Farm workers and advocates help forge compromise bill providing legal status to immigrant farm workers during months of tough talks with growers & lawmakers from both parties

United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero and UFW Foundation Executive Director Diana Tellefson Torres issued the following statement after introduction of the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019 in the U.S. House of Representatives by primary sponsors Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.):

Bipartisan compromise legislation, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019, crafted with help from a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, is the result of months of difficult negotiations between Members of Congress from both parties, the United Farm Workers, UFW Foundation, Farmworker Justice and most of the nation's major grower associations. 

They have constructed a thoughtful compromise on issues that have previously prevented agricultural and other immigration reform legislation from passing Congress.  The UFW and UFW Foundation are enthusiastic about passing legislation that honors all farm workers who feed America by creating a way for undocumented farm workers to apply for legal status and a roadmap to earn citizenship in the future without compromising farm workers’ existing wages and legal protections.

Understanding that compromise is required to meaningfully improve the lives of immigrant field laborers, it is our hope this will be the first time the House of Representatives, under the leadership of either party, will approve an agricultural immigration bill.

Sign Up to keep updated on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act #FWMA HERE. 

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