President. I rise to introduce the Agricultural Work Force Stability and Protection Act. This bill would make needed reforms to the socalled "H2A Program." the program intended by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow for a reliable supply of legal. temporary. immigrant workers in the agricultural sector. under terms that also provide reasonable worker protections. when there is a shortage of domestic labor in this sector. Last year. Senator Alan Simpson. then the Chairman of the Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Immigration. and then this body as a whole. acknowledged the importance of this issue by agreeing to including in the Illegal Immigration Reform conference report some compromise language regarding the Sense of the Congress on the H2A Program and requiring the General Accounting Office to review the effectiveness of the program. The language included in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 was essentially the same as language agreed to in the conference report on fiscal year 1997 Agriculture Appropriations. With these provisions. the Congress went on record twice on the importance of having a program that helps ensure an adequate workforce for agricultural producers. This is an issue that is of the utmost importance to this countrys farmers and ranchers. especially in light of the impact that immigration reform will have on the supply of agricultural labor. There is very real concern among Idaho farmers and throughout the country that these reforms will reduce the availability of agricultural workers. Farmers need access to an adequate supply of workers and want to have certainty that they are hiring a legal work force.
Keywords matched
immigrant Illegal Immigration Immigration immigration Immigrant H2A