Legislation and Policy

What is AgJOBS?     

AgJOBS, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, is a proposed immigration law that would provide agricultural employers with a stable, legal labor force while protecting farmworkers from exploitative working conditions.  The AgJOBS compromise was reached in 2000 after years of Congressional and labor-management conflict resulting in tough negotiations between the United Farm Workers (UFW), major agricultural employers, and key federal legislators.  On January 10, 2007, Senators Kennedy (D.-Mass.), Feinstein (D-Cali.), and Craig (R.-Idaho) and Reps. Cannon (R.-Utah) and Berman (D.-Cal.) introduced AgJOBS in the 110^th Congress.  Read more...

Published On: Tue, Jan 01, 2008 | Download File

Background:  Immigration is a critical issue for farmworkers.  The majority of farmworkers are undocumented, with estimates ranging from 53% to 75% of the workforce.  Without legal status, most farmworkers are too fearful of deportation to challenge unfair treatment.  Intensified immigration enforcement efforts have driven undocumented workers further underground, leaving them even more vulnerable to exploitation.  Read more...

Published On: Tue, Jan 01, 2008 | Download File

Includes information on the DREAM Act's requirements and its current status.

Published On: Sat, Dec 01, 2007 | Download File

The current political debate over undocumented immigrants in the United States has largely ignored the plight of undocumented children. Yet children account for 1.8 million, or 15 percent, of the undocumented immigrants now living in this country. These children have, for the most part, grown up in the United States and received much of their primary and secondary educations here. But without a means to legalize their status, they are seldom able to go on to college and cannot work legally in this country. Moreover, at any time, they can be deported to countries they barely know. This wasted talent imposes economic and emotional costs on undocumented students themselves and on U.S. society as a whole. Denying undocumented students, most of whom are Hispanic, the opportunity to go to college and join the skilled workforce sends the wrong message to Hispanics about the value of a college education-and the value that U.S. society places on their education-at a time when raising the educational attainment of the Hispanic population is increasingly important to the nation's economic health. Read more...

Published On: Mon, Oct 01, 2007 | Download File