Fresno’s undocumented farmworkers have renewed hope for citizenship path under Biden
A key piece of legislation that would create a pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented agricultural workers was reintroduced in Congress on Wednesday, offering hope to a community that is largely unauthorized to work in the U.S.
Co-authored by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Dan Newhouse, R, Wash., the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, or H.R. 5038, was a major bipartisan effort crafted by Democrats, Republicans, farm labor unions, and agricultural employers in a series of intense negotiations over two years.
It was the first piece of agricultural legislation to pass the House floor in more than three decades, securing a strong 260 -165 vote in December 2019 and garnering support from 34 Republicans. But the bill died in the legislature a year later after failing to gain traction in the Senate.
The bill promises to improve the living and working conditions of undocumented farmworkers by creating a long-awaited path to legal residency. If passed, the law would mean migrant workers who can demonstrate that they have held an agricultural job for more than 100 days per year can obtain temporary legal status for themselves and their families through the H-2A agricultural guestworker program.
With new leadership in the White House, a majority in the Senate, and a renewed attention on immigration reform, Congressional leaders are now pushing for the measure, one of many new immigration bills to offer undocumented residents security.
“The men and women who work America’s farms feed the nation,” Lofgren said in a news release. “But many of them do so while living and working in a state of uncertainty and fear, which has only been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stabilizing the workforce will protect the future of our farms and our food supply.”
For Silvia Garcia, a farmworker from Fresno County, the bill would provide some much-needed relief to her family.
The mother-of-three, alongside her husband and parents, toils in the fields picking seasonal crops. At this time of year, it’s clementines and oranges, she said. Garcia likes the work, but the instability of her job and the few benefits she receives from the government takes a heavy toll on her family, who, because of their immigration status, don’t qualify for paid sick leave, medical coverage, or federal aid.
Like many in the farmworker community, it’s been especially difficult to stay financially afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, she added.
Garcia wakes up each day fearing her husband and parents could be deported by federal authorities whenever they leave the house to work. She said immigration raids at worksites are common and often the source of deep fears within her community.
“It’s what we fear most,” Garcia, 27, said in Spanish. “Every time they leave for work, I’m worried because I don’t know what might happen to them or when they might return.”
Garcia, whose three kids are all under the age of 8, doesn’t know how she would support herself if her family is torn apart.
“I saw another family that was separated because the father was deported while he was at work, and the children were crying, yelling for him,” she said. “It’s my worst fear. If they deport (my husband), it would be really difficult to be reunited.”
If passed into law, the bill would create a new “merit-based” visa program designed for the agricultural sector. Congressional leaders say the reforms would help employers address labor shortages and allow more migrant workers on farms. Employers would benefit from wage-stabilization measures, lower housing costs, and streamlined guest-worker applications.
It would also require workers to pass criminal background checks, file taxes, be employed in the agricultural industry for at least eight years, and pay a $1,000 fine for entering the U.S. without prior authorization.
More than 300 industry groups, including the United Farm Workers, have backed the measure.
“When we talk to farmworkers, the one thing that they ask us to fight for, what they want most and what is at the heart of the vulnerability and the suffering that they endure at the workplace is the lack of legal status,” said UFW Spokesperson Leydy Rangel. “That’s why it’s so important that we provide this legalization for the farmworkers who, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, were essential.”
California is home to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants, the bulk of whom are Latino, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. In the central San Joaquin Valley, where most of the agricultural workforce is undocumented, Rangel said the measure is vital to sustaining a stable food supply and would help essential workers recover from the emotional and financial burdens caused by the pandemic.
The bill comes on the heels of an ambitious immigration overhaul proposed by President Joe Biden, which includes protections for Dreamers, TPS holders, and immigrant farmworkers that would allow them to apply for a green card and then naturalization after three years.
Though it is unclear whether the bills have enough support to pass in the Senate, supporters remain hopeful.
“President Biden’s immigration plan is a North Star... and would provide relief for the entire 11 million undocumented immigrants that are essential and contribute to this nation, but we also have different pieces of legislation like The Farm Workforce Modernization Act that must be voted on and supported by members of Congress,” Rangel said. “In order to be able to win long term, we have to have strong bipartisan support.”