(AWC) – chiefly to make sure there is an adequate legal workforce to harvest America’s
crops and process its food.
“Our
chief concern is that the squabbling between Congress and the administration
will only intensify and further delay real legislative reforms in the general
immigration arena, and making meaningful improvements in administration of the
H-2 programs that much more difficult,” Gasperini added, referring to visa
programs for temporary or seasonal workers.
AWC includes
over 70 organizations that worked with farm worker groups to establish a set of
criteria for agriculture within immigration reform. The AWC’s steering
committee includes: American Farm Bureau Federation, AmericanHort, Florida
Fruit & Vegetable Association, National Council of Agricultural Employers,
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Milk Producers Federation,
USA Farmers, U.S. Apple Association, United Fresh Produce Association, Western
Growers Association, and Western United Dairymen.
“Legislation
will be required for any long-term solutions to the agricultural labor
dilemma,” AWC states.
In a
statement issued after Obama’s 15 minute address, the American Farm Bureau
Federation, the nation’s biggest farmer organization, said it does not expect
the president’s plan to help U.S. farmers deal with the labor shortage.
“Our
nation loses millions of dollars in fruit and vegetable production every year
because farmers cannot find labor to harvest everything they grow,” AFBF
President Bob Stallman said. “This order will not change that.”
Stallman
called on Congress and Obama to work together “to find a solution that works
for America.”
On
Wednesday, Arturo Rodriguez, president of United Farm Workers, met with Obama
to discuss the announcement. According to Rodriguez’s statement, at least
250,000 farm workers will be eligible for deportation relief under the
executive action.
However, farm workers are not specifically mentioned in the president’s
plan and there are no agriculture-related provisions included in his actions. There
are an estimated 3
million migrant and
seasonal farm workers
in the United States and about 70 percent of them are here illegally.
Robert Guenther, senior
vice president of public policy for United Fresh Produce Association, said that
while the president’s action “may provide some minimal relief or help for
agriculture, it doesn't address any long-term solutions, which can only be done
through congressional action.” United Fresh represents producers of fresh
fruits and vegetables.
“Both sides need to
ratchet down the rhetoric and come to the table to get this done in 2015,”
Guenther said.
Chuck
Conner, CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, said the immigration
order could alleviate some pressure for “a small subset” of agricultural
workers in the short term, but does not offer them or their employers any
long-term solutions.
He
said the current H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers needs to
be replaced with a new market-based visa program.
“We
hope that the start of the 114th Congress gives policy makers the
chance to turn the page on this issue and we urge all of them—Republican and
Democrat, Congress and the Administration—to find a way to come together and
work collaboratively to address agricultural immigration reform,” Conner said.
Gasperini
questioned the timing of the president’s action after a mid-term election that
handed control of Congress to Republicans. “The strategy, if any, behind
this timing is elusive at best,” he said.
Republican
congressional leaders made it clear they would try to prevent implementation of
the president’s actions, possibly through budget withholding strategies.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the
president’s executive action will “make an already-broken system even more
broken.”
“The action he’s proposed would ignore the law, would reject the
voice of the voters, and would impose new unfairness on law-abiding immigrants
— all without solving the problem. In fact, his action is more likely to make
it even worse,” McConnell said.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on Thursday that House
Republicans will fight the president’s executive order, and that his actions
are "the wrong way to govern."
National
Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said the president has made it clear he
would sign a bill if Congress passed one. “If this nation fails to put forth a
comprehensive reform package, it is agriculture that will suffer first and
agriculture that will suffer the most,” Johnson said. “The President has said
that if Congress passes a comprehensive bill, he will sign it. We hope Congress
has heard that message and acts soon.”
Mike
Brown, president of the National Chicken Council, said he hoped the president’s
action would lead to solutions for aspects of immigration reform important to
the chicken industry, “Especially a strengthened and more reliable E-verify
system that allows employers to better secure a legal workforce, and adequate
protections for those who use government tools in good faith.”
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